Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Review

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a gory first person shooter that replicates the classic simplistic and action focus gameplay of classic FPS games such as the original DOOM and the Wolfenstein 3D series. As an unnamed battle-hardened Space Marine, players will go across the galaxy to fight off Chaos Space Marines and daemons of Chaos.

As with any FPS, our protagonist does have a decent arsenal of weapon; including the default boltgun, you’ll also pick up a shotgun, and other fun virtual toys to use. The player can also jump and dash forward to push enemies around. The left trigger will let you use a nifty little chainsaw that can be used to one shot smaller enemies. Simply aim/rev up the chainsaw, and the Space Marine will dash towards reasonably distanced enemies. It can also do damage to bigger enemies, although do not expect to one hit them.

The premise is quite simple; navigate through each level, killing enemies on your way until you reach a wider area that needs to be purged; meaning you can’t progress forward until you kill enough enemies. These sequences are intense and quite challenging as the game will sometime throw an inane amount of enemies your way. Even on the Normal difficulty setting, this can be quite the challenge, especially when not at full health. And if you keep struggling, you can enable a nifty accessibility feature that makes you invincible; it can be turned on and off easily and has no impact on Achievements.

And yes, you don’t need to worry about running out of bullets given that there’s ammo at almost every corner. There’s also health and shield pick ups peppered throughout the levels and also dead enemies will drop them as well; as long as you move fast, shooting everything and grabbing the health, you should do alright. Additionally, each level has a few hidden areas containing secrets to pick up, so completionists will have a blast trying to find every secret. But Achievements wise, the game is pretty straight forward.

As with the game’s dark undertones, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun has a matching palette of drab and grey colors. Each of the three chapters has its own color design. Throughout each chapter, because of the similar color palette, it can be easy to get lost and go around in circles when looking to move forward. It does however have that unique pixelated 16-bit visual reminiscent of classic DOOM and Wolfenstein games adding a flair of nostalgia to a newly released experience. The soundtrack is dark and brooding providing an uneasy atmosphere as you navigate the areas and blast enemies away.

Sadly, the more you play, the more you notice its flaws. The first two issues are indirectly intertwined: gameplay and length. The game has a highly repetitive nature; go here, purge this area, go there, purge the area, find key, etc. Having to do the same thing over and over for so long will get old fast and turn off players. Also without any guidance, some areas feel are designed with a “Where do I go kind” of mindset which can be quite annoying. After purging an area, it’s easy to get lost and go around in circles because the area are so drab looking.

The other problem is the game’s pacing and level design. After hectic battles, more often than not, you’ll have to try and find your way to the level’s exit. Problem is that it’s rarely ever clear and straightforward. There’s the teleporting door level maze, there’s a sand colored level where everything looks the same so finding the way out is quite annoying. While sometimes you’ll notice yellow paint stains to guide you, more often than not, there’s isn’t anything. And if you’re a newcomer to the Warhammer series, you won’t realize that in some levels there are markings that can be come across as inconsequential, when in reality, you need to follow those to the way out.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is an overall enjoyable throwback to classic FPS games like DOOM and Wolfenstein 3D: mindless shooting, lack of guidance, and intense battle sequences and even crazier boss battles that will test your reflexes. Unfortunately, its flaws make it hard to see it through; the game feels too long for the limited gameplay and the labyrinth-like level interrupts the game’s balls to walls action flow. If you’re desperately craving for some old school fun, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is the way to go, but play it in short bursts if you want to make the fun last.