Space Marine Review
(Guest poster, SteveH)
If you're the type that doesn't like to read too far into a review to hear the reviewer opinion here's mine, Space Marine is one of the best action games I've ever played, if not the best.
Big claim, right? Let me explain the why-for's and whatnots.
I think a disclaimer I have to get in here is this, I love the Warhammer 40K universe which, if you don't know, is where this takes place. Warhammer 40k started as a tabletop mini game that has been slowly making its way into computer and console games. Lately the fine people at THQ and Relic have been really kicking ass with it, the fantastic strategy game of the Dawn of War caliber, then the insanely fun Dawn of War 2, now Space Marine.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Warhammer universe, here's a quick run-down (for those of you who are, skip on to the next paragraph). Fast forward to the 41st millenium, the Emperor sits deathless on the Golden Throne on holy Terra, unmoving and silent kept in his deathless state by the sacrifice of psychically gifted people from across the Imperium called Psychers. All around the Imperium, spanning millions of stars and countless human lives, vile xenos threats try to tear the Imperium of man from the stars. The Imperial Guard, humans brought forth from each world, given a uniform and a gun, grind down the enemies of man with their shear numbers, but they can only go so far. When the war looks grim, when humanity is at the brink of loosing to the xenos threat or, worse yet, the vile influence of Chaos, the Emperor's chosen, the Space Marine, comes into the scene to tear victory from the claws of defeat. The Space Marines are gods amongst men, genetically modified from a young age, given power armor and guns that a normal man wouldn't be able to lift, let alone wear or fire, they know no fear, they're duty only ends with their death. They are to be feared, they are war incarnate, and will shed the blood of their enemies for the Emperor!
Lets get into this then, why do I claim this to be the best action title I've played? I think a small part of it is my bias towards the Warhammer universe, which is why I made sure that was said and out of the way before I got too far, but I also believe the game earns this title thanks to a lot of very good decisions by the developers.
I think the MVP for this claim is the camera, as simple as that sounds. I sat for a while this morning going through other action games I've played recently, notably God of War and Devil May Cry. Both of these games have a camera that's fairly pushed out, giving you a better view of the arena in which you are fighting, which works really well for them (and don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed both of those games, I'm not trying to bash them in any way). In Space Marine the camera is right over Captain Titus' shoulder, putting you in the grim and bloody battle, making it feel so much more personal, much more "in your face". Even during the parts where Captain Titus and his Battle Brothers are just walking around, that close in camera angle also puts your ear right there in the mix, so you hear their heavy boots against the ground and that small detail does a lot to bringing you into their armor, making you feel like a true Adeptus Astartes with them.
Next thought, graphics. As you can see from the screenshots I'm posting and others around the internet, it looks great. The facial animation during talking scenes is a bit stiff (compared to other technologies I've seen used) but those moments happen so rarely that its a minor thing. I'm playing on PC, all the graphics turned up, and it runs like a dream (and my PC is old!). And the red mist, oh the red mist, it never gets old! I get as giddy tearing through an ork now as I did when I first booted the game up, just the look on their faces, the dismemberment I've seen, and the execution attacks are so well done that I really look forward to hearing the ork WAAAAAAGGGHHH, knowing that means more of the green skinned filth is running towards my blade and bolter. Holy retribution in the Emperor's name has never looked so good.
In terms of the game play, I've been playing on PC but with a 360 controller, so I can't speak to the PC mouse and keyboard controls. I can tell you that the controls on the 360 controller are tight and responsive with the slight exception of the battle roll which seems to sometimes get stuck during big fights, but that might be more because, like a Space Wolf, the blood fury takes me when the limbs of my enemies starts flying.
