Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine – Review
Platform | Release Date
X360 | September 5, 2011
PS3 | September 5, 2011
PC | September 5, 2011
Developed by Relic Entertainment
Published by THQ
The Pitch:
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine takes place in the brutal, science fiction setting of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe. In the 41st Millennium, humanity faces extinction at the hands of horrific aliens and demonic hordes. Only one force offers salvation, the superhuman Space Marines. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is an intense Action-RPG featuring epic battles where players take direct control of the ultimate defender of humanity, the mighty Space Marine. Space Marine is currently in development at THQ’s internal studio Relic Entertainment for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 systems. In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war
Ever since I picked up my first issue of White Dwarf magazine in the late 1980’s, I have had a never-ending fascination with Games Workshop. To this day, Warhammer 40K remains my favorite science fiction universe. As an avid fan of the Dawn of War series, I have
been following the development of Space Marine since Relic announced it. Now that it has finally arrived, I can tell you it is without a doubt one of the best video game translations of the 40K universe ever created, and one of the best games I have played this year.
I was initially apprehensive about the idea behind Space Marine. Warhammer has always been about armies, so the idea of a story focused on a small number of characters seemed counter intuitive to me. Luckily, no one has a better track record of doing justice to the GW license than Relic Entertainment, so I was able to keep the faith. I’m glad to say the final product contains about as much fan service and accurate lore as possible, while still being an incredibly accessible 3rd person shooter.
For the initiated reader, the story is that an Ork horde has laid siege to an Imperial forge world, which houses a Titan Manufactorum. As Captain Titus and his forward strike force of Ultramarines, it’s your job to eradicate the xenos before they lay claim to the technology, and rescue any remaining planetside Imperial Guard in the process. For the uninitiated reader, a bunch of green guys want to steal a giant robot. You are a twelve foot tall walking tank that needs to stop them by murdering the ever living hell out of anything that gets in your way.
The tools and method of that murder are multiple and satisfying. Relic stuck to the books on this one and you have an array of classic 40K death dealers such as bolters, melta guns, lascannons, chainswords, and the mighty thunder hammer! My favorite gun by far was 
the “stalker bolter”; a modified bolter/sniper rifle that fires explosive tipped slugs. It makes ork heads explode in a shower of brains, and the sound of reloading it makes me giddy. Combat in general is tight as a drum. The transition between melee and ranged is seamless, and while the entire system feels a bit like a stripped down Arkham Asylum, different combinations of weapons will provide varied flow to the mayhem. The constant in all of this is that playing as Titus makes you feel like a bad ass. One aspect of battle that takes some getting used to is that you must use “execution moves” to re-gain health. If you attempt to go on the defensive you will most likely perish. This isn’t a bad thing however, as the executions are a joy to watch. Arms are severed, heads get crushed under foot, bodies are impaled and split by chainswords. It’s some of the most insane violence I’ve seen in recent memory, and it fits the grim future perfectly. I have heard complaints that there is no cover system like some OTHER games that feature soldiers with chainsaw guns. However, this actually coincides with the lore of the characters’ aggressive combat tactics. 40K Fun fact: Space Marines don’t hide behind jersey barriers crying about their dead wives. They crush the enemies of man.
The entire game has a feeling of grandiose weight and size to it that are befitting of the 40K universe. Titus feels like a lumbering tank, and he towers over any Imperial Guard you come across. Enemy models and structures are large and give the world an appropriately epic scale. The characters personalities also carry weight. Voice acting is excellent, but you’ll get no humor or sarcasm from Titus and his battle brothers. His intelligence and stoicism only serves to make him sound even tougher when he drops a line like “We are the hand of the Emperor, and we are here to purge you from this world.”
The only form of comic relief comes from the sometimes silly Orks, and even that is minimal. They stand in contrast to the traitorous forces of Chaos, whom you face later in the story, and provide some of the games best moments of both combat and dialog. The character and level design stays true to classic Warhammer 40K throughout and brings to life the work of classic Games Workshop artists like Adrian Smith, which is some truly great fan service.
While fan service is great, I can honestly say Space Marine will satisfy players who have no prior knowledge of the 40K universe. At its core, it’s a very solid third person action game. Feeling more like God of War than Gears of War in terms of combat and pacing, it delivers constant action with very little downtime. Although sometimes a bit repetitive, it never wears out its welcome before mixing things up a bit. Unfortunately, as of this review there were severe matchmaking issues with the PS3 multiplayer, but the round I was able to get into felt solid, if not very original.
Space Marine is a game I’ve been waiting for a very long time, and luckily it delivered in just about every aspect I could have hoped for. While it isn’t perfect, it does justice to a seminal license I’ve grown up with and love. I highly recommend it as a rental or sale purchase to anyone who enjoys action games, but for a Games Workshop fan it is absolutely a must own. So what are you waiting for? Put that tape measure down and start crushing the enemies of the Imperium in the Emperor’s name!
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Saw it on Twitter but had to come here and see if Ben actually typed White Dwarf Magazine into his review. Awesome. Great review, Ben.
Haha I actually subscribed to White Dwarf once. I loved just looking at the pictures of the games in progress w/ the maps and goals they outlined. Totally overpriced like everything else GW makes though.
Been playing the crap out of Space Marine on PC and have yet to stop having fun. I’m a bit disappointed that there’s no co-op in there as the vast majority of what i’ve played so far certainly have 2 other squad-mates with Titus at all times. When Gears 3 drops, no one will care, which is mega-unfortunate, because the game is solid as a rock.
The thunder hammer is so awesome.
When coop hits, we will put Army of Two to shame!
When Co-op hits, will it allow campaign runs? I was under the impression it was a Horde-like experience.
The co-op will not be full campaign as I originally hoped. Aaron, I think you’re right and it’s a “scenario”/horde type experience.
David and Jay, sorry I had already written the review by the time you submitted.
This game plays MUCH differently than Gears. It’s much more in the vein of God of War or a Devil May Cry (a bit of a stretch I know) but it’s an all out button masher. The few times I used cover it was more standing behind something to get out of the enemy’s line of site. That being said, it’s a different type of experience. I like them both even though I took some fun jabs at Gears in this review.
I did notice that the games difficulty spiked during certain fights, and I got frustrated a couple times. Rocket nobz and Chaos heavy troopers ripped my life meter down very fast and their shots could kill you during an execution animation. To that point, yeah, Sidonius and Leonidus were f*cking useless for helping lay down cover. Generally, if I died, I’d try a different approach the second or third try, and try to wipe out the rocket guys with a lascannon or stalker first, then mop up the less deadly melee guys. So, no Jay, you’re not alone in that. The same thing happened to me.
Awesome review, I’m so glad that this game is getting such positive reviews and I hope for more!
The 3-4hrs I’ve played so far I’ve played with the quickly annoying orcs shouting “SPACE MAUREEEEN!” every ten seconds, but other than that I completely agree. Very solid, all kinds of fun. Multiplayer is strongly unbalanced tho, so you’ll see lots of Raptor/Assault units flying all over the place melting face..