To be honest, I have no prior experience with the Warhammer 40,000 franchise I simply don't have the time or desire to spend hours upon end painting little pewter vehicles and figurines. That said, I truly enjoyed Fire Warrior it's a simple, straightforward kill fest that is a blast from start to finsih.
The Tau is a group of honor-driven aliens at war with the Imperials, humans with rather nasty-looking space armor. Why they hate each other so much to begin with is never really explained, but the double cross during a diplomatic mission and subsequent kidnapping of one of the Tau's elders is good enough for the game's intent and purpose.
You're Kais, of the Tau fire caste. And your mission is apparently to shoot what moves, collect keys, and flip the occasional switch. While basic in theory as well as in practice, this sort of old-school, action-packed gameplay is very rare in today's market, which makes Fire Warrior a bit of a unique novelty.
Fire Warrior never makes any qualms about what it is and isn't while there is a bit of a plot involved, it only seems to be present in order to safely secure the game in the Warhammer universe, nothing more. This is never more evident than in the game's straightforward level design, which is primarily composed of narrow corridors, with lots of genre mainstays scattered about, such as an abundance of exploding barrels/crates, and even color-coded keys!
The reason that this simple formula works so well with Fire Warrior is the same reason that it worked back in the heyday of Doom and Quake shooting enemies and blowing things up is fun, and a video game clichι that truly never gets old. Of course, the quality of shooters wavers based on any number of factors, but Fire Warrior gets almost everything right the shotgun feels like a formidable instrument of death, energy railguns fire the plasma equivalent of an atom bomb, and the assault rifle just "feels" right. Add in some of the better innovations from today, (the recharging shield, 2 weapon limit, separate button for grenades) and you've got some of the best gameplay from the past, made even better by sprinklings of today's FPS mechanics.
Fire Warrior's presentation is almost as impressive as its gameplay these visuals are some of the best yet seen in a PS2 first person shooter. Explosions and detailed character models flood the gritty-looking fields of battle with very little hint of slowdown. A later level on an Imperial ship exemplifies this fact as you try to disable artillery on the deck of a battle cruiser, an epic star battle takes place in the heavens above you. The superb audio is Fire Warrior's crowning jewel, with creepy sounding aliens paired with spot-on explosions and weapon effects.
Quite simply, Fire Warrior is one of the best pure-action games on the PS2 market. Anyone who remains a fan of the Doom/Quake school of shooters is advised to pick this up quickly the game clocks in at a lengthy 21 levels, and the online component is just as fast paced as the single player mode. This is a gem of a shooter that will appeal to almost anyone, regardless of past experience with the franchise.
-George
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