Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: Out Now
Players/Online features: 1,2-16 online multiplayer
Words By:
I’m not going to go into great detail as that’d take about a fortnight, but the Warhammer 40,000 universe is set in the 41st millennium, a time when mankind is largely united as “the Imperium of Man”, a pseudo-religious order that purloins many of the Roman Empire’s values and has expanded throughout the known galaxy. A third-person shooter/melee fighting game played from a viewpoint that is very reminiscent of Gears of War, you play as Captain Titus, the heroic leader of the Ultramarines 2nd Company.
The Imperium’s enemies are the Orks (numerous brutish, Shrek-lookalikes) and the Forces of Chaos (who use magic to summon evil from a parallel universe in their attempt to extinguish the human race). Fighting alongside you for much of the campaign are two Space Marine squaddies, Sidonus & Leandros, who are fairly effective but tend to let you do the lion’s share of the killing, which is as it should be. Sometimes their AI seems to take a vacation but they’re invulnerable so they can get away with it. Although success is never reliant on their actions, when I was parted from them for a lengthy, and at times tricky, sewer level, I was really glad to see them again, they do seem to even the numbers up, even if it’s 3 versus 300. Like most games that supply AI help, their assistance, however meagre, is a good thing as the Orks are so plentiful, and despite looking dumb they have some pretty sneaky attacks and ambushes set up for you as well. Regardless of the numbers of enemies attacking you for periods in Space Marine you’ll feel invulnerable, and as long as your Halo-style ‘overshield’ takes all the damage and you then get an opportunity to let it recover, you pretty much are.
A Space Marine is as happy hacking and slashing Orks as he is shooting them. The Space Marine’s melee weapon is initially a simple, if massive Combat Knife, but this can be upgraded to a Chainsword, a Power Axe or, unsurprisingly, a bleedin’ great Warhammer. ‘X’ is a basic attack, ‘Y’ is your alternate attack and simple combos (there’s a handy list in the pause menu) can be performed for extra damage. Basically, if you keep tapping ‘X’ with an occasional ‘Y’ you’ll do plenty of damage, especially when you get your hands on the monstrous Thunder Hammer, a weapon that is so big, heavy and powerful that you can’t use the two-handed firearms while you have it, so it’s worth considering this bonus/handicap situation when equipping it as you won’t be able to swap it out until the next weapons pile you come across.
The melee combat flows beautifully with projectile and beam weapons and it’s very satisfying to mix the two. You only have four weapon slots plus whichever sword/axe you have equipped, so despite the fact that you get new weapons and upgrades supplied to you in ornate capsules regularly, you often find yourself backtracking (if possible) to the last ammo/weapon stash to change weapons for better suitability.
You zoom ‘aim’ with the ‘L’ trigger for more accuracy but most weapons seem quite effective if fired from the hip, in keeping with the run & gun style of combat. One weapon (the Lascannon) has a double zoom mapped to ‘R3’ making it a precision sniper rifle that will take out most of the lesser enemies in one. It’s undeniable that cosmetically Space Marine bears a resemblance to Gears of War and is presented in a similar way too (and even borrows a few enemy types from it), but it has no cover mode, so if Gears is a cover shooter with plenty of melee action then this is an uncovered in-yer-face melee/shooter-for the most part. The weapons invariably do plenty of damage and feel and sound chunky and satisfying to use, and the game's orchestral score matches the action well.
A couple of levels also let you play with a Jump Jet pack, tapping ‘A’ blasts you 50 feet in the air; you can guide your ascent with some degree of accuracy and from up there you can then drop back down in a semi-guided fashion, or do a devastating targeted impact strike with ‘X’ which will kill or stun any enemies nearby.
There are no health packs and no ‘rest & recuperate’ either, a Space Marine regains health by executing enemies by first stunning them with ‘Y’ or weapon damage then executing them with a press of ‘B’. This can be quite tricky when surrounded by 20 or more Orks, and it doesn’t help that ‘B’ doubles for ‘pick up ammo’ so you don’t want to fight anywhere near an ammo pile as this caused a comical if annoying death for me on one occasion. Fortunately you have a ‘Fury’ meter that fills up as you kill. Once the Fury meter is full it glows gold and you can click ‘L3’ & ‘R3’ together to enter Fury mode, enabling vastly enhanced combat knife attacks while simultaneously regaining health.
For all those collect-aholics, there are Servo Skull audio logs dotted around the levels that chronicle various citizens’ experiences during the war. Some of these are very well hidden and finding them all will add a good bit to the game’s lifespan if you’re so driven.
