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SilentRich69
242,055
TA Score for this game: 2,967
Posted on 12 September 12 at 01:26, Edited on 17 September 12 at 14:17 |
This review has 5 positive votes and 3 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
This review was written on November 11th 2011 and was posted to gamespot but I am moving all my reviews over to TA now. Hope its a good read to anyone interested in this great game.
Warhammer 40k space marine is a third person shooter created by relic a developer responsible for the dawn of war series and the well known company of heroes series. Both of these are RTS games so its been a while since they have stepped in the shooter genre but its good to have seen them dabble in this recently.
Having played alot of dawn of war 1 and 2 I naturally wanted to step into the boots of a space marine and this game gives you that chance after many years of waiting. Thankfully this game doesn't disappoint either. This truly is gears of Warhammer but more bloody and with less hiding behind chest high walls.
You definantly feel like you are one of the emperor's elite space marines in this game combating dangerous enemies who will do whatever it takes to kill you, this is proved a lot as they do not fight fair by attacking in mobs during the campaign but its all part of the fun. Plus this is the orks after all, a species that can't make a house without putting a gun turret on it or some spikes. Another faction does appear later in the game too but they don't feel like they mob you as much which is probably a good thing since they are a lot better at being able to turn you into a cloud of blue mist.
Your weapon arsenal is as brutal as the franchise itself with weapons ranging from chainsaw swords to melta cannons that vaporize ANYTHING that gets close. The total number of weapons in the game isn't massive but each weapon is varied enough and they all have a sense of purpose about them. Even though most of them are bolter related when it comes to the ammo they use. The executions which are part of the melee combat can do a lot to spice things up too but sadly there isn't many and they are mainly used to get your health back because a space marine can't get better without tearing his enemies in half (literally).
The visuals are very impressive aswell with alot of detail in the game, just a shame that there is alot of brown and grey to look at as well. Its not to say that the game has bad graphics or art designs its just that those familiar with 40k will know this is a grim universe and the visuals are very good at showing this. Perhaps too good in some cases where most of the environments are several grey or brown corridors filled with enemies to destroy. But it doesn't lose points for this since its being faithful to the source.
This is 40k after all where humanity has billions of soldiers at their disposal with their empire comprising of trillions of civilians that they must protect from a galaxy that will stop at nothing to destroy them. But that doesn't mean humanity are the good guys in this universe either we are simply another faction trying to stay alive in such a brutal and over exaggerated universe. This is shown heavily in the art style of the game with everything being propaganda/militarily based but this shows how strong the lore of the franchise can be. Its good to see that the developers have taken it all so seriously when representing it in the game.
The campaign itself is very well done but it definantly lacks ambition the developer truly played it safe with this one which is all fine since it gives out a decent story with alot of violent gameplay for you to enjoy and lets face it we will enjoy it accept on hard mode perhaps. We also have the obvious plot twist literally half way through the game and to be fair if your familiar with 40k or have played any dawn of war title you will see it coming a light year away. Not to say this is a bad thing since the twist changes the game play and enemy variants but this isn't by a huge margin.
And finally the multiplayer launching with only two modes capture the points and team deathmatch the game feels a little rushed on this part especially with only 5 maps to play on at launch. Thankfully though by this point some DLC has cured this by adding capture the flag (FREE!!!!!) and dreadnaught assault mode (for 800MSP) but this isn't really enough it feels like these modes should have been in the launch to give a sense of variety.
That isn't to say the multiplayer is bad its actually pretty darned good with some decent maps that we sadly need more to do brutal combat in, but they are all designed fairly well and they aren't recycled single player environments which shows they didn't cut corners in this regard.
The level of customisation in the multiplayer rivals that of saints row you can makes any space marine you wish ranging from a legionaire of chaos to an angry marine getting annoying at everything in your path or to be ironic you could make a pink marine proving his comfort with his sexuality as he does battle. All armour can be mixed and matched or you can be boring and just choose a pre-set chapter. The number of chapters actually in the game for both factions is definitely some brilliant fan service and relic has proved their loyalty to their fans just by including so many of them in the multi player alone. If only this was the same for the number of maps.......
In conclusion a very good title for when you just want to kill things with very fun multiplayer a decent story and lovely visuals when they aren't grey or brown. This game is a solid 4 stars from me it would be 5 but they're is so much missed potential that is just falls short from a solid 5. Don't let this discourage you though because space marine is a fantastic game with plenty of replay value and some brutal combat to enjoy.
FOR THE EMPRAH!
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