Dear Makers of Warhammer 40,000 Video Games,
First off, I applaud your efforts. Games Workshop and their affiliates have embraced technology from day one. I remember playing Chaos Gate more than ten, maybe fifteen years ago, and loving it. I still find myself muttering “The heat of one thousand suns shall purify your soul!” when rolling dice for Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy.
Of course, I don’t need to point out that Chaos Gate never actually worked. There was a patch you could download so that your Dreadnaughts and Predators could move (an essential aspect for mechanized heavy weapons). That patch, however, never worked. I once built a PC from the ground up with the express purpose of playing Chaos Gate – still no luck. Sure, I could play, but it just never worked quite right. I’ve still got a copy of the game – I keep it in my archives hoping some day, someone will hand me a disk with the patch that actually worked on it. Then, of course, gold will fall from the sky.
Since then, Games Workshop had put forth some serious effort in the video game realm, and each time, you seem to be met with absolute failure. I won’t pretend to know what goes into making a video game. Somehow I suspect it’s a little more than a selection of weapons and armor and bosses to hack apart at the end.
But I’ve got to ask why…
Why, for your first person shooter (Firewarrior) did you choose the Tau? Why not an Imperial Guardsman or Space Marine? The Tau? Seriously? These pruned up little Taoist, yet classist aliens with little or no involvement in the Imperium of Man whatsoever? Well, being a good monkey, I bought it the day it was released, haranguing my roommate when we lived in downtown Chicago until she drove me to my favorite GameStop. The game was fun. I felt foolish putting thirty lasrifle rounds into a guardsman, but I was just happy to be laying in the Warhammer 40,000 setting.
Then, there was Dawn of War – well done. I still play this game on occasion. I have no criticism for this game. However, that leaves me a little shocked, and worried for this next game – Space Marine. Is a third-person action slug-fest where you want to go with the Imperium’s finest warriors? And armed with a Power-hammer no less? Personally, I’ve never wanted to play a bulldozer in any video game I’ve owned. I know, it’s too late now. I just had to get this off my chest. Good luck. I’ll buy the damned thing. Just… try not to let me down too badly.