The game play does come down to the usual action scheme, which might be a stumbling point for some. You have one button to shoot your equipped gun (of which you can carry 4), one button to aim down the sight of the gun, a button for reload, grenades, a melee attack, a stun attack, grab (of this, more later when I describe the life system), and roll. So most of the battles you're in will start with shooting, then hitting the melee button until everything is dead. This can work in most situations, sure, but to be truly successful you must put in rolls and grenades in at the right moments. If this is a bummer for you to hear, well, maybe action games aren't for you! Or you're a fan of Ninja Gaiden, trying to remember the ancient and cryptic method of getting Riu to do the Flying Swallow technique. Space Marine isn't that way, there's no "A+A+A+C+B+UP+SIDEWAYS+UPSIDEDOWN+CROSSEYES" button techniques. Is it simple? Sure it is, but that simplicity allows you to focus on the battle. With so many enemies swarming you all at once you don't have time to think of which technique is best, you only have time to load your bolter, cry "FOR THE EMPEROR!" and run into battle!
Health boils down to two parts, armor and hit points. Your armor recharges over time while not being hit, your HP does not. Once your armor is drained your HP is next to go, so its a good idea to duck back out of enemy fire if your armor starts to take too much damage, and it goes fast. However, even though that's a good idea, its a BETTER idea to run into the battle, its the only way to build fury and health! Stunning an opponent allows you to execute them at the press of a button, which is how you build back your health. Fury builds as you damage your foes which, once filled, allows you to enter Righteous Fury mode which makes your melee attacks do much more damage, when you aim down your guns sight you get a sort of "bullet time" slow down to line up your shots, and your health quickly regenerates.
And story, it boils down to "the bad guys are where they're not supposed to be, go cut 'em". Its not going to win any awards for being full of choices, alternate endings, or anything like that, but it works within the universe and works in terms of giving you a reason to drive forward. It begins with an Ork invasion of the forge world Gria (I believe its called), which is of absolute necessity to the Imperium due to the fact that it makes giant mech's called Titans. If the Orks were to get a hold of the Titan's they'd be able to lay waste to entire cities or, at failing that, would be able to severely hamper the Imperiums manufacturing capability.
Like I mentioned, there are no real choices to make, there's not alternate paths (except for minor hidden stashes of ammo and audio logs which recall the ork invasion from the beginning from multiple points of view) so if you're expecting an action version of something like Deus Ex you'll be sorely disappointed. The game leads you around by the nose, make no mistake.
But, that said, the story works. I don't think it will win any awards but its enough to keep me interested and invested in what's going on and why so many Orks (and, yes, Chaos Daemons later in) are dying to my blade.
I think that's all in terms of the usual stuff one should cover whilst reviewing, so let me gush a little about the things I love most.
I failed at getting a screenshot of this (and maybe will later) due to the fact I was having way too much fun with it, but the jump pack is... I can't say enough about it, its just too much fun! It's something that makes you feel extremely powerful when you jump into the sky and descend into the midst of your enemy with a powerful ground pound and are rewarded with orks, either whole or in pieces flying every which way but towards you in the center!
Also, the Thunder Hammer! Oh, how I love my Thunder Hammer! It limits which guns you can carry but I don't care, I love swinging that thing and watching four or five orks fly away! There was more than a few times while carrying that beast that war cry's bubbled up and almost escaped my mouth.
And, oh, the Melta Gun... muhaha... it fires much like a shotgun with Dragon's Breath rounds, righteous fire! Let them come, they will be nothing but red mist in seconds!
So, gushing done, sorry and thank you.
Like I said earlier, this is probably my favorite action game ever. I really liked God of War, Devil May Cry, and I played Ninja Gaiden to completion (which I figure was a win, damn frustrating as that game was). Where Space Marine stands taller than those is in the camera angle and the universe in which its in.
Its just damn fun, let me say that. There were times in those other games when I saw an enemy I've fought millions of times and thought "well, crap. Ok, lets get this over with." but, with Space Marine, when I hear the WAAAAGGGHHH of an ork charge I think "Yes! Show me what passes for fury amongst your misbegotten kind!"
It probably wont get near Game of the Year with such releases as Deus Ex, Skyrim, etc., but that shouldn't diminish its value. It does really well at being what, I believe, it was intended to be, and that is a damn fine action game!
And here is the part where I talk about my thoughts now that I've beaten the game (above was when I was well past the halfway mark).
My initial thoughts are still true, I loved it, had so much fun with it. Is it repetitive? Sure, but to a certain degree all games are, what differentiates bad repetitive games from good ones is the fun factor, and I had a lot of fun in Space Marine.
