“In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war.” Etched across the bottom of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game rulebook, this saying completely epitomizes the 40k universe. There have been many video games that have ventured into Games Workshop’s world during its nearly 25 year history. None of them have been quite like Space Marine. Sure, Fire Warrior was a decent first-person shooter back in the PlayStation 2 era. Relic’s own Dawn of War series has been the most faithful recreation of the table top game experience and has enjoyed some success on the PC. Nothing, however, has showcased the utter brutality of the 40k universe like Space Marine.
Game: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Relic Entertainment
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Price: $59.99
Pros: Addictive, fun single player with a compelling story. You won’t get tired of killing orks.
Cons: Slightly repetitive. Not enough multiplayer game modes to maintain interest.
Verdict: The definition of a guilty pleasure. Not perfect, but you’ll have too much fun to care.
Purchased by Reviewer
A powerful ork warboss named Grimskull has seen fit to lead his horde of orks to an imperial forge world, an entire planet dedicated to manufacturing the Imperium’s weapons of war. The Imperial Guard tasked with defending the planet are quickly being overrun. With a Liberation fleet light years away and still being mobilized, time is running short for the planet’s defenders. It is thus up to a small squad of Ultramarines to contain the xenos threat.
The player takes the role of Captain Titus, the leader of this squad of Ultramarines. Liberating the planet will involve you killing a lot of orks. To give you an idea of just how many, the introductory “welcome to our game” trophy for Space Marine is “Kill 100 Enemies.” This trophy is earned rather quickly. Enemies can be dispatched using a variety of guns and melee weapons. You will rely heavily on both and achieve some very satisfying results.
Despite its appearance, this third-person action game has as much in common with Devil May Cry as it does Gears of War. While guns are certainly effective at killing an individual greenskin, the clip size and rate of fire simply won’t stop an entire mob. You will find yourself reverting to your trusty Chainsword/Power Axe/Thunder Hammer and getting up close and personal with your foes. Your survival will actually depend on it. Rather then regenerating life over time or picking up health packs, in Space Marine the only way to regain health is to stun an enemy and preform an execution. These executions take a few moments to preform, during which you are still vulnerable. Timing executions correctly is essential as they are the only way to get health back.
Each time you engage a horde of enemies is slightly different. Often times they will be made up of a variety of melee and ranged troops as well the occasional elite “nob”, grenade thrower or dog-like squig strapped with enough explosives to punch through the thick space marine power armor. You must solve each battle rather than mash buttons to win. You must discover which weapons are most useful in which situations. Thankfully, the combat is fun and satisfying enough that dying a few times isn’t enough to keep you from having fun and the kill count for trophies doesn’t get reset upon death. This means that even at its most frustrating moments, Space Marine continues to make you feel like you are progressing as trophies continue to get unlocked.
Overall, the story is quite compelling. The Ultramarines are always cool and collected, making you feel like a legitimate bad ass instead of a screaming dude bro. Orkish banter is hilarious as they attempt to taunt you with their broken cockney accents. There is a fairly satisfying twist that may surprise those not familiar with the 40k universe while providing fan service to those picking up the clues along the way. While the setting is a bit too brown and cold for my liking, the fact that you play a man in bright blue armor shoving a chainsword into the guts of bright green enemies and causing lots of bright red particle effects certainly helps.
Space Marine’s multiplayer is a little less satisfying. Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines battle each other in two game modes. One is basically team deathmatch, first team to 41. The other is a little more interesting, requiring you to capture and hold the various objectives on the map which reward points over time. Players choose from three basic
classes, focused on either firepower, melee or a balance between the two. The most interesting and effective is the melee based class which is equipped with jet packs. This makes them fast and evasive despite their weaker armor.
As you progress through multiplayer you will unlock the ability to customize almost everything about your character. This includes your weapons, perks and your armor. The weapons and perks get progressively more powerful and the newest will usually be best. Some are suited better to certain play styles than others, but for the most part you’ll want the newest unlocks. In the end the jump troopers feel incredibly over powered and the most powerful melee weapon you’ve unlocked is probably the one you’ll be taking along.
The most fun and interesting part of multiplayer is customizing your armor. You can choose the color schemes the various Space Marine Chapters or Chaos Warbands. Alternatively, you can customize the primary and secondary color of each individual piece of armor. Based on your multiplayer performance you will unlock additional armor sets to show off just how bad ass you are.
While the multiplayer is fun for a little while, the lack of variety in gametypes and the fact that you start off so underpowered may mean you don’t spend a lot of time playing. It doesn’t help that a matchmaking bug in the PlayStation 3 version made it almost impossible to find online matches. While the problem has now been fixed, the damage has been done to the online community. Hopefully the addition of a free co-op mode similar to Gears of War’s horde mode later this October will keep the online population that’s still there from moving on.
Despite some flaws, Space Marine is a solid and enjoyable experience. Nothing quite beats single-handedly tearing into a horde orks and coming out on top. It can get a little frustrating towards the end, but good checkpoints make sure that once you’ve battled through a difficult situation you probably won’t be repeating it. Fans of the universe will greatly appreciate the faithful adaptation of the Warhammer 40,000k license, but it isn’t so overbearing that it will alienate outsiders. Space Marine isn’t revolutionary, but it’s a solid third-person action game set in a fascinating universe with combat that will leave you feeling like you probably had more fun tearing apart enemies than you should have.
GrE Grade: B+
Popularity: 2% [?]
