Necromunda: Hired Gun is a new fast-paced first-person shooter set in the Warhammer universe.
As the name suggests, Hired Guns takes place in Necromunda. You play as a bounty hunter (again, it’s in the name) who mercilessly goes after criminals. The game has a central hub called Martyr’s end. This is where you select contracts for bounties and talk to different characters who drive the story forward.
Warhammer meets Unreal Tournament
Not that you’ll care all that much about the story. Most people are playing this for the action.
This is a really fast-paced shooter. It reminds me a lot of the old arena shooters from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Unreal Tournament particularly comes to mind here. Granted, this is a single-player-only game. So it is more like Unreal in the style of play; you will not get to face off against other human opponents online.
Aside from killing enemies, you collect credits throughout the world that you can use to upgrade weapons and buy consumables like med kits and stim packs. The game has some pretty standard upgrades available for weapons like laser sights and muzzles. You can also upgrade the internal mechanism to improve accuracy while sacrificing the firing rate or vice versa.
Squeaky toys and grappling hooks
Plus, you have a robotic dog that can help you in combat. To be perfectly honest, it isn’t particularly helpful, but it does come with a squeaky toy. So what’s not to like about that?
The grappling hook is one of the neater abilities in the game. You can launch yourself to otherwise inaccessible areas quickly and efficiently. There’s also the ability to wall-run, although I felt that it was a bit cumbersome to pull off.
Underwhelming combat
The biggest flaw is that Necromunda: Hired Gun has underwhelming and mindless combat. You’re killing relentlessly as a bounty hunter, but you never get attached to any of the game’s characters or a decent sense of what’s really driving the main character other than bloodlust. I suppose that is good enough for some people – and I could probably overlook it if it was actually fun to play for extended sessions, but it’s not.
Conclusion
Necromunda: Hired Gun looked promising. It turned out to be a throwback to shooters from the early 2000s with fast-paced gameplay and quick reflexes demanded. I just didn’t find it terribly compelling on virtually any level. The story did not interest me. The gameplay and graphics are uninspired and bordering on generic. I would only recommend it if you are desperate for a single-player shooter to play. Just don’t expect a AAA title here.
Game Freaks 365 received a review copy.