History VideoGame / FireWarrior

** Governor Severus fights you with a plasma rifle and has 4-5 times as much health as a Chaos Space Marine, despite being an ordinary human, solely because he's the BigBad.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Imperial Sergeants have about 4 times the amount of health as regular Guardsmen, and wield a Laspistol in one hand and a chainsword in the other. Stormtrooper Sergeants aren't noticeably tougher than Guardsmen Sergeants, but upgrade from the Laspistol to a plasma pistol.

All in all, it was a pretty mediocre game, [[SoOkayItsAverage meeting with average reviews.]] Developed for Playstation 2 and PC, it shows it age, displaying many of the hallmarks and limitations of 6th generation console FPS games. Unlike the later ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' series, developed by RTS veterans Relic, ''Fire Warrior'' was made by the relatively unknown and inexperienced Kuju Entertainment (who would go on to make the ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'' games). It isn't a bad game by any means -- it's quite fun in places -- just totally forgettable. The [[{{Novelization}} book based on the game]] however is pretty well liked, going more in detail about the Tau culture, mindset and giving the main character a backstory. Also notably, the Tau commander of the Dawn of War expansion Dark Crusade is called "Shas'O [[NamesTheSame Kais]]", with developers heavily implying it's the same man (well, xenos).

All in all, it was a pretty mediocre game, [[SoOkayItsAverage meeting with average reviews.]] Developed for Playstation 2 and PC, it shows it age, displaying many of the hallmarks of 6th generation console FPS games. Unlike the later ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' series, developed by RTS veterans Relic, ''Fire Warrior'' was made by the relatively unknown and inexperienced Kuju Entertainment (who would go on to make the ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'' games). It isn't a bad game by any means -- it's quite fun in places -- just totally forgettable. The [[{{Novelization}} book based on the game]] however is pretty well liked, going more in detail about the Tau culture, mindset and giving the main character a backstory. Also notably, the Tau commander of the Dawn of War expansion Dark Crusade is called "Shas'O [[NamesTheSame Kais]]", with developers heavily implying it's the same man (well, xenos).

In 2003, a computer game was released based on Creator/GamesWorkshop's ever-popular ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' tabletop game. This had happened before several times (the ''TabletopGame/SpaceHulk'' series, ''VideoGame/AspectWarrior'' for the Mega Drive / Genesis), but this one was a first-person shooter. Granted, the ''Space Hulk'' games ''technically'' were too, but suffered from a rather cumbersome click-to-move interface closer to that of old adventure games than modern shooters. Needless to say, all of these were subsequently overshadowed by the more popular ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' series of real-time strategy games. ''Fire Warrior'' remained the only shooter set in the universe until the release of ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'' in 2011.

All in all, it was a pretty mediocre game, [[SoOkayItsAverage meeting with average reviews.]] Unlike the later ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' series, developed by RTS veterans Relic, ''Fire Warrior'' was made by the relatively unknown and inexperienced Kuju Entertainment (who would go on to make the ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'' games). It isn't a bad game by any means -- it's quite fun in places -- just totally forgettable. The [[{{Novelization}} book based on the game]] however is pretty well liked, going more in detail about the Tau culture, mindset and giving the main character a backstory. Also notably, the Tau commander of the Dawn of War expansion Dark Crusade is called "Shas'O [[NamesTheSame Kais]]", with developers heavily implying it's the same man (well, xenos).

* NintendoHard: The first 2/3rds of the game are fairly reasonable in difficulty, but the last 3rd is stupidly hard, as that's the point at which Chaos Space Marines become your standard enemy and for several levels your only option for fighting them is the Bolter, which is startlingly inaccurate considering its relatively slow rate of fire. Things do become a bit more manageable once you get the rail gun.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Imperial Sergeants have 3 times the amount of health as Guardsmen, and wield a Laspistol in one hand and a chainsword in the other. Stormtrooper Sergeants upgrade from the Laspistol to a plasma pistol.

* EliteMooks: Storm Troopers start appearing about an hour or so into the game, and are an upgrade from the basic Guardsmen in every way.

* TheJuggernaut: Space Marines can survive about 14-15 times the amount of gunfire that a basic Imperial Guardsman can, and their standard weapon is functionally a semi-auto antipersonnel rocket launcher, while still being as quick and maneuverable as any other enemy type despite their heavy armor. Fortunately, you'll usually have access to heavy weapons to take them on.

* BadassNormal: Kais kills no less a foe than a Space Marine in the first hour of the game and progressively gets more insane from there. By the end of it he'll have killed well over two dozen Space Marines, ''several dozen'' Chaos Space Marines, dozens of Chaos and Tech Priests, six Chaos Obliterators, three Dreadnoughts, two Daemon Princes, a Titan (which, admittedly, was inactive at the time), and a Lord of Change.

