Warhammer 40K: Space Marine

"It has one thing down to perfection: Brutality."

Developer: Relic Entertainment
Publisher: THQ
Release Date: September 6,  2011
Platform(s): PC, PS3, X360
Genre: Action, Shooter


From a nerd standpoint, it’s strange to see Relic Entertainment take on the Warhammer franchise. The Games Workshop flagship is probably the most hardcore a nerd can get and that isn’t exactly considered cool, not even in an ironic sense. Assembling and painting soldiers and objects, to then have a virtual brawl with tons of rulers, templates, dice and a huge rulebook isn’t exactly as riveting as teen binge drinking. In short, Warhammer is like what advanced algebra sounds like to the average youngster. And yet, somehow, Relic can shape this universe in such a way that it seems to be totally awesome; like a real rugged and exciting experience to partake in.
 

 

That’s mainly because they understand one thing: Kids dig blood. So without further ado, let’s present the most prominent feature of Space Marine: Carnage; pure carnage. Naturally, such massacres can only take place in desolate environments, filled with scrap metal and other brownish debris. It’s not the most original of locales, quite the opposite, but luckily it retains some color details here and there to keep it from being one big blur. There seems to be no such thing as a colorful apocalypse though, even in space.

The atmosphere gets enhanced by ambient music and some quality voice acting, which sounds dramatic as it should. Unfortunately, Orcs do not befall the same courtesy. Yes, they’re the dumber counterpart of space, but it’s quite annoying to hear: “Kill the Space Marines” for the fifteenth time in a row. Rarely does it get switched for: “Get the Space Marines.” Luckily, it’s the only downside in audio as any other effect, from weapons to the grizzly chainsword, sound like a lovely way to get one’s spine detached. And there will be tons of that.

 

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine in a nutshell: Orcs and blood.

 

Helping to keep the focus where it should (the blood), interface options are mostly kept out of the way, apart from the weapon switch, operated with the directional buttons. That one gets quite in the way and isn’t as swift to get out either. But anything else is more on a light touch, such as health and fury bars, ammo count and the nice minimalistic grenade icon, which tells you in a subtle way to move up or blow up. And there will be tons of that as well.

Naturally, a marine can’t decimate a legion of green guys without properly moving in a 300 pound protective suit. Strangely enough, Space Marines wear armor like underwear and move as freely as a bird, yet it isn’t a troublesome aspect. In fact, movement is a bit slower than usual third person shooters, but evasive maneuvers give the marines an extra edge when needed. At other times, trying to outrun potential threats is a bit harder, so it serves best to stand your ground. This keeps the game realistic, as far as possible of course. By choosing a weapon of choice, the leader can use either a deadly melee attack that cuts through armies, use a stun attack or keep it simple and shoot some fools. The latter of which can be assisted by aiming, giving an over the shoulder look for accuracy. But as enemies tend to flock together, mostly a marine will have to cut a rug and a throat as well. 

 

Birds of a feather flock together. Orcs do something similar, but with slaughter.

 

It’s way more fun to just take out a chainsaw-sword hybrid anyway, so melee combat is by far more satisfactory. But this also lets the blood splatter unlike any game ever before. With every strike, the screen literally fills up with bodily fluids as your character cuts through bodies like butter. Enhancing some of the fun, a Fury gauge also allows this to go in a ridiculous overdrive mode, where attacks become even more powerful and flashy. Add to that a novel way to regain health by stunning and then dispatching enemies. All this splendor gets slowed down to really savor the blood loss fully. And if that’s not enough, there are also explosives and destructible environments scattered around; just in case the destruction isn’t complete enough.

Unfortunately, this also brings along some to be expected flaws. There is a lot of carnage after all. Moments where the screen is so cluttered with ongoing massacres aren’t rare and it can get tough to get a bearing of it all, especially whilst in crossfire. Not finding one’s bearings in turn can be troublesome to scope out tougher units or evade explosives. Regaining health helps on that part, certainly when a captured character is invulnerable, but it shouldn’t be a means to an end.

 

Naturally, the Chaos Marines will pop up sometime to mess with the good guys.

 

There are some additional issues with the game; one being legitimate and one being more of a quirk. The legitimate one is that the team AI can sometimes act a little strange. They aren’t the worst in the bunch, but they take odd decisions from time and tend to linger. Luckily, the opponent AI is well up to par. Some enemies take shelter and stay ranged and some smell blood and swamp environments. It’s a perfect balance between ridiculously overpowered and just a dumb rush.

The lesser claim is that Warhammer 40K: Space Marine is obviously catered towards a console audience. Even when playing on PC, it’s better to stick a controller in, as everything is centered around it anyway. It’s an elitist grievance, as the game on PC seems to be more of a bonus than anything, but it does take away just that one bit of magic. Naturally, console players won’t care about it.

 

Remember: A Marine never quits!

 

But for the minor grievances Space Marine scatters here and there, it tries and succeeds to break off from the generic third person shooters it might get lobbed in with. It does hold similarities towards Gears of War and as such it could get compared to its broad shoulders. But Space Marine goes further, where that comparison merely lingers. For one, the game offers many a chest-high wall, but doesn’t feel the need to include the all-too-annoying cover mechanic. Players wanting cover can do it the conventional way: By standing behind stuff. It might seem small, but it’s actually quite refreshing and level designs are more than capable enough to maintain tactical shootouts.

Additionally, the game has jet packs to hover and crash down with. The steering of it is a bit tricky, but the bursts and pounds the machine brings along look satisfying and powerful. It also further detaches players from the slow, grinding pace and offers means to open the world up to multiple levels.

So, in summation, Warhammer 40K: Space Marine isn’t the geek fest one might expect, quite the contrary. The gory, ultra-violent march of Space Marines into the murky distance of the universe is one that might surprise a lot of fans of the genre. If anything, it has one thing down to perfection: Brutality.

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Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)