Warhammer 40k: Boltgun — A Review

I picked up the game a few days ago when it went on sale. I have WH40K: Space Marine, so I was able to get a little bit more discount on the game!

It's been fun so far, but not enough for me to want to binge the game. Not enough to make it the *only* game I play throughout the day.

I often say that Quake II was my first PC game. It's a little bit of a stretch, since I've played other PC games while at school. It's certainly my first PC first person shooter game. If nothing else, it gets to carry the label of a defining piece of my past.

That said, I do like the "blast from the past" aspects. Stuff like varying types of health pick-ups, armor (Contempt, as this game calls it), ammo. Boltgun started off with a lot of health and armor shards. It got to a point where I considered increasing the difficulty from Medium. That idea was dashed aside very quickly after my first major fight. I think I died about two or three times. Rather embarrassing but that's just the way it goes.

I'm testing different formats for these gaming reviews. I hope I'll find a format that works for me!

The good

The visceral experience of killing heretics and the abomination from the Warp made me grin ear to ear. I don't know what it is but it was fun being able to just go around and reduce my enemies into pulp. No, I'm not like this in real life 🙃

The soundtrack is great. Although I would say it's not 100% what I expected for a Warhammer 40K game, but it fits the vibe really well, in my opinion. The sound effects has a crunchiness to it. It also adds to the vibe too.

I do appreciate that they included a help screen to explain what the power-ups and pick-ups did. It even has a section explaining what the number next to the skull icon, plus another icon underneath it, actually meant. It's a quick way to determine how well your current weapon will work against the target!

The Retro style of the graphics really fits the vibe too. The nice thing is you can actually tone down (or up) the pixelation filter. I assume if you turn it all the way down, you can actually see what the graphics were meant to look like. I like that the enemies are 2D while the environment's 3D. It's a style I want to use in one of my future game projects. It's not a first-person game though.

You can mantle in this game! You can just jump towards a ledge and if you're high enough, then you'll actually grab on and pull yourself up! I'm so glad this is a thing.

Could use some improvements.

The way the game's set up, I was really expecting an upgrade system of some kind. Something that will let me permanently improve the gear I have. I know that's probably venturing closer to DOOM (2016) territory. Let's be honest, though, a lot of this game is has already ventured into it. Each weapon have a strength rating and I just want to be able to increase that, permanently. It's nice there are power-ups and all, but it gives me an intense sense of FOMO or just the feeling of wasted opportunity when I find them *after* I got through a barrage of enemies! My last fight turned out that way too. Found an infinite ammo buff but all the enemies were already dealt with.

The movement felt like I was moving on ice. At first I realized it's because I was on toggle sprint but even then, I fear I would fall off the ledge if I try to get any closer. The old-school shooters I remember didn't have that weird "deceleration." When you stopped, you stopped. I wish it was like that in here, or at least give us the option to turn that deceleration off (or adjust, whichever). I did adapt to it, but it was one of those issues that gave me pause in the beginning.

I really liked that in DOOM, melee kills rewarded you with health. Maybe ammo too? I wish it did that here. I don't have a lot of incentive to get up close and personal other than the occasional desire to reduce an enemy to a pulp at that range. Most of the time, I just use my boltgun.

Conclusion

Despite the previous section, I'm still glad I got this game! It's a really nice blast from the past and honestly, it sort of inspires me to make my own homage to that era of gaming. It wouldn't be nearly as faithful though. There are features in today's shooters that I think would improve on an old-school shooter, not hinder it.

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