Space Marine did commit two sins, however:
Sin 1: The end bad guy wasn't a boss fight but a minion fight and then a quick time event. Now, it wasn't a hard quick time event, but it was still a dreaded QTE, which I rather dislike. The game resisted QTE's throughout except for the "Mash B to kill this dude" every now and again, but the end changed that. It felt a little like they built this bad guy up to such a formidable foe that they couldn't think of a way for a Space Marine without Psyker abilities defeating him. A shame, I would have liked a grand final battle, give me a heavy bolter and, when it runs out of ammo, I'll bash his head in with a Thunder Hammer! Or give me my jump pack back, I'll take him down!
Sin 2: The game took me 7 hours to beat. I know, its an action game, they're not all that long, but 7 hours is a bit short, and I felt like there could have been more fun to have. I would have loved a chance to pilot the Titan for a bit (even though a Space Marine piloting a Titan is against the rules of the Imperium, I feel a few rules could have been stretched to allow it), maybe a scene of a hopeless defense, full of Imperial Guardsmen and the few Ultramarines planet-side, as you try to hold back a tidal wave of enemies to allow help to arrive.
I also tried the multiplayer out for a little bit last night. Its the usual affair, there are straight up deathmatch modes, a capture and hold mode, as well as a few others. I feel like, its fine for what it is, but it could have been made better by holding to the structure of the Space Marine chapter's as outlined by the Codex Astartes, here's how I would have done it:
The Codex starts a Space Marine in the 10th company, Scouts. These scouts wear very light armor and are used mainly for stealth and harassment. In the multiplayer, which each kill, capture, assist, etc., nets you XP for perk unlocks and, eventually, the unlock of the customize option (where you can change the paint scheme of your Space Marine), I would have had each new player start in Scout armor, affords the player little protection to heavy weapons, but allows them to use stealth and makes them much faster than anyone else on the field.
After gaining enough XP to be "promoted", I would bring them into the 9th company, Devastator squad. This is the first time the Space Marine is given their power armor, which is a mark of great distinction for them. This squad is all about the fire power, this is the squad that brings in heavy bolters, anti-tank weaponry, etc. Gaining this rank would force the player into the slow yet powerful power armor and give choice of heavy weapons.
Promotion to 8th company gains you access to the Assault squad. These are the brothers who descend on their foe on wings of fire. They use jump packs, light bolters, and chainswords mostly. This would force the player to playing with those weapons, allowing choice in terms of which ranged weapon to use.
7th company is Tactical Marines, which are the bulk of Space Marine numbers. These are the battle brothers which use bolters, chain swords, plasma weapons, etc. This would allow the player to choose a good deal of medium weaponry.
After getting promoted to 6th company (which is usually based around bikes and other land based vehicles), the player would be allowed to choose their load out from among what they used previously. If they want to play as a scout more, they would be like a sergeant for the scout squad, a Space Marine of great honor who chooses to teach the younger brothers what it is to bring war to the enemies. If heavy weapons is more your thing, be a Devastator!
Eventually you would be promoted so high as to earn the coveted Crux Terminatus. This would be something that might be hard to keep track of on THQ or Relic's case, but I think it would be worth it. Only a certain number of players can use Terminator armor at a time and, if you die while wearing Terminator armor, your character isn't permanently dead, but you loose your armor and it goes to the next person with the Crux Terminatus, and they now have the option of fielding their Space Marine in Terminator armor.
Terminator armor, for those of you who don't know, turns a Space Marine into a walking tank. It shrugs off the mightiest of blows and is nearly unstoppable. This is reserved for those who have earned the honor of the Crux Terminatus, one of the highest awards a Space Marine can earn.
Anyway, that's my long idea for how the multiplayer should have been.
But, the main question, should those two sins and the MP stop you from getting this game?
By no means, I still think it was great fun! I'm looking forward to stepping into Captain Titus' power boots again in the near future!
My verdict:
Give yourself to the Emperor, serve unto death. Become an Angel of Death.
Become
War.
BUY!
