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Review friv game of Necromunda: Hired Gun – DOOM at minimum wages

by | Oct 22, 2023 | Podcast

Necromunda: Hired Gun has a great combat system, but everything else is far from perfect. We tell in the review whether it is worth spending time on a new shooter in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

In the 40000 world, there are hive planets – the most populated regions of the Imperium, containing billions of inhabitants who work in gigantic industrial complexes, supplying mountains of a wide variety of goods. These industrial planets are polluted and often engulfed in chaos, where the strongest survive, and numerous gangs divide zones of influence, being in permanent confrontation with each other.

This is where our main character appears, a mercenary (gender and appearance you can choose before starting the online games from the studio website Friv2Online Games), who joins the center of the war between local authorities. As a result of an unsuccessful mission, he loses his partners, and he himself is saved by the bounty hunter Cal Jericho, offering to cooperate in uncovering a large-scale conspiracy.

There could be an interesting scenario here, but in fact, the plot of Necromunda: Hired Gun is straightforward and simple, at the same time, the game dumps so much unnecessary information on the player that it becomes difficult to isolate something really important in its abundance. Names of gangs, names of criminal bosses, some events – all this overloads the story and reduces the value of the main goal. As a result, by the middle of the storyline, I didn’t want to delve into the next intricacies of the relationship between the factions, so the missions were chosen by random – just to start shooting as soon as possible.

Especially since the friv game is in perfect order with the gunplay. Necromunda: Hired Gun feels like a budget version of the new DOOM series, with high-quality shooting, a large selection of weapons, and even parkour elements in the form of double jumps and wall runs. A hook-cat is able to make the gameplay more vertical, instantly leave the line of enemy fire and take the dominant height.

Shooting in the friv game is nice. There are many weapons, the recoil is well felt, and you will not confuse the sensations of a weak submachine gun and a heavy bolter, whose hits tear the enemy carcass apart. Enemies are stupid, but their numerical superiority and accuracy make them spin like a snake, jump and strafe, throw grenades, finish off in close combat, use augmentations like time dilation – in general, have fun in every possible way.

A cyber-modified mastiff has become an addition to dynamic skirmishes. He can be called upon at any time, and he can highlight opponents, attack them independently and on command. Not to say that this is an indispensable companion, especially since he disappears half a minute after the call, but he introduces a certain amount of diversity, and in some places even helped me find the right path in the intricate labyrinths of the hive world.

In between missions, the protagonist returns to the base, where he can upgrade his abilities and characteristics, improve (and pet!) his pet, upgrade weapons – if only there was money. The latter can be obtained on missions if you kill bandits in style. In addition, you can sell unnecessary weapons, equipment and gadgets: in Necromunda: Hired Gun, like in some RPG, there is a gradation according to the level of item rarity, and if you find, for example, a powerful “yellow” shotgun, then the same “ white “you can safely carry it to the hoarder. By the way, the weapon consists of replaceable modules, and with upgrades you can significantly change its characteristics.

Right there, at the base, you can chat with some NPCs, take the main and side missions (the second ones are needed only to earn money and do not offer anything interesting, using parts of previously visited locations), admire the brutal aesthetics of the combination of metal and concrete.

However, the latter is also true for other locations. The developers perfectly conveyed the grimdark style inherent in the Warhammer 40,000 setting, the pathos and aesthetics of the dark techno-fantasy universe are implemented at the highest level. Giant landfills, cyclopean machines, dirt and devastation – this is exactly what a hive planet should be.

On the other hand, navigating this rusty beauty is not very convenient. At huge levels, it can be difficult to find the right door or passage, and even the target mark does not always help to find the right path. The friv game lacks contrast, lacks visual cues, and at times I had to wander around in circles or blindly poke into walls.

And Necromunda: Hired Gun is like that in everything. It seems that everything is not bad, but it is worth taking a closer look – and bumps and roughness come out. An abundance of weapons from which you really use a couple of barrels. Leveling, which could be cut from the game without a significant impact on gameplay. Fuss in the inventory, overloaded and uncomfortable. A Cybermastiff that feels of little use. Fun battles with stupid opponents. Beautiful location design and prohibitively high load on PC components, frequent drops in frame rate and numerous bugs. I would like to dwell on the latter in more detail: you can get used to stuttering phrases and getting stuck in objects in objects, but shortly before the final, the game simply erased my save. These kinds of mistakes are unforgivable.

As a result, we have a very average shooter, a kind of “beshka” that you can devote a couple of evenings to when there is a free “window” between major releases. But don’t expect anything more from Necromunda: Hired Gun, and in general – don’t expect anything from this friv game other than pleasant shooting.

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