Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor-Martyr PS4 Review

Posted on: 2018-08-31

Our rating:

If you can overlook some of the technical issues, you will have a blast with this action role playing game.


Once again I find myself in the world of Warhammer 40k, with my last outing as the hulking Ultra Marines was with the flawed but fun first person shooter Spacehulk Deathwing, yes that is the title. This time though it is not a shooter but a top down action role playing game, which is great as I can finally scratch that Diablo III itch as I get hooked on these type of games. Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor – Martyr, my goodness that is a long title, I’ll be referring to it as Inquisitor for the rest of the review is a great game with some technical issues.  

Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor-Martyr PS4 Review

You play as the titular Inquisitor who has been sent in to investigate a disturbance, where he finds that a platoon of Ultra Marines have been slaughtered by the crazed Chaos Cult. As the Inquisitor you are in search of the Martyr, which is a mysterious ship that has teleported within the star system which houses technology that The Imperium of Man wants to harness. The story as per usual in the Warhammer 40k universe is over the top, with voice acting that is delivered in a grandiose manner as the Ultra Marines shouts “kill the heretics” for the 40th time.

Gameplay is a top down action RPG, if you have play Diablo III then you will feel very comfortable with the controls and user interface layout although it is obviously more science fiction instead of the high fantasy. You have several slots for weapons, abilities and of course healing items, you can equip two sets of weapons where you can then switch on the fly which helps for different situations. You can either use range, close quarters and of course melee weapons of the mythos my favourite being the chain sword because who doesn’t like slicing enemies in two with something that doubles as a gardening tool. The gameplay stays fresh with the different weapons and tactics you can use, if you are under heavy fire you can take cover, however your enemies can do the same and the barricades you hide behind can be destroyed. This adds a layer of tension and makes you think about the combat scenario before you run in like a headless chicken.

Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor-Martyr PS4 Review

You can upgrade your character in standard skill tree like most action role playing games; however this is where things get a bit convoluted and overwhelming. You have a lot of choices to pick from, with the standard increase damage or health, but you get a skill tree within a skill tree and it can get a bit pressuring as I was unsure where to put my skill points.

Once again we get a good representation of the Warhammer 40k universe, with a good mix of science fiction and gothic architecture. There is a great amount of detail during combat too, with enemies exploding into a bloody heap as you cut them down with your bolter. The issue I had with presentation, performance and audio of all things, is that the frame rate starts to really tank when there are lots of enemies on screen it drops down to single digits it was almost eye straining. Audio was also another issue, not because it was too quiet because it was way too loud where some sound effects started to distort especially in the pre-rendered cinematics. The user interface is rather messy too; you can really tell that this game was made for the PC as navigating the menus and skill trees with a controller is about as intuitive as shifting from 5th to reverse.

Overall Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor – Martyr (seriously could you not come up with a shorter title) is a flawed but immersive game, where I would find that I have clocked four hours in one sitting. If you can overlook some of the technical issues, you will have a blast with this action role playing game.

3/5

Warhammer 40k: Inquisitor-Martyr PS4 Review



Article by:

Sam Coles - a.k.a. The Bristolian Gamer

Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.