Warhammer 40K: Fire Warrior
Take a ride 38,000 years into the future with THQ and Kuju Entertainment's gory, spacey, FPS.
Published: February 24, 2003
Kuju Entertainment has had less than blockbuster success with their PS2 titles up to this point. From the butt-ugly Fire Blade for Midway to the ghastly movie-license debacle of Reign of Fire to the pretty-but-average Lotus Challenge, Kuju has done little more than establish themselves as purveyors of the mediocre. It appears, however, that they just needed the proper basis for a good game.
As geek-heavy as the Warhammer 40,000 license is apt to be, the source material is impressively rich in history and rife with detail – two things that should help elevate even a blasé first-person shooter able the mean. With FireWarrior, an FPS set completely in the Warhammer 40K universe (read: eternal combat in the year 40,000 A.D.), however, it appears the game offers almost nothing in the way of mediocrity.
It shouldn't come as a huge surprise, after all; Kuju demonstrated that they had a pretty firm working of knowledge of PlayStation 2 hardware when they kicked out a couple tech demos near the system's launch. The demos pushed plenty of polys, looked pretty, but didn't really show off the company's gamesmaking prowess. FireWarrior seems to be doing that, if the hands-on time we spent at THQ's Editor's Day event last month was any indication.
While we weren't allowed to see too much of the game (and with good reason, a sizable chunk is still being heavily worked on), what we did see what not only fun to play, but easy on the peepers, something that even Lotus Challenge (the prettiest and best-playing PS2 game) never really managed to pull off. Essentially dropped into a futuristic trench with constantly cris-crossing laser fire overhead (a subtle but powerful effect that really helps thicken up the illusion that you're one soldier in a war much, much larger than yourself), the preview build we played had us making our way from one end of the trench to the other, a task that was far easier said than done. Along the way, enemy soldiers were all too eager to toss a few hundred rounds our way from a handful of different weapons, and whenever a shot would connect, a static-y distortion would appear across the entire display. Again, the effects employed were subtle, but very, very impressive.
The game itself, even in as early a state as it was, managed to move with hardly any hiccups at a butter-smooth framerate. Storyline specifics still haven't been revealed, but we can tell you that the game revolves around a young Tau warrior and his 24 hours of survival in the midst of a massive galaxy-wide war between the Imperium (humans on an universe, capturing rampage) and Tyranids (one of three major alien races butting heads with the Imperium). With a universe as rich as it is in style and design, Kuju seems to have an almost limitless amount of resources, and if the first indications of the game are any forecast of the final product, the style Fire Warrior seems to be biting off from FPS hits like Medal of Honor and Halo will be put to good use. We'll be updating this preview with more details as we get 'em. For now, enjoy the screens.
As geek-heavy as the Warhammer 40,000 license is apt to be, the source material is impressively rich in history and rife with detail – two things that should help elevate even a blasé first-person shooter able the mean. With FireWarrior, an FPS set completely in the Warhammer 40K universe (read: eternal combat in the year 40,000 A.D.), however, it appears the game offers almost nothing in the way of mediocrity.
It shouldn't come as a huge surprise, after all; Kuju demonstrated that they had a pretty firm working of knowledge of PlayStation 2 hardware when they kicked out a couple tech demos near the system's launch. The demos pushed plenty of polys, looked pretty, but didn't really show off the company's gamesmaking prowess. FireWarrior seems to be doing that, if the hands-on time we spent at THQ's Editor's Day event last month was any indication.
While we weren't allowed to see too much of the game (and with good reason, a sizable chunk is still being heavily worked on), what we did see what not only fun to play, but easy on the peepers, something that even Lotus Challenge (the prettiest and best-playing PS2 game) never really managed to pull off. Essentially dropped into a futuristic trench with constantly cris-crossing laser fire overhead (a subtle but powerful effect that really helps thicken up the illusion that you're one soldier in a war much, much larger than yourself), the preview build we played had us making our way from one end of the trench to the other, a task that was far easier said than done. Along the way, enemy soldiers were all too eager to toss a few hundred rounds our way from a handful of different weapons, and whenever a shot would connect, a static-y distortion would appear across the entire display. Again, the effects employed were subtle, but very, very impressive.
The game itself, even in as early a state as it was, managed to move with hardly any hiccups at a butter-smooth framerate. Storyline specifics still haven't been revealed, but we can tell you that the game revolves around a young Tau warrior and his 24 hours of survival in the midst of a massive galaxy-wide war between the Imperium (humans on an universe, capturing rampage) and Tyranids (one of three major alien races butting heads with the Imperium). With a universe as rich as it is in style and design, Kuju seems to have an almost limitless amount of resources, and if the first indications of the game are any forecast of the final product, the style Fire Warrior seems to be biting off from FPS hits like Medal of Honor and Halo will be put to good use. We'll be updating this preview with more details as we get 'em. For now, enjoy the screens.