Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

The Warhammer 40,000 universe is one steeped in rich history and diverse, colourful storylines set in the far future, filled with a host of rather angry factions bent on destroying one another. From its humble beginnings as the board game Space Hulk through to its table top miniature war game, the 40K universe has been the inspiration for many games of varying levels of success, from Fire Warrior to the acclaimed Dawn of War series. So by now, gamers are pretty familiar with Space Marines.

For those of you that aren’t, Space Marines are essentially mankind’s first and most revered line of defence in the 40,000th Century. Clad in nigh-impenetrable (and rather ornate) armour, and sporting a variety of nasty, oversized weapons, these 9-foot giants are battle-hardened killing machines capable of taking on the nastiest things their enemies can hurl at them without so much as a wince.

The game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine places you in the titular role as Captain Titus of the Ultramarines: as tough, stoic and unemotional a protagonist as could befit a lead character from the popular third-person shooter genre. The premise of the game sees Titus and his vanguard team land on the planet of Graia (which is essentially a giant factory for the manufacturing of equally massive weapons of war) to fight off a horde of Orks that have taken to the idea of stealing said massive weapons - a perfect setup for the carnage that’s about to follow.

One of the things that impressed me most about Space Marine was its sheer sense of weight - you really do feel every step that the Marines take in their heavy and awesome-looking armour and when you get the jump pack in later parts of the game, there’s nothing more satisfying than plummeting from high above and pounding the ground, sending enemies flying in every direction. It’s the little nuances like that that make Relic’s latest offering stand out from other games in the genre. Well, that and hacking everything to pieces with a chain-sword, which brings us to one of the most entertaining aspects of this game: the combat.

A significant portion of the game is dedicated to close-combat and often sees Titus engulfed in a sea of enemies, which makes it all the better when you cleave/smash through them with one of the game’s four melee weapons. The combat system revolves around mashing the 'X' button - the more you press it, the more powerful the attack, leading to spectacular 300-style slow-motion carnage. The attacks can also be chained with stun blows, which can become area-effect strikes should you become a little overwhelmed by enemies. Once the enemy is stunned, you can end them in wonderfully visceral executions, which vary depending on the enemies' armour types and triggered by either a single press or mini-game button mashers (from the easily squished Gretchins to Chaos Space Marines later in the game).

The combat is spectacular in every sense of the word and exudes a sense of cinematic style and precision, but it's somewhat let down by the controls. There was often a time that I’d stun an enemy, only to end up standing around looking silly because I wasn’t looking at exactly the right angle to press the 'B' button to perform an execution - which more often than not ends up in your death. I also felt that the button combos were sorely limited. Maybe it’s because I’m a massive fan of fighting games, but there’s just something really bland about tapping the same button four times and watching a slow-mo cinematic that rewards you for mashing your controller. You can string stun-attacks, but it’s still a matter of pressing 'X' three times, then pressing 'Y'. Maybe I’m being pedantic, but I would’ve loved some crazy combos thrown in.

That’s really only a minor gripe though, because it really is fun to mindlessly button bash and watch as Orkish guts fly around the screen. Space Marine isn’t just a melee game though and the shooting is done with absolute finesse and skill. A large part of this is due to the sound and overall feel of the ranged weaponry - the bolt gun (the Space Marine’s standard assault rifle, which is anything but standard) feels punchy and powerful and with a well-placed headshot can take out even the greatest of foes. There’s a great balance between all the weapons, each with benefits and downsides, but I mainly found myself using the bolter and Multi-Melta (which is basically a shotgun that shoots super-heated energy and melts everything in front of it with glorious technicolour death). Regardless of capability though, there are weapon combos that suit any style of play, and with Titus being able to carry four at a time, you can plan your assaults ahead of time.

The story left me in two minds: on the one hand, you have the gallant heroes setting off to save a planet from an invasion whilst an underlying sense of malice lurks beneath all the evisceration and explosions with maniacal Inquisitors and evil Chaos Lords. On the other hand though, I couldn’t help but think "this is SO Star Wars" every time Titus and the Chaos Lord spoke to each other, which often felt contrived and a little cheesy.

There are a few other problems that rear their ugly head through the game, namely an extremely linear campaign, to the point that each piece of debris has been strategically placed to guide you from one battle to the next. Exploration only really occurs with a very crow-barred collection sub-game that feels unnecessary in comparison to the overall scope of the game, and the setting, whilst admirably epic, falls victim to repetitive design. Sure, you probably won’t notice this whilst you’re mashing Orks, but there’s just something missing that could’ve made the game truly beautiful.

You also tend to die a lot. There’s no real warning that you’re low on health until the screen greys out and you’ll often get taken out by a couple of grenades or rockets, which feel overpowered, leading to you having to repeat entire sequences in the game. This can get frustrating when it’s one of the more enemy-heavy segments and you often have to run and hide in a very un-Space Marine-ish manner (despite THQ’s insistence that Space Marines don’t hide from anything).

Once you've given the Orks hell in the single-player, it's time to jump into one of two multiplayer modes: Annihilation, a traditional slaughter-fest, with the first team to reach 41 kills being the winner; and Assault, a 'Capture the Control Point' style mode. The multiplayer mode works off class-based progression, allowing for a broad spectrum of customisable character development and weaponry. While there's nothing we haven't seen before, the multiplayer mode is competent enough to provide gamers with a few more hours of entertainment outside of the standard campaign.

Overall, and despite its flaws, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is just plain fun. Does it stand out from its competitor titles like Gears or Resistance 3? Yes and no: It offers the unique characters and visual aesthetics of the Warhammer 40k universe, but it’s also not a major departure from the run 'n' gun formula (with the exception of the melee combat). It’s visually stunning, with sprawling landscapes, but the settings suffer from being a little generic and sparse at times. Its best features, and perhaps the ones that do make it stand out, are the music, sound and animation - all of which are true to THQ’s and Relic’s usually high standards. If you’re a fan of the Warhammer universe, like squelching things with giant metal boots or just looking for some good ol’ arcade style carnage, then Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will hit the spot.

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