Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

Review - In the grim darkness of the distant future there is only Cockney Orks...

The Warhammer 40K universe is ripe with concepts for an action game but no-one has really ever managed to do it justice. Relic is the only studio to manage to turn the Games Workshop's pessimistic vision of the 42st millenium into a viable and enjoyable games series in Dawn of War on the PC but that was an RTS. The action genre is a whole different kettle of squigs.

After the success of the Dawn of War series it seems only fair that Relic have a stab at creating the action game that Warhammer 40K fans have been craving for so long. Creating a title based on the mighty Space Marines was always going to be a no-brainer. The appeal of being a seven-foot-tall genetically engineered killing machine armed with the very best armour and weaponry that humanity has to offer is pretty obvious especially in a genre where you are usually pitted as one character taking on never-ending waves of enemies.

Indeed WH40K Space Marine draws on all the influences it can pulling mainly from Gears of War, God of War and Uncharted to create a very plausible and enjoyable adventure. Space Marine may indeed drawn comparisons from Gears of War especially, given that is is out so close to Gears 3 but Relic has been exceptionally careful to create a game that is very much its own and never drawing too much inspiration from one place other than remaining puritanically faithful to the WH40K canon.

For those not familiar with WH40K other than a vague image of buckets of oddly-shaped dice, measuring tapes and hours spent painting intensely detailed metal miniatures, the faithful following of the universe's canon may be a little worrying to begin with but this shouldn't be the case. WH40K's strength in lies in the amazingly rich and detailed universe they have created which has spawned several variations of tabletop wargames from the gang warfare of Necromunda through WH40K itself to the massive scale battles of Epic and countless comics and novels all fitting together so cohesively Frank Herbert and JRR Tolkien would be jealous.

Space Marine follows Captain Titus of the Ultramarines as he leads his squad in the liberation of Graia, an industrial world that has been overrun by hordes of Orks. As Titus cuts a bloody swathe through the greenskins it becomes apparent that something more sinister is at work on Graia and the threat runs far deeper than thousands of bloodthirsty Orks. It is a storyline that is WH40K to the core, deep enough to hold the interest of the hardcore 40K fans and just trashy enough that shooter fans can get into it as well without too much bother.

The gameplay straddles a very interesting line that has never really been mastered before. Titus fights using both melee and ranged weapons a balance that most games never seem to get quite right. Ranged weapons in a brawler always seem a bit wishy-washy whereas melee combat in most shooters is button-bashing at best and usually just plain weak.

Relic has taken the time to create an even balance for both styles of play and it seems to work well. Ranged combat carefully follows the old twin trigger systems for aiming and firing used in many FPS titles with the inclusion grenades just to give you an extra bit of firepower in a pinch. While shooting is the preserve of the trigger buttons, melee combat is mapped onto the face buttons with three separate attacks to be used in combination for varying effects. X is the standard attack, triangle stuns enemies and circle engages execution moves on stunned enemies. Standard melee moves can be chained up-to three times for increasingly powerful hits or combined with the stun attack to knock multiple enemies down. The most innovative feature of combat is the way that Titus regains health. Stun and enemy and then perform and execution and Titus will regain some or all of his health depending on the enemy. A neat little touch that adds a bit more finesse to what could easily have been a very bland control system.

Titus also has a Fury attack, a kind of berserker mode that increases his attack strength and regenerates health for a short period. This is enabled by filling up the Fury meter and depressing both thumbsticks at once. This is not as clumsy as it might sound and is actually a quick way to access the Fury attack in the midst of a horde of greenskins.

There is a great selection of weapons to use including the plasma pistol which has infinite ammo but tends to overheat when fired off repeatedly, the melta gun which works similar to a shotgun but fires off a blast of intense heat, the ultra-accurate and insanely destructive lascannon and of course, several variants of the Space Marine's standard weapon, the trusty boltgun. Titus also has access to three different types of melee weapon. After beginning the game with just a combat knife he quickly graduates to the exceptionally bloodthirsty chainsword. Later on he also gains access to the power axe and the devastating Thunder Hammer, the most powerful melee weapon WH40K has to offer.

For the most part Space Marine is played on the ground, running around, shooting and cutting up enemies with volumes of blood that would make Kratos proud. The most enjoyable sections of the game are when Titus gains an extra dimension in the form of the jump pack. The jump pack is the tool of Space Marine assault squads allowing them to leap high obstacles and get across the battlefield as quickly as possible to cut down the enemy in close quarters combat. The jump pack sections work really well, especially when the Thunder Hammer is equipped making Titus almost unstoppable. The jump pack allows a ground stomp which knocks down and stuns most enemies allowing you to get in a deliver a killing blow well before they know what has hit them. This works very well and proves to be one of most the fun things you can do in Space Marine power armour.

The real surprise is how well the shooting and melee combat complement each other. Players can choose to play the game completely through using either one or the other fighting style. There are definite sections where one style trumps the other but used in combination they become very effective. When faced with a large wave of Orks, and Relic have managed to squeeze a decent amount of enemies onto the screen, thinning out their ranks with bolter fire and then closing in for the kill when their numbers are depleted is exceptionally satisfying.

Another area that Space Marine excels is in the visual department. Having already mentioned the sheer number of enemies that Relic have managed to fit onto the screen it is worth examining the surroundings as well. The forge-world architecture is suitably grandiose and gothic while the ramshackle Ork contraptions provide a stark and colourful contrast to the austerity of the Imperial ruins.

The only thing that Space Marine falls down on is the slightly weak dialogue. The main weakness is the very thin voices the Orks have. They all seem to speak in a Cockney accent as well which is a little bit disconcerting. Their lack of gruffness and depth to their voices makes you feel more like you're in a London market than in the midst of a battle with a savage and dangerous alien race. Still, Mark Strong gives a decent performance as the gravel-voiced Titus so it's not all bad news as far as the sound design goes.

Space Marine successfully manages to offer up a different brand of action. It comfortably bridges the gap between shooter and hack and slash providing an entertaining a flexible way to play. It may not offer the melee finesse of Bayonetta or God of War and it lacks the kind of authenticity that the cover dynamics of Gears of War and Uncharted bring to the shooters but, it does what no other game has managed so far; combine the two genres effortlessly to provide a truly unique action-gaming experience.

Sadly, Space Marine comes out at the beginning of a season crammed with massive releases. Sandwiched between Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Gears of War 3 at best it will probably serve as a distraction while gamers wait on bigger titles but, for many, it may fall through the cracks. Either way its a shame because WH40K Space Marine is damned good fun.

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