Warhammer: Traitor
While overall I enjoyed the game, there were a few glaring issues I found while playing.
As mentioned, the button mashing gameplay did lead to very repetitious encounters with chains of hit, stun, execute turn; hit, stun, execute, turn. Making it worse though, there were several times that an execution allowed my character, or the enemy I was executing, to enter the same space as solid terrain objects around me or allowed me to walk off the edge of an object. While performing an anti-gravity execution or throwing a bad guy through a wall to end him could be really cool, it was not intended to be such and instantly broke the realism and experience for me.
The repetition of the execution animations also got a little old after a time. Don’t get me wrong, they actually did seem to include a variety of animations based on weapon and enemy combinations; in fact my favorite has to be the shield hat you give to an ‘Ard Boy. Yet with having to execute so often and with a horde of enemies to wade through, by the end it became tedious to watch and I found myself just wanting it to be over so I could get to the next ten guys and move on with the story. I may have found it less so if I had several key combinations that would offer slightly varied executions, some faster less intense, some slower more epic, but each with perhaps pros, cons, and or placement considerations allowing you to move on to the next foe or take several out with the body of the last one.
Finally, and probably the part I least liked in the game, was the ending. Now I am not talking about how the story ended, in fact quit to the contrary as I found the ending of the story to be one of its redeeming qualities. What I am talking about is the end fight. Without ruining it for those who have not played I will try to express my experience without too many details.
The story does a good job of setting up the end fight and building up the suspense. Previously, cut scene after cut scene displayed the dominance of this final nemesis against all; including you and your battle brothers. This build up was actually very well done and had me dreading going head to head with this beast of a creature.
Of course, first you needed to fight wave after wave of the creature’s minions, but he himself did not engage? Okay that created even more suspense knowing that this creature fully expected to beat you in a one-on-one fight. But then, just when you think it’s about to hit the fan, and again with a cut scene showing you were no match for this foe, something else happens. You now find yourself in a situation where the “combat mechanics” are completely changed, and not for the better, now you don’t even have to move, you just have to hit a certain key sequence? Okay I thought to myself this is just phase one of the fight then I am going to have to square off against him and use everything I learned to this point to best him. Nope, a few more key sequences and it’s over. Really? I felt cheated. Where is the climatic fight that should have taken place to round out the brutal epicness of the previous hours of gameplay? I will give them that the change of mechanics threw a wrench into the fight for the first round or two, but once it was understood it was even easier than the previous hours of button mashing. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed in this end scenario, and while I liked the idea and scene involved, it was not enough to overcome my feeling of being cheated out of a monolithic battle between two titanic foes.
Summary
If you are a fan of Warhammer 40k you should buy this game, if you play a Space Marine army you MUST buy this game. As a fan, it was another chance to immerse myself into the world that I can’t seem to get enough of and one that THQ and Relic Entertainment seem to want to do right just as much. All in all they have put together a quality experience and product. If you are not yet a Warhammer 40k fan then this game will go a long way in introducing to you why Space Marines are fan favorites and the world is so intriguing. While I felt that the controls were a bit simplistic and at time tedious the other aspects art, graphics, sound, action, and little touches easily overcame them making more than worthwhile.
Check back in tomorrow for the GDN Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Multiplayer review.