Or at least try the demo!
If you're the type that doesn't like to read too far into a review to hear the reviewer opinion here's mine, Space Marine is one of the best action games I've ever played, if not the best.
Big claim, right? Let me explain the why-for's and whatnots.
I think a disclaimer I have to get in here is this, I love the Warhammer 40K universe which, if you don't know, is where this takes place. Warhammer 40k started as a tabletop mini game that has been slowly making its way into computer and console games. Lately the fine people at THQ and Relic have been really kicking ass with it, the fantastic strategy game of the Dawn of War caliber, then the insanely fun Dawn of War 2, now Space Marine.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Warhammer universe, here's a quick run-down (for those of you who are, skip on to the next paragraph). Fast forward to the 41st millenium, the Emperor sits deathless on the Golden Throne on holy Terra, unmoving and silent kept in his deathless state by the sacrifice of psychically gifted people from across the Imperium called Psychers. All around the Imperium, spanning millions of stars and countless human lives, vile xenos threats try to tear the Imperium of man from the stars. The Imperial Guard, humans brought forth from each world, given a uniform and a gun, grind down the enemies of man with their shear numbers, but they can only go so far. When the war looks grim, when humanity is at the brink of loosing to the xenos threat or, worse yet, the vile influence of Chaos, the Emperor's chosen, the Space Marine, comes into the scene to tear victory from the claws of defeat. The Space Marines are gods amongst men, genetically modified from a young age, given power armor and guns that a normal man wouldn't be able to lift, let alone wear or fire, they know no fear, they're duty only ends with their death. They are to be feared, they are war incarnate, and will shed the blood of their enemies for the Emperor!
Lets get into this then, why do I claim this to be the best action title I've played? I think a small part of it is my bias towards the Warhammer universe, which is why I made sure that was said and out of the way before I got too far, but I also believe the game earns this title thanks to a lot of very good decisions by the developers.
I think the MVP for this claim is the camera, as simple as that sounds. I sat for a while this morning going through other action games I've played recently, notably God of War and Devil May Cry. Both of these games have a camera that's fairly pushed out, giving you a better view of the arena in which you are fighting, which works really well for them (and don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed both of those games, I'm not trying to bash them in any way). In Space Marine the camera is right over Captain Titus' shoulder, putting you in the grim and bloody battle, making it feel so much more personal, much more "in your face". Even during the parts where Captain Titus and his Battle Brothers are just walking around, that close in camera angle also puts your ear right there in the mix, so you hear their heavy boots against the ground and that small detail does a lot to bringing you into their armor, making you feel like a true Adeptus Astartes with them.
Next thought, graphics. As you can see from the screenshots I'm posting and others around the internet, it looks great. The facial animation during talking scenes is a bit stiff (compared to other technologies I've seen used) but those moments happen so rarely that its a minor thing. I'm playing on PC, all the graphics turned up, and it runs like a dream (and my PC is old!). And the red mist, oh the red mist, it never gets old! I get as giddy tearing through an ork now as I did when I first booted the game up, just the look on their faces, the dismemberment I've seen, and the execution attacks are so well done that I really look forward to hearing the ork WAAAAAAGGGHHH, knowing that means more of the green skinned filth is running towards my blade and bolter. Holy retribution in the Emperor's name has never looked so good.
In terms of the game play, I've been playing on PC but with a 360 controller, so I can't speak to the PC mouse and keyboard controls. I can tell you that the controls on the 360 controller are tight and responsive with the slight exception of the battle roll which seems to sometimes get stuck during big fights, but that might be more because, like a Space Wolf, the blood fury takes me when the limbs of my enemies starts flying.
