Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

When I heard that a new game was coming out, I decided to play it again to remember the first game. I played it years ago and frankly I didn't think there was anything worth remembering about it. The maps are a bit too small and limited. This makes the game too linear compared to similar games. It's an average game except that the graphics look horrible nowadays and the AI companions are useless. It can be played if you like hack and slash games and if you are interested in the Warhammer universe like me. The graphics of the upcoming second game look nice, but it's unclear how story-driven it is. From what I've seen from the gameplay videos, it looks more like a boring online game. I hope it's not just online focused. There's a lot of content in the Warhammer series, but we haven't seen a game in any game genre in years that really uses it in the right way.

This is the fully realised version of how I imagined the Warhammer 40K universe to look. Previously I had played Fire Warrior on the PS2, which is also an FPS game, but it looked a little bit flat. A long time ago I had also played Space Hulk (1993) which felt more like the board game and while it is a very good game it was in places dull to play.

Space Marine looks absolutely incredible, which is unsurprising given it is a late XBOX 360 title. It is arguably one of the best looking games on the system along with the two Crysis games. A lot of time, money and research has been spent in bringing the atmosphere of the game alive. The voice acting is of Hollywood standard, which also comes as no surprise given the cast involved.

The gameplay for me wasn't as fun as Bulletstorm, Crysis 2 or The Darkness. It is very good, but it was a bit repetitive and with 16 chapters often taking around an hour each it is a big game.

Overall this is a solid game, but like games like Castlevania: Lords of Shadow it just lacks the magic touch.

It's a solid game that I think needed more in the story and character department.

The reason I think it needed more is, most of the gameplay is Silent, they don't really talk to each other that much, I really want some more characterization between the space marines, it just feels so hollow when plots stuff happens in the later half, because so much of the game is in silent , and when they talk it's mostly just, oh commander killed some orc we have to do the objective.

But the Architecture and the scale of it all, does feel really Warhammer like buildings that are so tall. It's hard to see the sky and the rooms that are just so big it has the Towering effect that Warhammer architecture have.

I play the game on hard, so the difficulty was a bit weird because I think the game want me to go in melee and get my health back, but because of some of the Orcs have projectile weapons and grenades its very hard to do it, without dying, so most of my gameplay was about standing in the back shooting them, because going in melee was suicide.

And the music was just there, I think I have been spoiled by the more electronic soundtracks of Warhammer games, because this one was just Symphony Orchestra stuff and load me to sleep.

I remember playing this game in 2012, thinking it was a fun and really nice experience, especially because so much of the gaming landscape was third person shooters where we will be hiding behind walls, but nowadays it just feels okay still fun still to appreciate by Warhammer fans, but it has certainly lost a lot of its punch in the years.

Space Marine is about as simplistic as current generation games get. As Captain Titus (Mark Strong, the narrator of Who Do You Think You Are?) all you really do is go forward and shoot/duel, and it's a long game with nothing much sustain the many miles of bad road. For a 3rd person shooter it's basic stuff. Set on a distant planet filled with Orks it is your duty to wipe them all out. The levels/chapters are very slow, with huge, cavernous empty spaces and bombed-out buildings that offer no interaction other than occasionally opening a door or elevator. Half of each chapter will involve you doing nothing but moving forward.

If it were not for the Warhammer brand name this game would be the very definition of shovelware. I played it right to the end, unlocking 34% of the trophies, but to get the platinum you'd literally have to spend over 100 hours playing this game. Quite frankly, I don't want to know anybody who commits that amount of time to a video game, or indoor activities in general.

Graphics B Sound B Gameplay C Lasting Appeal C-

THQ and Relic have really captured the feel of the 40k universe here and to take on a project as big as this given the fan base from the table top game they have done an outstanding job. Campaign storyline is involving, and gameplay is excellent with the camera moving well during melee combat and a wide selection of ranged weaponary, and a good spread of foe types, mission objectives are varied and challenging. Multiplayer is equal in it's enjoyment offering already three different game types with more coming soon, and works very well in all, and the option to totally customise your characters armour and weapon loadouts keeps it interesting. Looking forward to seeing what DLC content is coming in the future