Although it’s in keeping with the classic Warhammer 40k stylings that we’re all familiar with, Titus and his buddies must wear the most impractical and uncomfortable armour I’ve ever seen, and the Space Marines must spend a lot of their wages on petroleum jelly or some other kind of anti-chafing lube. With all the hacking and slashing Captain Titus’s uncomfortable-looking armour gets well splattered with blood, but it seems to be self-cleaning as in the next scene its pristine again. The only problem with all the frantic, bloody melee action is the camera, which pans out a little but still gets pushed closer by level borders or scenery sometimes so you can’t see enough of the action, and the vast amount of blood-splattering and light effects from the weapons mean that it’s impossible to see exactly what’s going on, which will result in Titus’s death on more than a few occasions. The games at the top of this genre (Assassin’s Creed and Prince of Persia) use a more panoramic, dynamic camera and always seem to give you a good view of melee action. Anyhow, it’s all good fun and complaining about a few unfair deaths in a game like this seems churlish.
Some impressive cinematic cut-scenes link the action together nicely and I think they stole a storyboard straight out of Uncharted 2 for the end of one level. The character models are quite good and the scenery has a wonderful sense of scale, but you don’t want to look too close and there’s some inexplicably obvious pop-up in places. The Orks all seem to have what is best described as “Hollywood movie English” or Thames Valley accents, and they sound like ex-Eastenders cast members. Sadly much of the Ork’s speech is recycled too frequently, but their comments will initially raise a smile or two with British gamers.
For the most part I found progression through the game on the default setting to be quite easy and good fun, but there are a few tricky sections, boss battles etc that could cause problems and the game has a few other problems as well. The level designers seem to have put absolutely no thought whatsoever into the checkpoints/restart points in a level. Some restarts make you pick up the same upgrade all over again and others are set just after you’ve made a major weapon choice from which you can’t return, which can radically affect the next battle.
There’s no ‘jump’ button and Space Marines like Titus don’t do that undignified “climbing” business. Invisible walls hem you in to corridors of play, you can’t even walk off the side of ramps and enemies can’t be knocked over edges etc. Despite looking quite expansive at times the game is almost entirely linear, with only a few areas that widen out into something resembling a battlefield arena. In these areas you just know the same old thing is going to happen; a protracted fight against a horde of cannon fodder or a boss fight against some unfeasibly tough enemy or enemies. I can’t get too hard on Space Marine for going down this well-trodden route but an occasional diversion into something resembling originality wouldn’t have gone amiss. After a lot of similar levels suddenly towards the end the level design tips toward a heavier dependency on projectile and beam weapons to dispatch distant powerful enemies than the earlier levels do, and a few of the more intense shootouts even require you to duck and wait for your shield to recover, kind-of improvising a cover mode, so why they didn’t include one Gears-style I don’t know.
I’d also like to pass comment on one of the game’s achievements/trophies; “True Son of the Emperor” which requires you to kill 40,000 enemies of any kind in all game modes. This sounds like a lot even in a game where enemies flood into levels like water, but couldn’t they have given you some idea of how many you’ve killed so far? I hate the kind of accumulative achievement that doesn’t give you so much as a clue as to how far from or close to getting it you are. Microsoft, XBOX, SONY, PSN, whoever’s in charge : DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
The multiplayer game allows you to form your own Space Marine squad or Chaos Marine warband and face off in 8 Vs. 8 online matches. There are two game modes; “Annihilation” or “Seize Ground” (pretty much self-explanatory) and three Marine classes; Devastator, Assault, and Tactical Marine. The ubiquitous XP & Perks system allows you to unlock new weapons and armour to customize and edit your appearance. The 5 maps (Basilica, Hab Center, Shattered Bridge, Manufactorum and Waste Management) are themed on campaign locations and have their individual traits but due to the lack of a jump button (although the jet pack cures at least some of this problem and allows a bit of ‘verticality’) they play pretty much the same. The game plays well enough but fights tend to boil down to a LOT of running around, circle-strafing or capitalising on the mutual damage caused between other players who haven’t spotted you yet. Even with all the perks and weapon upgrades it all feels rather simplistic and old-fashioned compared to most other recent online shooters. At least the jet pack is fun, and the ability to copy your killer’s loadout allows you access to some equipment advanced well beyond your own level-an idea that borders on brilliance. Although it requires an pass code, Space Marine’s online mode does allow you to play up to level 5 before you need to redeem it, another excellent idea.
Warhammer 40k Space Marine is the first Warhammer game to be accessible to the more casual gamer, while staying faithful to the source material. Its brand of shooting combined with violent, gory melee action works well, but the gameplay is a bit too repetitious to recommend with Gears of War 3 around the corner. Maybe if it had some sort of controllable vehicular action (there are a couple of ride-along sections but the Warhammer universe is bristling with cool vehicles, tanks, mechs etc.) or a co-op mode—heck anything to add some variety I would have scored it higher. The solo campaign is solid and the online multiplayer mode, although uninspiring, is well supported and immediately playable. Space Marine is recommended, but only if third person shooters are your meat and drink.
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
