Why such bad reviews?

[Jolly]

I've been eye balling this game since it first was released and all I've seen and heard is it's bad and it's getting worse. As far as I can tell it looks great but if the feel of the game sucks then I'm not getting it. I put 500 hours in Vermintide, and about to buy Total War Warhammer 2, as well as I've been playing Total War Warhammer (not saying these games are similar)

I really like both Warhammer universes but what bugs me about the success of Warhammer Fantasy games (that I just mentioned earlier) is I own thousands of dollars of Warhammer 40k models from 3rd edition on up, including paints, crafting items and tools, and made many model terrain pieces including 4'x4' terrain table top I built from scratch (I have youtube vids to prove). I put more time in Warhammer 40k than I did in video games (probably combined) and I'm upset to see the only successful game from a "Gamers" perspective in the world of 40k was Dawn Of War 1 but I'm also a Starcraft fan so that's probably why. I was REAAAALLLLYY hoping there'd be a Vermintide equivelant to 40k especially in the Space Hulk setting. This game looks to meet that quota but not if it sucks because Vermintide doesn't suck and that includes Vermintide's mistakes and lack of content.

So I guess what I'm asking is if anyone cares to break down the difference between this game and Vermintide and why people gave it such bad reviews? I'm reading down votes and watching reviews/gameplays to get an idea and I think I wanna read someone's opinion and break down from forum.

[Jolly]

If a dev reads this, I am a real 40k player (even though I've only been to tournaments 2 times my whole life back in 5th edition) but I constantly play Vermintide because they have a good feel in game mechanics (ripped off from L4D) but also the melee combat is extraordinary, and lore met through VERY interesting dialogue. I know you guys spent at least as much time as Fatshark has on visual, if not more time, judging by the trailers but from my perspective it's not looking good and I REALLLLY want this to work.

[maxence1]

the main issue was performance wise and lack of progression for the characters
apart of that if you have a good gaming rig you should get some good fun from that game
visuals and atmosphere are great
gameplay is getting much better if you play with friends as AI terminators are not very efficient
maybe not a AAA game but sure feels like 40K!!!!
wait until you're happy with price and buy it....

[Fosil]

performance optimisation is bad. there are framedrops, when large horde appear, that make the game unplayable for some players. at release the game was very buggy and prone to crashes.

some people were disappointed that there is no permament progression, the singleplayer campagne is pretty average and UI design is a bit clunky.

biggest difference to vermintide: maps are more open with more possible paths to take to objectives. there is even a game mode with semi-random objectives pulled from a pool of ~two dozen(?) possible ones. blocks have to be aligned in three dimensions depending on enemy attack directions and are only a damage reduction, melee weapons have uncancelable animations and no hidden limit how many enemies can be hit by a swing. melee weapons have only one attack button. you have a motion tracker and visible spawn points / entry points for new enemies. ranged combat is more prevalent and you have no ammo management (or item management in general). heal and resurrection are class skills. there is no big difference gameplay wise between the different classes. there is no banter during missions. less special enemies that behave different to the standard mobs. game looks prettier.

[Alby]

In Deathwing the players need to be more disciplined. Positioning is more important, lines of sights have to be respected. You move much slower and you have to stay calm. Most players run everywhere they hear a Genestealer, but to be effective, every teammate needs to stick to his role. You hear a Tyranid coming from the back? Don‘t turn around, trust the rearguard, cause if you turn around, another Tyranid will come from the front for sure.This requires no egoism, but team spirit, many modern players do not feel. So they fail and of course the game is to blame.

When you have a nice team and play the game like it is meant to be played, you might enjoy it for many hours. I have a rig with medium specs (i5, gtx1060 6gb, 2,5k) and I have in the middle of the fight framedrops to around 30 fps, but this makes the game not in any way unplayable for me.

[✠UK_SPAWN✠]

Performance is all i can complain about. Hopfully better in Enhanced Edition (AKA: "Finished Game Edition") - Gameplay wise and the 40k feel is great!

[Lord Deimoss]

Apart from graphics Space Hulk VOTBA was 10x better.

This game just has no atmosphere, Genestealers look drab and colourless and overall is boring to play. There's no music or creepy ambient sounds like the pattering of genestealer claws or distant growls or bangs. The terminator squadmates are just dunce and lack any character and worst of all no radio chatter between them to help build a feeling of fear.

I just can't understand how in this day and age these developers can't even match or at least improve a 20+ year old game.

