Fire and Fortune go with you …

The Tau inhabit an area of space near the eastern fringe of the galaxy and are a young dynamic race. The Tau civilization is based around a rigid caste system relating to the four elements — fire, water, air and earth — which dictate a Tau's particular role within their society be it warrior, bureaucrat, pilot or worker. Their rulers form a mysterious fifth caste, translated as the Ethereal, who bind the other castes together.

A violent incident in the outer colonies threatens to cast Tau against humans. The great leader Ko'vash — one of the Ethereal caste — has been abducted by Imperial warriors. Your mission is to bring him back.

When you first pop in the game, make sure to watch the intro movie. It will set the stage for the storyline and get you started in your new career as a Fire Warrior. Throughout the game there will be additional scenes to continue and enhance the story.

At the beginning of each mission you will receive verbal instructions regarding your mission objectives, as well as information that will continue the story and the developing plot. Once the mission is loaded and you're ready to go, you get a mission overview:

[06:47hr] Kais, the Ethereal Ko'vash is being held somewhere in this area and you must locate him. Once we have his location we will send in extraction teams to rescue him. This is your Trial by Fire. So, you must do your best.

As a Fire Warrior you are issued a Pulse Rifle and a suite of intelligent armor. Your armor is outfitted with a shield device that will help to protect you from some incoming attacks. When the shield is depleted you then take hits against your health. If you can stay out of the line of fire for 15 seconds or so your shields will regenerate.

Throughout each mission you will have the opportunity to acquire additional armament. But, unlike the days of yore in D&D where you could carry half a dozen swords, a crossbow and a lance, here you only get to carry a maximum of two weapons at a time. The weapon that you are issued at the onset of each mission will be with you throughout the mission. It is only your secondary weapon that can be changed out. Some of the weapons that you will have an opportunity to get your hands on include a machine pistol, sniper rifle, LMG, shotgun and others. And, if you start to run low on ammo for a particular weapon, just pick up more of the same weapon and that will fill your ammo supply.

Other things that you will come across throughout the game are supplies of grenades (make sure your not near them when they go BOOM!); green healing kits (which will restore a percentage of your health); red healing kits (which will restore you to full health); barrels (which explode if you shoot them — *Note they are a bad thing to hide behind …); and the occasional hardpoint (e.g., Gattling guns, and heavy MG's).

In some of the missions you will be called upon to destroy things using demolition charges. These are carried as part of your standard gear and can only be used on things that are meant to be destroyed as part of the scenario. Simply push the X button and wait for the bar to reach 100 percent — representing the time needed to place the charges. I would highly recommend that you not try to blow something up while bad guys are shooting at you.

Controlling your movement through the game requires some dexterity. The left joystick moves you forward/back and strafe left/right. The right joystick turns you left/right and allows you to look up/down. So it takes a combination of the two to move through the world. The weapons are fired using the R1/R2 buttons so that you can keep your thumbs on the joysticks at all times.

The graphics in the game are excellent, extremely high detail and beautiful artwork. The designs on the various Terran warriors' armor reminded me of my last trip to Gamesday and the detail that I saw on the various miniatures. While moving through the world, whether it was through the trenches or through the corridors of the starships the environment was visually stunning and gave you the feel that you were moving through a real world. Smoke from fires, dust, lighting conditions, dirt and flame from artillery and explosions all came together to add to the effects in the game. Even the weapons you carry had their effects, the plasma rifle on automatic would forma a heat shimmer at the end of the barrel after a few shots that would obscure your view.

When you add in the sound effects and the dual shock on the control pad, the game created and environment rife with stress and distractions.

At times throughout the game, you will find yourself accompanied by members of the Tau military. So you have to watch where you're pointing your own weapons. Depending on the mission they will either be in a specific area attempting to secure it, or they will advance with you through the corridors. Having allies helps at times as it draws fire away from you, so there is incentive to work at keeping them alive as long as possible.

For a first person shooter, I had a blast playing Warrhammer Fire Warrior. With the developing plot and continuing storyline, it gave the game enough variation and mission uniqueness to were I didn't feel like I was repeating objectives or effort. A few of the missions were difficult and challenging enough that I had to replay them a number of times to get past them. Which gave me an opportunity to try out different tactics until I found one that worked.

The game has some replayability in that you can try it again at a higher difficulty rating or just play it again to see if you can either increase your time of completion or efficiency. You do get drawn into the storyline and as the plot develops I had a strong desire to see the outcome of the story. Fire Warrior has a great concept design and playability. And, has done a great job of creating a very "realistic" environment in which to play.