The game play does come down to the usual action scheme, which might be a stumbling point for some. You have one button to shoot your equipped gun (of which you can carry 4), one button to aim down the sight of the gun, a button for reload, grenades, a melee attack, a stun attack, grab (of this, more later when I describe the life system), and roll. So most of the battles you're in will start with shooting, then hitting the melee button until everything is dead. This can work in most situations, sure, but to be truly successful you must put in rolls and grenades in at the right moments. If this is a bummer for you to hear, well, maybe action games aren't for you! Or you're a fan of Ninja Gaiden, trying to remember the ancient and cryptic method of getting Riu to do the Flying Swallow technique. Space Marine isn't that way, there's no "A+A+A+C+B+UP+SIDEWAYS+UPSIDEDOWN+CROSSEYES" button techniques. Is it simple? Sure it is, but that simplicity allows you to focus on the battle. With so many enemies swarming you all at once you don't have time to think of which technique is best, you only have time to load your bolter, cry "FOR THE EMPEROR!" and run into battle!
Health boils down to two parts, armor and hit points. Your armor recharges over time while not being hit, your HP does not. Once your armor is drained your HP is next to go, so its a good idea to duck back out of enemy fire if your armor starts to take too much damage, and it goes fast. However, even though that's a good idea, its a BETTER idea to run into the battle, its the only way to build fury and health! Stunning an opponent allows you to execute them at the press of a button, which is how you build back your health. Fury builds as you damage your foes which, once filled, allows you to enter Righteous Fury mode which makes your melee attacks do much more damage, when you aim down your guns sight you get a sort of "bullet time" slow down to line up your shots, and your health quickly regenerates.
And story, it boils down to "the bad guys are where they're not supposed to be, go cut 'em". Its not going to win any awards for being full of choices, alternate endings, or anything like that, but it works within the universe and works in terms of giving you a reason to drive forward. It begins with an Ork invasion of the forge world Gria (I believe its called), which is of absolute necessity to the Imperium due to the fact that it makes giant mech's called Titans. If the Orks were to get a hold of the Titan's they'd be able to lay waste to entire cities or, at failing that, would be able to severely hamper the Imperiums manufacturing capability.
Like I mentioned, there are no real choices to make, there's not alternate paths (except for minor hidden stashes of ammo and audio logs which recall the ork invasion from the beginning from multiple points of view) so if you're expecting an action version of something like Deus Ex you'll be sorely disappointed. The game leads you around by the nose, make no mistake.
But, that said, the story works. I don't think it will win any awards but its enough to keep me interested and invested in what's going on and why so many Orks (and, yes, Chaos Daemons later in) are dying to my blade.
I think that's all in terms of the usual stuff one should cover whilst reviewing, so let me gush a little about the things I love most.
I failed at getting a screenshot of this (and maybe will later) due to the fact I was having way too much fun with it, but the jump pack is... I can't say enough about it, its just too much fun! It's something that makes you feel extremely powerful when you jump into the sky and descend into the midst of your enemy with a powerful ground pound and are rewarded with orks, either whole or in pieces flying every which way but towards you in the center!
Also, the Thunder Hammer! Oh, how I love my Thunder Hammer! It limits which guns you can carry but I don't care, I love swinging that thing and watching four or five orks fly away! There was more than a few times while carrying that beast that war cry's bubbled up and almost escaped my mouth.
And, oh, the Melta Gun... muhaha... it fires much like a shotgun with Dragon's Breath rounds, righteous fire! Let them come, they will be nothing but red mist in seconds!
So, gushing done, sorry and thank you.
Like I said earlier, this is probably my favorite action game ever. I really liked God of War, Devil May Cry, and I played Ninja Gaiden to completion (which I figure was a win, damn frustrating as that game was). Where Space Marine stands taller than those is in the camera angle and the universe in which its in.
Its just damn fun, let me say that. There were times in those other games when I saw an enemy I've fought millions of times and thought "well, crap. Ok, lets get this over with." but, with Space Marine, when I hear the WAAAAGGGHHH of an ork charge I think "Yes! Show me what passes for fury amongst your misbegotten kind!"
It probably wont get near Game of the Year with such releases as Deus Ex, Skyrim, etc., but that shouldn't diminish its value. It does really well at being what, I believe, it was intended to be, and that is a damn fine action game!
And here is the part where I talk about my thoughts now that I've beaten the game (above was when I was well past the halfway mark).
My initial thoughts are still true, I loved it, had so much fun with it. Is it repetitive? Sure, but to a certain degree all games are, what differentiates bad repetitive games from good ones is the fun factor, and I had a lot of fun in Space Marine.
