Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector review – a game true to the original

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop war game with characters set in the very distant future (the number in the title roughly determines the year) that combines fantasy elements such as swords, magic (psychic powers) and spaceships, tanks and laser weapons. Life in this galaxy is not easy, and the inhabitants of the Empire of Man practically live only by war, few will die before old age. Civilians rely on the Imperial Guard, which employs billions of human soldiers, and individual Chapters called Space Marines – genetically engineered super-soldiers built for one purpose and thus absolute victory against any threat that might arise.

• Platform: PS4 (review), Xbox One and PC (Steam and GamePass)
• Publication date: 02/12/2021 console and 07/22/2021 PC
• Producer: Black Lab Games
• Genre: Step-by-step strategy
• Czech location: Not
• Multiplayer: Yes
• Data to download: 6 GB (set-top box)
• Game time: 15+ hours
• Price: CZK 809 (Xzone) or part of a Game Pass subscription.

In the grim darkness of the distant future, there is only war

In the single player campaign, the player takes control of the units from the Blood Angels chapter. These are very specific factions of Space Marines – their main distinguishing features are Red armor and a slight spiritualization of a vampire with a thirst for blood. The game’s plot takes place immediately after the so-called Indomitus Crusade, the events of which weakened this chapter, and its survival is largely dependent on the adoption of a new type of marine, the so-called Primaris. However, at first they are met with distrust and hostility by their more experienced, older brothers. Together they fight the threat of the tyranids, space monsters that are the prototype of the zerg you know from the Starcraft series.

In the later stages of the game, the Sisters of Battle will join the Blood Angels – imagine armored nuns with very large rifles and an even greater dose of religious fanaticism. However, this is where the list of factions ends and this is one of the downsides that I have to read about this game. It is a pity that there were no chaos demons who could be there due to their location and time, and would certainly diversify the campaign.

Burn the Heretic! Kill the mutant! Get rid of the evil!

Battlesector is reminiscent of the classic XCOM, so it’s a turn-based strategy game. The playing field is divided into squares that define options for positions, range, and the like. However, rather than relying on cover from cover to cover, the game relies more on unit cooperation and using their abilities and properties against the vast superiority of the tyranid forces. While the Intercessor unit is excellent against Termagaunt or Gargoyle units, against monsters such as Tyrannofex, Tervigon or Exocrine, they are almost useless. On the other hand, Hellblaster Marines and their Plasma Rifles do significantly more damage to these monsters. Equally important is the direction your units are facing. It determines how far and where they can actually see, and whether they will have extra shots in case someone attacks them nearby.

The Battlesector game is reminiscent of the XCOM classic.

Units can be upgraded through a skill tree for individual HQ characters (commanders), who in addition to being very effective in combat, can temporarily upgrade around a standing unit or use special abilities such as healing, repairing vehicles, or even invading a raid – this is especially deadly for enemy units standing in a row. These upgrades have different effects. They can add abilities to units or allow them to change weapon combinations before the battle begins. For example, an aggressor squad may choose machine guns with grenade launchers or flamethrowers. Therefore, it is very important to use these upgrades wisely and maintain a balanced army. Point values ​​are used to limit this process. You can take any combination of units (maximum 20) for each mission, but you must stick to the maximum allowed points. Each unit is worth points, and the total must not exceed the limit specified for the mission. The surviving units you leave at the end of the mission will replenish your fortunes and you can transfer them to another where they are a little better, but not so much that it ruins the game balance.

The biggest difference from other games in this genre is the so-called Momentum system. The main way to get momentum points on the momentum bar is to destroy enemy units. Each faction has different modifiers. Blood Angels units fill up an inertia bar based on how far they are from their target. The closer, the more. This gives a reason to go into close combat or shoot at short distances. Sisters of Battle, in turn, gain more points when wounded, and Tyranid units gain a lot of momentum for killing enemies in melee, and much less for destroying with gunfire. This forces them to play more aggressively than the agile Blood Angels or Battle Sisters.

The impulse system encourages the use of units specifically.

Once the momentum value reaches its maximum, units can spend all points to enhance their abilities for that round or add one action point (for example, shoot a second time). Proper use of this mechanic makes duels more fun, and the sense of reward for well-planned tactical choices is even greater. The game contains multiplayer, in which you can, of course, play as Tyranids. There are several ways to play. In addition to the classic online and hot seat mode on the same console/PC, there is also the so-called asynchronous multiplayer, where you do not have to sit at the console or PC. You play your turn and you can switch off. Slitherine (publisher) will then email you that your opponent has made their move and now it’s your turn, after which you will rejoin the game and play your turn and this will repeat until one side wins .

Even in Death I still serve!

Unfortunately, I have to point out a few things about the game. The graphics are really outdated. While it’s not a complete disaster, it definitely doesn’t look like a graphic beauty. Mainly suffers from environmental details such as tufts of grass and special effects. On the other hand, blood pools and corpses remain on the ground throughout the game, so after a while the battlefield really looks like a battlefield. Nevertheless, the game will not impress or inspire anyone visually. It’s a shame because Warhammer 40,000 definitely deserves the proper AAA treatment.

When it comes to sound, music is not wrong. The orchestral dark and dramatic music fits into the game, and while I can’t say I’m just playing the song outside of the game, I wasn’t unsettling or tasteless during the performance itself. What bothered me a lot was the sounds of the tyranids, whose monotonous roar and sound effects quickly became annoying. I also expect harsher sound effects from marine boltguns than regular machine gun or submachine gun sounds. Bolter ammo is a small, self-propelled missile that explodes on contact.

HUD and font size is a big issue on consoles.

However, these are all superficial problems that you need to get used to. What I see as a huge problem is the size of the HUD and especially the written text. On consoles (xbox and playstation) there’s an almost unreadable amount of important information from the couch, and I’ve had to go to the TV a few times (70 inches, so screen size doesn’t cause this problem) to be able to read what the ability is doing). The authors probably forgot about this, since there are no problems with this on a PC. Other than an occasional glitch or two (unit gets stuck in run animation after throwing a grenade, some effects appear on units even though they have already disappeared) I did not encounter any technical issues and the game ran stable and without frame rate. drops.