Warhammer 4000: Space Marine
For: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
From: THQ
3 and a half stars (out of 5)
The game comes with an awesome handbook/manual. In it, I was able to find a quick history lesson about the space marines, which gave me a good understanding of who I was playing as.
You assume the character of Captain Titus, the leader of the group known as the ultra marines.
They are the pinnacle of the human soldiers, the ultimate weapon against the alien orks hellbent on the destruction of humanity.
The story starts slowly. You are sent to a world under siege by millions of orks to see if you can stem the tide of war.
As the story progresses, things start to heat up, leading to betrayal, tragedy and a few twists thrown in for good measure.
Space Marine is a third-person hack-and-slash shooter. It mixes close combat melee attacks with mid- to long-range gun play.
Changing between the two is as simple as pressing one button to the next. Face buttons are used for melee and triggers for gun play.
There are also sections in the game where you will get a backpack - like a jetpack - which allows you to do a mid-air stomp that sends your enemies flying. Add executions and fury mode into the mix of combat and you have some solid gameplay.
PlayStation 3 owners are going to get a taste of what chainsawing and kerb-stomping enemies feels like. It reminded me a lot of the Xbox 360-exclusive Gears of War series.
Visually, the game isn't ground-breaking and early on you will face some very dull and repetitive environments. Luckily, as the game progresses areas start to open up and look great.
For multiplayer, take the core gameplay from single player, add three different classes and throw in some perks and challenges to complete along the way as you level up.
There is no region matchmaking, so bad connections will come into play.
Diehard fans will love the multiplayer.
It's worth mentioning that a free four-player co-op mode called Exterminatus is coming to Xbox Live and PSN in October.
I thought the game was well paced. The story and combat mix together nicely without making it feeling too repetitive and boring.
The game doesn't do anything amazing but it does the basics well.
If you're a Space Marine fan, this is a must-buy, and if you're not, you are still going to enjoy the huge amount of gore in this game and the solid gameplay.
Everyone loves chainsaws and kerb-stomping don't they?
I know I do.