Space Marine did commit two sins, however:
Sin 1: The end bad guy wasn't a boss fight but a minion fight and then a quick time event. Now, it wasn't a hard quick time event, but it was still a dreaded QTE, which I rather dislike. The game resisted QTE's throughout except for the "Mash B to kill this dude" every now and again, but the end changed that. It felt a little like they built this bad guy up to such a formidable foe that they couldn't think of a way for a Space Marine without Psyker abilities defeating him. A shame, I would have liked a grand final battle, give me a heavy bolter and, when it runs out of ammo, I'll bash his head in with a Thunder Hammer! Or give me my jump pack back, I'll take him down!
Sin 2: The game took me 7 hours to beat. I know, its an action game, they're not all that long, but 7 hours is a bit short, and I felt like there could have been more fun to have. I would have loved a chance to pilot the Titan for a bit (even though a Space Marine piloting a Titan is against the rules of the Imperium, I feel a few rules could have been stretched to allow it), maybe a scene of a hopeless defense, full of Imperial Guardsmen and the few Ultramarines planet-side, as you try to hold back a tidal wave of enemies to allow help to arrive.
I also tried the multiplayer out for a little bit last night. Its the usual affair, there are straight up deathmatch modes, a capture and hold mode, as well as a few others. I feel like, its fine for what it is, but it could have been made better by holding to the structure of the Space Marine chapter's as outlined by the Codex Astartes, here's how I would have done it:
The Codex starts a Space Marine in the 10th company, Scouts. These scouts wear very light armor and are used mainly for stealth and harassment. In the multiplayer, which each kill, capture, assist, etc., nets you XP for perk unlocks and, eventually, the unlock of the customize option (where you can change the paint scheme of your Space Marine), I would have had each new player start in Scout armor, affords the player little protection to heavy weapons, but allows them to use stealth and makes them much faster than anyone else on the field.
After gaining enough XP to be "promoted", I would bring them into the 9th company, Devastator squad. This is the first time the Space Marine is given their power armor, which is a mark of great distinction for them. This squad is all about the fire power, this is the squad that brings in heavy bolters, anti-tank weaponry, etc. Gaining this rank would force the player into the slow yet powerful power armor and give choice of heavy weapons.
Promotion to 8th company gains you access to the Assault squad. These are the brothers who descend on their foe on wings of fire. They use jump packs, light bolters, and chainswords mostly. This would force the player to playing with those weapons, allowing choice in terms of which ranged weapon to use.
7th company is Tactical Marines, which are the bulk of Space Marine numbers. These are the battle brothers which use bolters, chain swords, plasma weapons, etc. This would allow the player to choose a good deal of medium weaponry.
After getting promoted to 6th company (which is usually based around bikes and other land based vehicles), the player would be allowed to choose their load out from among what they used previously. If they want to play as a scout more, they would be like a sergeant for the scout squad, a Space Marine of great honor who chooses to teach the younger brothers what it is to bring war to the enemies. If heavy weapons is more your thing, be a Devastator!
Eventually you would be promoted so high as to earn the coveted Crux Terminatus. This would be something that might be hard to keep track of on THQ or Relic's case, but I think it would be worth it. Only a certain number of players can use Terminator armor at a time and, if you die while wearing Terminator armor, your character isn't permanently dead, but you loose your armor and it goes to the next person with the Crux Terminatus, and they now have the option of fielding their Space Marine in Terminator armor.
Terminator armor, for those of you who don't know, turns a Space Marine into a walking tank. It shrugs off the mightiest of blows and is nearly unstoppable. This is reserved for those who have earned the honor of the Crux Terminatus, one of the highest awards a Space Marine can earn.
Anyway, that's my long idea for how the multiplayer should have been.
But, the main question, should those two sins and the MP stop you from getting this game?
By no means, I still think it was great fun! I'm looking forward to stepping into Captain Titus' power boots again in the near future!
My verdict:
Give yourself to the Emperor, serve unto death. Become an Angel of Death.
Become
War.
BUY!
Or at least try the demo!
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