Put down that pot of Bleached Bone and hide your dice, as WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE gets rid of the tactics and brings action back to the 40K universe. Can RTS veterans Relic really turn their hand to third-person action?
In today’s games, cover is king. Chest-high walls and pressing shoulders against corners are the accepted norms for third-person action games: whether you’re skulking around snapping necks or blind-firing at the neon eye-stalks of alien bastards, it’s so very important to shy away from view and hide your backside from the flying lead. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine laughs in the face of such cowardice, and reminds you what it’s like to be an insane badass again.
With the Dawn of War series happily catering to the PC RTS crowds, the Warhammer 40K universe has been in need of a fresh approach for a long time now – it’s been eight years since the forgettable Fire Warrior gave us the last dose of strategy-free action. What Space Marine does very right is there in the title: it turns you into nine-foot tall, genetically-altered, superhuman killing machine, clad in practically a tank’s worth of power armour plating and armed with an array of ranged hand cannons and something heavy, sharp or serrated.
This means Waaagh!
The Forge World of Graia, essentially a massive planet converted by the Imperium into a military factory complex, has been invaded by an Ork mob led by Warboss Grimskull. With Imperial Guard forces decimated by the greenskin numbers, Ultramarine forces are deployed to buy the Liberation fleet time and stop the colossal Titan war machines falling into the horde’s hands. To mark his entrance, Ultramarine Captain Titus begins his assault as he means to go on: by smashing an Ork ship into the planet itself.
Of course, this wouldn’t be the insatiably grim 40K universe if there weren’t stings in the tale and a much greater foe than gretchin, Shoota Boyz and the occasional Nob. A mysterious, Warp-powered power source leads to the corruption of Chaos forces being unleashed across the banged-up planet, turning the defence into a three-way battle for control. This is Games Workshop fiction at its best: just another day in the life of a Space Marine, fighting against incredible odds one bolt at a time.
Although it could be argued that the Ultramarines are the most generic chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, what they might lack in inimitability is lost in Titus’ abilities on the battlefield. Wading into the thick of battle, Titus can slice and dice with his chainsword, slash with a power axe or crush with the mighty Thunder Hammer, crunching and demolishing Orks into puffs of Blood Red paint, soaking his armour in the crimson gore.
Despite the crowds of foes that surround you, the fighting is less about button-mashing and more about effective use of combos, dodging and executions. When surrounded or facing Ork Nobs, Chaos Champions or anyone with a clear strength and size advantage, diving and dodging out of the way gives you the opportunity to recharge your shield and avoid getting cut down. With no regenerating health and no medipacks, keeping your lethal man-machine alive is the execution system, which feeds you a burst of health every time you perform a brutal takedown on a stunned enemy. The downside? You’re particularly vulnerable as you eviscerate, bifurcate or stomp your way back to safety.
For the emperor!
Rather than accept early comments about Space Marine trying to be ‘Gears of Warhammer’, the real correlations between Epic’s series and Relic’s new escapade are far more refined. Titus’ abilities with Bolters, shotgun-style Meltas and sniper Lascannons are second to none, allowing clean, powerful and accurate shots that lend real brawn to the gunplay. A well-placed bolter shot could mush an Ork’s skull inside out, while controlled bursts can bring Chaos Space Marines to their corrupted knees efficiently.
Relic’s done a masterful job blurring the lines between shooting and slashing, with near-perfect controls that make it a pleasure to switch from ranged to close combat. As you’d expect there are the odd camera gripes – especially awkward when you get your hands on jump packs – but for the most part they’re solid and leave you with a strong connection to Titus’ actions. Falling in battle during the Campaign frustrates, but you’re always left with better ideas how to approach the battle rather than pad-hurling rage.
The combat, as brutal as it is, does start to wane the deeper into the campaign you go. Although with both Orks and Chaos to fight there’s a decent array of enemy types to dispatch, it becomes par for the course later on to hang back and pick off bothersome rocket troops and thinning the ranks of ranged units before diving into close combat, as you have no way to protect yourself from projectiles. As much of a badass as Titus is, you’re left with little choice but to break up the dynamic gameplay into manageable chunks.
You still feel like a borderline berserker, albeit one that has to cheat the system to keep up, or resort to using your charged Fury power to give you a power boost and temporary regenerating health. Eventually the variety wears thin and you’re left with a steady progression of predictable battles and the odd quiet moment, which always sets you up for what’s coming by laying out a palette of different weapons to switch out. Space Marine almost feels like its missing a weapon upgrade system, as there’s just no progression to how you fight – just regression into the old habits of using scenery for cover and kiting suicidal Orks until your Iron Cross shield regenerates.
Imperial leathernecks
As you progress through Graia, the Gears influence once again comes through in the ruined industrial complexes and thrashed, cold metal infrastructure of the Forge World. Despite the epic look to the world and the deep, bright colours of the Orcs and Chaos energies, it’s hard for Space Marine to shake the lifeless grey/brown tones of the rubble and it never takes players anywhere interesting. Except for the time you climb about one of the gigantic Titans for five minutes. The gothic architecture that’s still standing has as much life as the painted polystyrene architecture that litter the tabletop games, and you spend far more time exploring sewers and factories anyway.
Space Marine comes equipped with its own variation of the Online Pass, with a single-use Elite code that grants access to the full multiplayer experience and levelling system. Like the single-player, the multiplayer initially appears to be a brutal and bountiful experience to immerse yourself in, but it ends up falling far shorter than expected.
Weighing in at just five maps and two game modes, Space Marine easily fails to justify the extra expense for second-hand purchases – at least at launch. There’s the promise of a free co-op Horde-style DLC and maybe more, but on its own a first-to-41 Team Deathmatch and Conquest-alike Seize Ground are all you get to choose from, and it really isn’t enough to sustain your interest until you can reach the maximum level of 41.
Miniature heroes
With tons of customisation options reminiscent of Relic’s work with Dawn of War, it’s a damn shame that there’s just so little variety to the online action. Actually getting stuck into the action has proved to be problematic around the time of launch, with sluggish matchmaking and poor network performance ruining many games, and the lengthy loading times don’t help. Until it gets an injection of content and stabilises, Space Marine’s multiplayer feels unfulfilled and frustratingly imprecise.
Even though Space Marines stumbles in so many areas, as a package the game is undeniably compelling. It’s environments and combat might lack variety but the powerful combat and 40K aesthetic add plenty of spice, and the action/shooter elements complement each other… when you’re not playing on Hard, that is. The story’s far from the stuff of legends, but it satisfies the high fantasy sci-fi nerves right up until the Obvious Sequel Setup. But when the game’s not kicking your arse, you really do feel like an almighty, unstoppable Space Marine.
A lack of ambition and variety hamper a game with real bite, and a malnourished and mistreated multiplayer sour what could have been a truly extraordinary package. Space Marine has a lot of heart and 40K fans will adore it no matter what, but it isn’t enough to be a classic.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, from Relic and THQ, is out now for Xbox 360 (reviewed), PlayStation 3 and PC.
I want this but don’t know if I want it but want it
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Kevin Pabst (September 15th, 2011)
I’ve watched it being played and I can say that it does look like a lot of fun in the online multiplayer.
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Emily King (October 2nd, 2011)