Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

When I first booted Warhammer 40k: Space Marine up I was really excited. I've avoided all media coverage on it, so I could dive into it completely fresh. The Warhammer universe and lore has always been fascinating to me, but this game is not a great representation of the depth of that universe. Also, the combat painfully reminds me of the Dynasty Warriors series.

I'm not saying it's a bad game, but it's also not a really good one either. I was sort of bored throughout the whole experience with the story. I knew enough about Warhammer Universe before hand to be disappointed at the level of depth this game goes into. I really didn't care about the Ultramarines plight, the Orks constant revolt against those (as the call me over and over again) "Space Marines", and the introduction of Chaos soldiers near the end was all to confusing to follow.

One thing that anyone who plays the game more than 10 minutes will learn is that every single Ork that sees you must call you a space marine. Now, it wouldn't be that noticeable, but with their British accents the Orks yelling those same two words over and over gets a little annoying after a while. I did appreciate the portrayal of the Orks in the game though. In Warhammer Orks usually win by brute force and having thousands more troops than the other factions and in Space Marine Relic Entertainment really nailed that feeling.

Initially, I was really enjoying the melee and gun combat in the game. It was just dumb fun for about an hour, but the effect wore off very quickly. Then, I realized that it was basically Dynasty Warriors combat with their melee and ranged weapons but in space and with marines. You move slow while walking and you need to stun your enemy then execute them to regain health, which seems really weird. I'll admit Space Marine doesn't have the sheer lunacy and craziness of Dynasty Warriors, but the melee in the game really feels a lot like this to me. Other than that it's just your basic third person shooter. Space Marine, like Dynasty Warriors, is fun for a while, but it just becomes the same thing over and over again. The shock and awe appeal of that combat is a really hard thing to keep interesting for an 6-8 hour game.

I don't want to give the impression that I didn't actually like the game. The I probably would have given it two stars if not for the multiplayer being actually pretty fun. You can pick from three different classes: the tactical well-rounded marine, who can wield melee and gun weapons proficiently, the devastator marine that is a long range heavy armor shooter, and the assault marine who has a jet-pack to get in close for melee and can fly away from ranged attacks. The two mode are the basic deathmatch and point capturing. The game does allow customizing your space marine and I have to admit seeing the big burly space marine in all pink is a sight to see.

All in all I really don't have a lot to say about the game other than it's kind of boring unless you are a hardcore Warhammer 40k fan and even then you might think that the combat is tedious and repetitive after a while. I'm glad I played it, but the weird gain health by perform finishing move and the lack of emotion in the storytelling really just didn't sit well with me. The multiplayer is worth trying out if you're curious at all about the game, but that's only thing it has going for it in my opinion.