The Warhammer 40K universe is a bleak environment. Humans are assaulted constantly from every direction of the galaxy. Being overpowered by the foreign races. The Imperial Guard can only handle so much. So when the… um, poop, hits the fan. The elite are called in, the Space Marines.
Warhammer 40K : Space Marines is the exact game you would get, say, if Gears of War and Darksiders had a baby. As I used the Bolter Rifle, I was reminded of the feel of a Lancer. The executions are done and used in the same way as Darksiders. And if you were to combine those two action intense games, you would get a game full of intense controller gripping action sequences. That’s what we have here.
Captain Titus, righteous, honorable and down right balls to the wall crazy. He’s your character for the campaign of Space Marine. You arrive at the planet Graia, as it’s being demolished by invading Orks. You and your contingent of Space Marines have one mission, maim/murder all the Orks on the planet. The story plays out similarly to that of Gears of War 2. You have one mission objective and then it goes to hell. From then on the mission goes from bad to worse. Unfortunately, even though the universe and lore of Warmmaher was here for the taking, not much of it was used. Although, I will say that this small part of Captain Titus’ story was still enjoyable to partake in.
At first, as you traverse the beautifully wrecked world of Graia, you may feel heavy and clunky. You may even be annoyed by the occasional snag of… the ground, as it stops you just because. But soon after your first couple of engagemants with the enemy, you’ll be dodging and sprinting with easy. I never would of thought a Space Marine would be so light on his feet.
While you enjoy your stay on Graia, you’ll come across some Orks, just a couple. A couple, as in a whole hell of a lot. The combat sequences of this game are fantastic, great, awesome and all the other positive words you can apply. You’ll never have a shortage of ammo (weapon stocks abound around every corner), there’s always wreckage to take cover behind, and you’ll always have your trusty melee weapon by your side.
The shooting in Space Marines is top notch, but the melee, not so much. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a freaking blast to annihilate hundreds of enemies with the badass melee weapons you’re given, but there’s just not of depth to the melee combat. But you will rely on your melee heavily as executing enemies is one of only two ways to recieve more health in this game. The other being when in Fury mode.
Blood, gore and health are your rewards for executing an enemy and occasionally, frustration. Some of the animations for the executions, as awesome as there are, can be lengthy. You can’t stop the execution once it starts and here’s the problem, you still take damage during the execution. No problems with executions in multiplayer though, they don’t exist.
Space Marine’s multiplayer is highly addictive. Usually I’m not a huge fan of multiplayer in any game, but Space Marine’s multiplayer has me hooked. There’s your standard class style loadouts, game modes like Annhilation (team deathmatch) and Seize Ground (domination). You’re also given the ability to fully customize the look of your armor when you reach lvl 4. The multiplayer brings all your favorite parts of the campaign together for a incredible online experience.
