Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Review / Return to Gamestop
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Well boys and girls, this review is a little late from the launch date, but here we go. Time to lace up, suit up, and dive into the third person shooter that is Warhammer 40K: Space Marine.
So where to start? Well at the beginning would probably be the best, if I do say so myself. This game may sound familiar to you computer gamers out there. That is because this game is an Xbox game based on the MMORPG Warhammer. Only in this game the two sides are humans and orcs. That is it. The end. YOU FIGHT ORCS AND YOU SHALL DEAL! Well for the most part. It gets better later in the game. So if it is green, it’s mean and it shouldn’t be breathing. That is the basic concept here.
Well you are introduced to the plot in the form of text going back and forth between a commander and a general while watching a planet below burning. So needless to say, there has been plenty of excrement that has been smashing into a fan before you come along. The main goal is to secure a piece of technology that is being researched and built on the planet. The only hope that the Humans have; Space Marines.
So you play as a military badass, in a large suit of armor, with a shield, and a variety of weapons. Sound familiar? It should. If you have ever played the following games this review will sound very similar to you: Star Wars the Force Unleashed 2, Gears of War, and Halo are the main three. Basically this game is the love child of three hit games, and smashed into one game for the user to hack and slash his way through.
So, you are now planet side? What do you do? Shoot anything that moves of course!!! What else would you do? The game is pretty linear in terms of where you can go. This is the start, follow this course that has about as much leniency to where you can go as an ankle monitor, kill the baddies on the way, and finish the level. Simple. So easy a caveman could do it.
“But how is the game play, Nate?” You may or may not ask depending on if you know my real name. Which you do know. Because you creep on me on facebook. Yeah. I know. You have a melee weapon, when your pistol is equipped, that you can use to hack and slash your way through most enemies. Along the journey of blood and misery you find more fun toys that you can use. Most of the time, they are placed in strategic locations that you will need to use for the next part. Basically the idea is if you were walking into a cave and, oh low and behold, you find a lantern and matches. The game gives you exactly what you need for the next part. So, when you see a sniper rifle, guess if the fight is going to be close or long range! Yeah… good guess.
Now you can select these four weapons at any time with the d-pad, much like you can with the gears of war lay out. (If it’s not broke, why not steal it? I guess….) So you have four weapons at any given time. An assault rifle, a pistol, a heavy weapon, and a medium power type of weapon. You can cycle through these, and honestly you could get away with the entire game using your pistol and your melee weapon, which you can use a chainsaw sword (chainsaw attachment… sound familiar?), a two sided axe, and finally a large mace that, when equipped, is the only weapon that you can use.
So you are hacking, slashing, shooting, and pounding but what makes the game unique-ish? Well it definitely isn’t the overdrive meter. While you are bashing the brains out of some orcs, every kill gives you a little energy in this horseshoe looking meter on the bottom left of your screen. When it fills you can go into this energy fueled God…. For like 10 seconds… This gives you the amazing ability to hit harder, bullet time, and other various goodies as the game progresses. In other words, the fun stuff is towards the end of the game and you can’t enjoy it till you find it. All the way on the other side of the times that you could actually use it. You activate it just you do on Star Wars by pressing the two analog sticks simultaneously and then boom, enjoy the blood and gore show.
But what about all of the gamers that actually take damage throughout the game? How do you getz more life in your lifes bar? Well glad you asked. Basically you are a vampire, this is the only logical way to see it. Or a sadist. This could also be true. When you are hacking and slashing the green men into green chili, you have the option to unleash a power attack that stuns your enemies. Where you use it in a combo of swings it does different things. Actually you can just tag the B button once and you pimp slap an orc into a daze. But then what? Well, you walk over, grab the orc, and then kill him in the most gory way possible to get your health back. This is actually pretty cool… the first five times, then you start to notice the small annoyances that come with this system. The repetitive executions mixed with the 10 second kill time gets old fast. Especially when you need health, and you are not invincible during an execution. I.E. the 20 or so friends of the asshole you are ritualistically killing can still hurt you, and all you get to do is watch as that pitiful attempt you just had to gain health is wasted. You die. And you repeat the process while listening to your character mutter some Call of Duty esk quote as you die about his government.
Now you have marched your way through the strategically placed weapons, easy to kill opponents, and you are now at a boss fight! YEAH!!! HERE WE GO!!! TIME TO KICK SOME… what? The boss fights in this game are about as hard as getting with Church’s Mom. All it takes is a little time, and in the end you are disappointed with the result. It was just too easy. Actually the only boss fight that is worth doing is at the end when you meet the other enemies that are actually worth fighting. But, that is spoilers and we won’t give everything away here. However, if you are looking for a challenge, look no further than the game next to this one in the display case.
So how does this game rank? The game is actually fun if you like those games where you can jump in, destroy everything, and not have to really try at all. You can waste ammo and ten seconds later find a small ordinance dump where, luckily for you, they have every type of ammunition. If you are looking for a game that gives you a challenge, this is not the game for you. If you want a game that has a slightly below average story line, English-esk accents, no real skill to demolish the campaign, and probably little to no replay value then this is the game for you.
Honestly this game feels rushed and more or less a large arcade game in the end. If you are a huge fan of the Warhammer series then why not buy it? If you have an extra 20 bucks that you don’t feel like doing something decent with, might as well grab it. But honestly, in this reviewers mind, the game is not worth the buy, rent if you are bored, or want to get a child into gaming without too much effort.
I give this game 2 out of 5.
