Set within the Warhammer Universe, this game is a third person action title combining elements of melee fighting and shooting in what ultimately felt like a very uninspiring game that had so much potential and unfortunately really did little for me to make me come back and play it. However if you are a Warhammer 40,000 fan, than you probably would have discovered more than me but as a mainstream gamer, something was missing. Yet this is what I did, and hence you have this review. 

In this title you get to play the part of a Space Marine, a Captain Titus, one of the Emperor’s chosen elite fighting men, and as such that means you get to wear ridiculously large armour, speak with a British accent and get up to all sorts of violent nonsense against the Ork army that threatens the very existence of humanity. Button mashing is the order of the day so get those fingers ready for a heavy workout! 

I had real issues getting into this title and despite having played it for some time, am having real troubles looking to give this a higher score than what I’ve already give it. It was quite clunky to control, felt generally unresponsive, and the graphics and sound left a fair bit to be desired. I can understand why some would still want to play the whole way through but it’s a pretty clunky experience right from the very beginning. 

Graphically Warhammer is a very mixed affair. Background environments in some cases are utterly beautiful that I would often stop to check out what was there, such attention to detail was displayed that you just knew that someone had been doing their job properly. The downside to this was that the fact that both player characters and NPCs didn't look as though they belonged in the title at any point. They simply weren’t dirty enough to be convincing as characters that belonged in an utterly destroyed city that was covered in its own dust and dirt. 

Audio is another weird one where it appeared to be an afterthought. Surround features kicked in haphazardly without real effect and more often frightened with their jarring appearances more than accentuated gameplay. Poorly done. The soundtrack for the game was nicely scored however and I did enjoy some elements of that. 

The story is one that has really been crafted for fans of the series. Whilst I am sure that those old school fans will be loving this, many of the references will be lost on the casual gamer, inevitably causing many players to not care what the story is or even how it finishes. There is a cliffhanger of an ending that I must warn you pretty much sets up for a second game. 

This is not a hard game to get through. It does cater to even the most inexperienced gamer with massive health bars and pretty easy ways of getting back health by performing some pretty graphic executions that let the blood splash all over the screen.

The only downside in doing this is that you have to get up close and personal to the Orks, and whilst it plays out the execution animation, your character is totally exposed to all attacks which occur regularly. The title sorts of feels like a Gears of War wannabe without the sheer guts or character of that series. Captain Titus is sure as hell no Marcus Fenix, and the game doesn’t feature Gears awesome cover system for the simple fact that it really isn’t needed due to the high level of health that you seem to be able to hold onto for the whole game. 

Final Thoughts?

Warhammer is a game that will appeal to fans of what has already gone before. I’m not sure that there is enough meat in the title to convert newcomers and I would highly recommend a rent first. For those who have loved this series in the past then I can say gladly to pick it up and watch the characters you’ve known and loved kick some serious butt. 

A final word of warning. This game asks for an update as soon as you put the disc in. This is becoming more and more common as the years go by where a game comes out and before you can play it for the first time, there is a patch. Not good enough.