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2
Bad

Necromunda: Hired Gun - Review

Unreached Potential
Score: 2/5
Reviewed by Oliver VanDervoort on Xbox One - June 10, 2021   

It feels like every other game getting released these days has something to do with the Warhammer universe. That's both a positive and a negative. On the plus side, anyone who truly loves this universe, whether talking about the high fantasy world that is the original Warhammer, or the Warhammer 40K which is set quite a bit in the future, can find what they’re looking for. On the other hand, it feels like perhaps a closer focus would do quite a bit good for several different titles. Of course, one of the things that makes it possible to make so many games in the same universe is that there is so much story available. It’s a safe bet that a game like Necromunda: Hired Gun couldn’t exist if the focus was much tighter.

Necromunda: Hired Gun is the latest title from French developer Streum on Studios and is set in the 40k time period. Players take on the role of a Bounty Hunter working in the Underhive, a place where all the baddies of the universe tend to gather to have their brand of fun. With a Cyber Hound by the bounty hunter’s side, users work through 13 main campaign missions and enough side content to keep someone who really gets into the story busy. Part of the problem is, really getting into the story is a bit of a problem. That’s not because the story is an especially bad one, but because there are so many game breaking bugs that it becomes hard after a while to want to continue. We’ll get to that in a moment. First the one thing that does make Necromunda: Hired Gun a good time, every once in a while.

Killer Pup Provides Some Fun

The key mechanic that sets this game apart from others is that the bounty hunter is accompanied by a partner, of sorts. A Cyber Hound that is more than just a companion. The Cyber Hound is actually a battle mechanic that can be set loose on enemies to take them down when the player is engaged in other combat.

That Cyber Hound operates on a cooldown timer when it comes to using it for attacks. In the meantime, there’s the ability of seeing where enemies under cover or coming from behind you might be. The Cyber Hound and the main character can both be upgraded throughout the game. At first, the cooldown felt far too long, but after a few upgrades, the dog becomes a weapon that actually makes combat feel a little too easy. 

While there is some potential, especially with a wide variety of weapons. There’s also the melee feature that comes with a takedown prompt. This prompt can quickly dispatch enemies who otherwise would take 50 shotgun blasts to kill. In other words, it’s broken to a level that, once mastered, takes a lot of fun out of the game. Paired with the ability to stun enemies, and then take them down, combat becomes rather simple. That’s also thanks to the fact that A.I. isn’t remotely impressive. There are some scenes where the people that vastly outnumber the player, will stand around and wait to be taken down. Along with the dog, the takedown ability overpowers the bounty hunter to the point where it’s far to easy to take down the biggest level boss.

It appears the developers tried to fix the overpowered hero by not allowing users to change his loadout during a mission. That would be a bummer if the game was a bit better. Because the ability to change loadouts before missions is actually pretty fun. It’s one of the best aspects of Necromunda: Hired Gun.  Players can only set things up before they head out. However, again, with the dog’s takedown and the hunter’s ability to melee everyone to death, changing up weapons and armor doesn’t seem all that important.

The Story Has Problems All On Its Own

While combat can be fun at times, and rather tedious at others, it’s easily the best part of the game. That’s because the actual story mode is shallow and uninspiring. The plot alternates between being being nonsensical and boring. The dialogue in cut scenes is also just pretty bad. There also seems to be just a bit too much explanation of things that could have been explained better using the actual in game combat discussions. Most involve characters monologuing at players or having two characters exchange words while you...kinda just watch. Then there’s some rather annoying problems with the story in that very simple things like making sure that the sex of the character is actually being logged by the A.I. The player character matters so little in all that’s happening, in fact, that enemies will shout “kill him” even if the character is a woman.

Gore, Gore and More Gore

Not everything about Necromunda: Hired Gun is a let down. This isn’t a disaster of a game. It simply feels unfinished. The gore level, on the other hand is quite good. It seems as though most of the time and attention in this game was spent on making sure that when players do kill an enemy, they’re going to remember it.

That doesn’t mean any one scene is going to be memorable, but at least when someone mows through enemies, there’s plenty of blood and gord to let players know they have indeed, mowed through people at a good clip. Had Necromunda: Hired Gun also been sanitized, it would have been the final straw. As it is, if someone wants to spend 15 to 20 minutes just going in and killing as many people as possible, there’s some fan to be had there. 

Technical Issues Are Icing On The Cake

The fun that can be had in just lighting up enemies is the one saving grace of Necromunda: Hired Gun. The problem is that some very real glitches are going to undermine that from time to time. The game crashed several times on the Xbox Series X. That’s something that should just never happen on a console in 2021. 

There’s also plenty of phasing through walls or the camera going more than a little crazy in the middle of combat. It feels as if the game simply wasn’t built to keep up with the action, when it really gets going. That led to me taking time off more than I normally would have done.

When all is said and done, there are some aspects of the game that would have been very good, if done right. Including the Cyber Hound. Unfortunately, the game’s developers left far too many ideas unfinished to really be all that good.

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