* BadassNormal: Kais kills no less a foe than a Space Marine in the first hour of the game and progressively gets more insane from there. By the end of it he'll have killed well over two dozen Space Marines, ''several dozen'' Chaos Space Marines, dozens of Chaos and Tech Priests, multiple powerful daemons, three Dreadnoughts, a Titan, and a Lord of Change.

* HitboxDissonance: The hitboxes in the game are overall pretty janky, with projectiles often passing completely through enemies without impacting them.

* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: The Heavy Stubber stands out for being a bog-standard assault rifle ripped straight out of a contemporary FPS in a galaxy full of [[EnergyWeapon Energy Weapons]] and micro-RPG launchers.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Imperial Officers have 3 times the amount of health as Guardsmen, and wield a Laspistol in one hand and a chainsword in the other.

* BadassNormal: Kais kills no less a foe than a Space Marine in the first hour of the game and progressively gets more insane from there. By the end of it he'll have killed well over ''a hundred'' Space Marines, dozens of Chaos and Tech Priests, multiple powerful daemons, three Dreadnoughts, a Titan, and a Lord of Change.

* HandCannon: The Laspistol packs a surprising punch, killing Guardsmen with just 2 torso shots or 1 headshot. However, it only holds 6 charges per mag, and ammo for it is more scarce than for the Lasrifle or Stubber.

** Even though a Fire Warrior is not too far removed from [[RedshirtArmy a human Imperial Guardsman,]] Kais racks up a ridiculous body count, including seven hundred Imperial Guardsmen and over a hundred Space Marines, on top of blowing up dozens of artillery pieces and mechs. He literally kills more Chaos Space Marines than [[VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine Captain Titus!]] He does this all in under 24 hours, by the way.

* LimitedLoadout: the player is able to use two weapons and the bonding knife, but one of those weapons (The standard-issue Pulse Gun) cannot be replaced except with another Tau weapon (you cannot carry two human weapons at once), forcing the player, in practice, to drop any gun they find to get another one for the first hour or so of the game.

* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: The Heavy Stubber stands out for being a bog-standard assault rifle ripped straight out of a contemporary FPS in a galaxy full of [[EnergyWeapon]]s and micro-RPG launchers.

* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: The Heavy Stubber stands out for being a bog-standard assault rifle ripped straight out of a contemporary FPS in a galaxy full of [[Energy Weapon]]s and micro-RPG launchers.

* EmergencyWeapon: A wakizashi (short sword). Based on what was added to the Tau lore later, it's probably Kais's [[BloodBrothers Bonding Knife]].

* LimitedLoadout: the player is able to use two weapons and the bonding knife, but one of those weapons (The standard-issue Pulse Gun) cannot be replaced, forcing the player, in practice, to drop any gun they find to get another one.

In 2003, a computer game was released based on Creator/GamesWorkshop's ever-popular ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' tabletop game. This had happened before several times (the ''TabletopGame/SpaceHulk'' series, ''VideoGame/AspectWarrior'' for the Mega Drive / Genesis), but this one was a first-person shooter. Granted, the ''Space Hulk'' games ''technically'' were too, but suffered from a rather cumbersome click-to-move interface closer to that of old adventure games than modern shooters. Needless to say, all of these were subsequently overshadowed by the massively popular ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' series of real-time strategy games. ''Fire Warrior'' remained the only shooter set in the universe until the release of ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000SpaceMarine'' in 2011.

* AcceptableBreaksFromReality: One of the main criticisms of the game, at least from hardcore 40k fans, is how Kais doing so well in his campaign is ridiculously improbable by the setting's standards.
** The book based on the game goes to some lengths to explain how he does so well. [[spoiler: It was a Chaos god pulling strings to get him to where he was needed, of course]]
** The severe {{Nerf}}ing of the native Tau weaponry seems to be to encourage the player to actually use many of the other weapons in the game, which otherwise the Pulse Rife and Carbine would out-shoot everything but the heavy weapons.

* BadassNormal: Kais kills no less a foe than a Space Marine in the first hour of the game and progressively gets more insane from there.

* HumansThroughAlienEyes

* InferredHolocaust: Invoked by one of the Tau Air Caste captains during a space battle with an Imperial fleet. He wonders how the "gue'la" manage to cope with the complexity of space battles without the aid of artificial intelligence like what the Tau use, reasoning that they compensate by shear numbers of manpower. This causes him to realize that every missile impact he makes on one of their ships is genocide. He finds it a sobering thought.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Averted but not inverted. Kinetic and Energy weapons are spread over the power scale pretty much randomly. Played relatively straight with the [[MagneticWeapons Rail Rifle]]. Although the stubber (an M16 assault rifle in all but name) does outperform the lasrifle.
* KnightInSourArmor: El'Lusha in the novelisation has seen enough of the universe to realise that the Greater Good is hopelessly utopian and the Tau are struggling in a CrapsackWorld. However, he stresses to Kais that as long as they follow the right path and do everything in the name of the Greater Good, that in itself is good enough.