I don't have much hope for the "enhanced edition" either but secretly wish they prove me wrong somehow.

oh, and the bodies when moved look like they're made from balloons.

[B1g0d0n]

The game is good. Single player give you a good lore and atmosphere about whats happening, Ai isnt that great but work somehow. As multiplayer is somewhat boring if you are not playing with friends or people that play tacticaly - its not like get you weapon and go shooting and killing stuff(like old duke nuken); we are hoping for a better improve in the performace with the next big update and some progression. Thats it.
For now i'm not playing it, still waiting for the big update... probably most of the people that got this game.

ps: if you are an fan of war40k, you get nice details when exploring the ship/map, some good lore and especulations of what happen in the novels.

[Sgt Snoke Em]

Originally posted by UK_SPAWN:

Performance is all i can complain about. Hopfully better in Enhanced Edition (AKA: "Finished Game Edition") - Gameplay wise and the 40k feel is great!

What he said

Plus this rig has been playing Wolfenstein 2 at max at 1080/60 no probs.

#killallnazis :)

[Woodcot3]

Not played Vermintide so i cannot draw any comparisons but i am a Space Hulk fan and this is the best SH fps for a very long time certainly since the original 1993 Space Hulk pc game from Electronic Arts.
Reading through these posts everyone has a valid comment but your opening statement in my opinion is incorrect - sure it started out quite poor in terms of performance but it is getting and with the Enhance Edition will get better.
Alby's post pretty much mirrors my rig and sums up my experience with this game.
The single player game is ok.... it is something to get used to the controls but where this game really shines is in multiplayer with a squad working together. Ramp up difficulty level so it is not too easy and it becomes a challenging and rewarding gaming experience for any Space Hulk/40k fan.

[Justin Casey]

tried with a Q9 intel and 5 series nvidia at release and it sort of worked, Ive recently upgraded system spec and with tweaks to nvidia profile for the game it is more or less flawless,
even though I have no previous experience with warhammer at all I am finding the game to be entertaining and emersive.

[Baklavah]

No issues running this game atm. However, the lack of progression hurts it. THANKFULLY, the Enhanced Edition is supposed to fix that problem. Expect it within the next month and a half.

[Mr B.]

Short answer is, both single player and Co-op are sub par. It's a lot of little things which also stop it from being as enjoyable, and having any replay value at all.

The story is so poor as to be non existant, and co-op just isn't that fun so hardly anyone plays anymore. And we are talking sub 50 people per month average. http://steamcharts.com/app/298900

For a game thats a year old, that's terrible.

I have to agree with Lord Deimoss, he's spot on. While the maps are simply amazing, somehow the game fails to capture the atmosphere of it's predessors, especially VOTBA.

Part of this is the Terminators, one on hand they look great, but on the other.....they just don't feel like terminators. Guns *feel* underpowered, and if you fall off anything, you float like a leaf. Not to mention you take pretty heavy damage from what looks like stubbers (some say heavy stubbers).

Beware of people saying it's tactical - compared to any of the previous Space hulk games, it's not by any stretch. Yes, you have to watch you don't get flanked and concentrate fire on the big ones, but that's as far as tactical goes. On, and heal spam when people are getting hurt.

Don't even touch this before EE rolls out, and when it does check the reviews. I know there's people here saying it's a good game (and they may genuinely enjoy it), but the numbers are the true guide.

[undefined]

Aside from the multiplayer progression, performance is pretty much the only major issue that remains. I can't keep over 60 frames with an i7 6700k and a 1080 during some firefights. We're all cautiously optimistic about the EE...

[Jolly]

Originally posted by Jalapeño Milkshake:

Aside from the multiplayer progression, performance is pretty much the only major issue that remains. I can't keep over 60 frames with an i7 6700k and a 1080 during some firefights. We're all cautiously optimistic about the EE...

Cautiously optimistic? It sounds like all you guys are dependant on the EE or at least the company is. If EE doesn't live up to everyone's expectations then it sounds like this game is dead and it sounds like you guys have some high expectations for the upcoming EE.


Didn't see much comparison to Vermintide but doesn't sound bad. Not sure how many people who hate this game would come to its forum to give their opinion but I'm just as meh about this unfortunately.


I hope everything works out with the EE. I'll [Follow] this game and come back after that happens, and see what's up.

[Baklavah]

Vermintide doesn't have plasma cannons, autocannons or lightning claws.