I know, I know, in fact we all know that Warhammer 40,000 is what you might call my hobby horse.  We all know I get a little excited when it comes to any kind of news about a new Warhammer 40k game.  The evidence can be found almost all over this site.  I mean, heck I am still playing Dawn of War: Soulstorm because a good ol’ drop pod assault by the Emperor’s finest is just so damn satisfying.  As is overwhelming a last ditch defense by the Imperial Guard by a berserker rush led by a Bloodthirster.

Point being there has yet to be a good game that holds the high Gothic architecture feel of the 40k universe.  I mean Fire Warrior achieved that grimdark feel but sadly the game left a lot to be desired in terms of gameplay and truth to the fluff of the canon (lone firewarrior takes down greater demon, lol whut?).  Somehow the pure futility of a human existence in the Imperium of Man should be displayed, the might of the Imperial forces and the grandeur of the Ecclesiarchy are all capable of being represented in a game.

At this I got thinking about how developers of a 40k game could learn a lot from the settings of Gears of War and Killzone 2, not in gameplay style or anything, but in how the background is bleak and war torn, in shades of grey, black, and brown.  Now a lot of gamers and Japan fanboys will bring up here that this is the greatest problem of Western Games, however, anyone that knows even an iota about an imperial Hive City would recognize that this is the way you would represent the baroque majesty of Imperial might.

In terms of gameplay, it would have to be a unique twisting of shooting and close combat, because that is how wars are fought in the 41st millennium.  People who know the subject matter here would have to be present for this so that unique aspects of each enemies abilities and weapons are present.  For example, if you are playing as a regular Imperial Guardsmen then you shouldn’t be able to hold your own against a space marine in any sense of the word, be it ranged or close combat.  I would actually advise against playing as a space marine because they can be used so much more effectively in cinematic moments of the game where they appear and devastate every enemy in their path almost effortlessly and leave.  I’m sorry if any anti-imperial fans are reading this but fluff says marines can handle damn near anything with ease.

The gore in a game like this would have to be damn near over the top, because that’s the brutality of the 41st millennium…  The weapons used in the  wars of this universe are designed to kill as quickly and explosively as possible.  I’m talking possibly beyond God of War level here.  The battles would have to be immense, not small squad against squad street by street fight, but massive open battlefields, with squads being annihalated in an instant and almost at random, massive war engines reaping massive destruction, and heroes reaping destruction in their wake.  It’s almost hard to imagine the awesome that could come from a game this complex.

Sadly, games of a caliber like this, if done perfectly, are almost a generational phenomena and may never see the light of day.  Happily enough I almost feel like an announcement on the under development 40k MMO is overdo and may be heard from soon.  Having got my nerdom out of the way for a little while it’s back to managing the Street Fighter 4 Tournament.  Which you should sign up for here.

In His Name

-Ichi

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