** Aun'El'Kovash tries to give one of these speeches to the Xenobiologica adept in charge of his imprisonment, comparing his faith in the GodEmperor to the Greater Good. [[ShutUpHannibal The adept is not swayed]].

** JustForFun/{{Egregious}}, considering the universe it's set in, and you're playing as a basic footsoldier not too far removed from [[RedshirtArmy a human Imperial Guardsman.]]
** Done much better in the book, he has a squad with him most of the time, for the most part only kills a few dozen. Most of his kills are a result of him damaging an Imperial Ship. Also he's very, very much horrified by his actions, oh [[spoiler: and the Chaos God Khorne been helping him by giving him HeroicWillpower]]

** '''Unrelated:''' The carbine has a GrenadeLauncher, which is used with the grenade key.

* ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge: The Heavy Stubber stands out for being a bog-standard assault rifle ripped straight out of a contemporary FPS in a galaxy full of [[Energy Weapon}}s and micro-RPG launchers.

** '''Select Fire:''' Most rapid-fire guns (excluding the lasrifle) can fire a single, accurate shot my right-clicking.
** '''Seperate but Unrelated:''' The carbine has a GrenadeLauncher, which is used with the grenade key.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Averted but not inverted. Kinetic and Energy weapons are spread over the power scale pretty much randomly. Played relatively straight with the [[MagneticWeapons Rail Rifle]].

* CanonImmigrant: Rules and models for the Tau Orca DropShip, the ''Emissary''-class cruiser, and the [[{{BFG}} Rail Rifle]] were made for the tabletop games later on. Notably, Forge World's Orca is far, ''far'' larger than its videogame counterpart.

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Averted but not inverted. Kinetic and Energy weapons are spread over the power scale pretty much randomly.

All in all, it was a pretty mediocre game, [[SoOkayItsAverage meeting with average reviews.]] Unlike the later ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' series, developed by RTS veterans Relic, ''Fire Warrior'' was made by the relatively unknown and inexperienced Kuju Entertainment (who would go on to make the ''VideoGame/BattalionWars'' games). It isn't a bad game by any means -- it's quite fun in places -- just totally forgettable. The [[{{Novelization}} book based on the game]] however is pretty well liked, going more in detail about the Tau culture, mindset and giving the main character a backstory. Also notably, the Tau commander of the Dawn of War expansion Dark Crusade is called "Shas'O [[NamesTheSame Kais]]", with developers heavily implying it's the same man.

* [[GunshipRescue Battlesuit Rescue]]:
** In the novel, [[spoiler: when Kais is facing the greater daemon in its final form of a bloodthirster of Khorne, he has been blinded with UnstoppableRage, run out of ammunition, infected with disease, just [[AnArmAndALeg Lost An Arm]], and crossed the DespairEventHorizon, when El'Lusha and his Crisis team drop in, unloading missiles and fusion guns into the thing, smiting it in a flurry of heavy gunfire.]]
** In the game, however, [[spoiler:Kais kills the demon lord singlehandedly (a Tzeentch Lord of Change this time). He still needs the GunshipRescue, but only because there's no ladder back to the surface.]]
* BeginnersLuck: AND HOW!

* [[MissionControlIsOffItsMeds Mission Control Hates You]]: When [[SpaceMarine Ardias]] takes over for your MissionControl. Most of the time he keeps his xenophobia reeled in for the sake of the mission, but during the "blow up the [[HumongousMecha titan]]" level he can't go two minutes without calling you and the whole Tau race sniveling weaklings.

* [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy Pretty Fly (For A Blue Guy)]]: When a Tau delegation comes aboard the Imperial flagship in order to negotiate a cease-fire, Admiral Constantine observes them through remote cameras, noticing that the Tau diplomats were dressed in imitation of Imperial fashions, though without necessarily understanding the meaning behind them. For example, one had a sash with several things that looked like military medals, but only vaguely fit the pattern of Imperial ones, and another wore something akin to a Stormtrooper's gas mask, but was clearly only decorative and non-functional. All of the items were of xenos manufacture rather than captured human items, presumably in an attempt to make the humans more comfortable with them. Constantine reflects that he would have found the procession comical if he were not so concerned about contamination.

** {{Egregious}}, considering the universe it's set in, and you're playing as a basic footsoldier not too far removed from [[RedshirtArmy a human Imperial Guardsman.]]