Emma Cockroft reviews Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor Martyr…
I do enjoy a good Warhammer game! From Age of Reckoning (which I still miss to this day) to Warhammer Total War I’ve played quite a few so when a copy of Warhammer Inqusitor Martyr fell into my hands I jumped at the chance to install and jump into the grim darkness that is Warhammer 40k. I’ll admit I’ve never tried a ARPG before but felt it was about time to try this genre out. Whilst trying to install the game I had some issues with it but this seems to iron itself out when I tried again.
For those not familiar with the Warhammer background lets just have a small recap. Set in the 41st Millennium a dystopian sci-fi galaxy where there is only War, tainted by Chaos Gods. The Imperium of Man has stretched far and wide across the galaxy and is in a continuous state of war with other hostile races and factions they have encountered throughout their expansion. Here we meet the Inquisitors. Powerful agents of Man who work to cleanse the galaxy of demons, abominations and corruption wherever they find it.
We have a choice of three classes to pick a Crusader (Warrior type) an assassin(DPS) and a psyker (Mage) However picking one of these classes does not limit you to a standard sword and shield type warrior, you can then pick a sub class for your character. It comes down to melee, range or a mixture of both. Whichever class you pick you can edit your character to use a variety of weapons, I originally had a crusader with a sword but mixed it up a bit as I progressed and gave him an autogun (assault rifle) just to try it out, which soon had me making several difference characters as the play styles were vastly different.
Our story starts with our Inquisitor investigating a seemingly derelict monastery ship and as the game progresses it becomes more of an open map with different areas to explore and new missions to accept and undertake which is where the game becomes more fun. Each world is unique and oozing with the grim dark atmosphere and architecture, but after a while you’ll still find that many of the maps can become a bit repetitive and cookie cutter. The worlds all have a difficulty rating which compares to your own power rating so to accept some missions you might need to spend some time grinding away to get your power high enough and to collect the powerful loot needed to undertake and complete particular missions. As the story progresses our inquisitor is joined by a variety of different characters to help them along the way. Most of the missions involve you running around fighting regular humans, cultists, space marines and demons to name a few. There are a tun of side quests to accept which take you over all over the map but you might find you need to spend some time on some smaller easier missions to become strong enough to attempt these. If your under powered you suffer some debuffs through the mission you are undertaking, but if you are over powered you will receive some handy buffs.
The combat isn’t too difficult to master and you can spend a lot of the game running around shooting, stabbing, cutting up the enemies if that’s how you want to play. For me I found the controls a bit confusing at first and it took me changing my character to try out another class before I realised how to lock onto a target and how to give my NPCs commands (I en-countered a screen that told me to press F to give my npcs a command despite the fact I was playing on Xbox One) The cover system can be a bit confusing at first until you get the hang of it, which for the assassin and the psyker class is something you need to rely on a lot if you want to avoid the onslaught of laser and bolter fire.
The levels themselves can be stunningly beautiful, the design and detail that has gone into them is spectacular when zoomed in. Some of the levels when combined with the impressive score really can create a genuine 40k atmosphere along with the character design. Some of the abominations look hideous and grotesque and its nice to see that the designers have really captured the Warhammer 40k spirit. The voice acting is well acted and written and again really fits into the 40k universe.
Our character can only carry two weapons at a time and this cant be changed till you have completed the level, which can be frustrating if you don’t have the correct loadout equipped, or if you pick up some good gear whilst working your way through the mission you can’t equip during a play through which can be frustrating. Another thing is that there are no abilities to learn, only gear provides you with these so you are restricted to whatever buff your gear provides.
PROS:
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Beautiful visuals
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Good Story and voice acting
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Fast fun gameplay
CONS:
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Repetitive missions
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Grinding can be frustrating
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Cant change load outs during missions
Rating: 7/10
This was reviewed on Xbox One.
Emma Cockroft
