Space Marine: An All-Round Smasher

What’s the best way to make a game appeal to young men? Why, make it about hulking men in bulky power armor violently shooting and slashing their way through every manner of cosmic monstrosity, of course. It worked for Gears of War, after all, a game series only slightly less popular than Halo and slightly more popular than Judaism (true story), so why indeed should it not work for Space Marine, a game about hulking men in bulky power armor etcetera, etcetera?

Speaking of Gears of War, Space Marine has made the fatal mistake of daring to be released anywhere within a month of the third installment of the Gears of War series, so it’s been somewhat overshadowed by it. Hopefully after reading this you’ll give the challenger a chance.

Premise and Plot

Looking at the concept from a newcomer’s perspective, no one could fault you for thinking that Space Marine is a shameless rip-off of Gears of War in every facet. Let’s look at some of the similarities:

The protagonist is a towering, overly-muscular hybrid of man and grizzly bear (but at least he shaves); he wears an absurdly bulky suit of armor that looks like it weighs about 1,000 pounds; He uses a chainsaw to dice his enemies into lunch meat, said enemies being ugly and particularly dimwitted aliens, and he never wears a helmet on the battlefield. The game even removes the HUD when you’re not engaged, the same way Gears of War does to make the game more immersive.

And yet, before any Gears fans cry foul, it’s worth remembering that the Space Marines existed long before the COG in the form of the popular tabletop game, Warhammer 40k. So while Space Marine, the video game, might have shamelessly ripped several elements of its gameplay from Gears of War, at least the story is original.      

Speaking of story, I hope you know a bit about the lore of the Warhammer universe, because the game doesn’t take any time to explain it. Right from the word “go” the characters rant on and on about the forces of Chaos, the Immortal Emperor, the Adeptus Mechanicus, Techpriests, and the Inquisition; all things which make sense to me, someone who knows a good bit about the realm of Warhammer, but which will undoubtedly leave newcomers scratching their heads in confusion as they try to gauge just what the hell is going on.      

I could try to briefly explain the lore of Warhammer to you, but it’s more trouble than it’s worth. Look it up on Wikipedia if you’re interested. Otherwise, here’s all you need to know to have a good experience: Humans rule, aliens suck; you have a hammer that could flatten Mount Everest and aliens have squishy bodies. Figure it out.       

As for the campaign, you’ll step into the giant metal boots of No-First-Name Titus, a Captain of the Ultramarines, which is a Chapter of Space Marines, the Emperor of Man’s elite warriors which operate separately from the Imperium’s standard military, the Imperial Guard.      

Titus is sent to the planet Graia, a forge world (meaning a planet which consists entirely of factories) which has fallen under siege to the alien force known as the Orks. Be sure not to confuse these for the Orcs, the antagonistic army from the works of Tolkien. These Orks are green-skinned monsters with giant tusks and cockney accents. On a side note, I have to say that the voice acting for the Orks was disappointing. They didn’t have the same ferocious growl in their voices that made me like them in Dawn of War, and they didn’t sound very menacing to me. But I digress.

Shortly after arriving upon the besieged world, Titus and his companions, Veteran Sergeant Sidonus and Marine Brother Leandros, find themselves tasked with recovering a top secret weapon for the mysterious Imperial Inquisition. There’s also a mystery hanging about the air that Captain Titus has a dark secret.  Without wishing to spoil anything, I can say that I saw the big plot twist of the game coming from a mile away, so I wasn’t particularly shocked when it occurred.     

One thing to note is the personality that Captain Titus and his power-armored steroid jocks bring to the table. It actually is a nice change of atmosphere from Gears of War.      

Marcus Fenix and his crew remind me a lot of frat guys, whooping and swearing and drunkenly head-butting each other all in a suspiciously Freudian attempt to express their masculinity. Their personalities are orchestrated to appeal to a very particular demographic, and I often find their behavior rather juvenile.      

The Ultramarines, on the other hand, are much more likeable, fighting for “crazy old ideas” like honor and glory and brotherhood. They are completely fearless, and actually quite intelligent. Where Marcus Fenix would go to a tail-gate party, slam a Budweiser in one alpha-male gulp and then crush the can against his forehead, Titus would prefer a glass of well-aged Cabernet and a quiet evening with the works of Chaucer.      

Gameplay

It’s good, but it certainly has its quips; quite a few of them, actually.

The game places a large emphasis on melee combat. Where in Gears of War the needless chainsaw bayonet is usually used as a last resort or when there’s only one enemy left and you want to savor your victory, melee weapons were my primary mode of combat in Space Marine. They’ll probably be yours, too, as you dice and smash hordes of Orks into red-and-green goop like you’ve been charged with preparing the Jell-O for the office Christmas party.

In order to ensure that you’ll fight “mano-a-mano” more than anything else, the game features a mechanic in which you regain easily-drained health by performing finishing moves. What this translates to is tapping one button while the enemy is stunned, which in turn will trigger an animation sequence in which Titus kills the enemy in some gory fashion (usually a curb stomp).

The major flaw with this, though, is that because this is a linear game where the environments vary little from narrow corridors of rubble outside and narrow corridors of rubble inside, you’ll quickly notice that the animations have severe clipping issue. I have to say, the satisfaction of smashing in the skull of an enemy who was sure he could take me is significantly diminished when I find myself seriously bullying a wall while off to my right an Ork’s head explodes for no apparent reason.

Another big problem with the finishing moves is that they take too long. You don’t get the health boost until the animation finishes, and you’re still vulnerable while Titus is going through the animation. These can take anywhere from one to three seconds because Titus apparently majored in Drama and tries his hardest to live up to his chosen field of study with his needlessly draw-out kill sequences. 

The above may seem like a petty complaint, but it gets to be a real problem when there are 100 slobbering, ax-wielding brutes slashing at every square inch of your person and draining your already-damaged health meter faster than a high school cheerleader does her daddy’s credit score.    

And then there are the insta-kills; the teeth-gnashing, controller-smashing, rage-inducing insta-kills. On several occasion you’ll find yourself hacking your way through a large horde of Orks for several minutes only to be insta-killed by one of the two-foot tall, bipedal lizard-type creatures with bombs strapped to them (called Squigs) that the game tossed into the crowd for a giggle at your expense. 

You’ll then be tossed back to your last checkpoint, which only occurs during a calm period, so you’ll spend a lot of time needlessly traipsing to the battle over and over again. Believe me-it gets annoying. For me, it was annoying enough to make me stop playing a couple of times. 

In fact, these types of kills accounted for most of my deaths through the campaign. There’s just no way to see them coming until after the little suicide bombers have turned you into a red mist, especially if they come from off-camera (which they often do). 

The obvious solution to this, the one I imagine the developers intended, is to use ranged weapons more often, but I take issue with a game that hands me what is essentially the Hammer of Mjolnir halfway through and then punishes me for wanting to use it instead of boring old rifles and grenades, something I can get from virtually every other game on the market today.  

Multiplayer

The multiplayer seems fun, but I can’t say much about it because Space Marine incorporates a new marketing tool which I’ve never seen before: It allows me to play online, but because I don’t actually own the game (I have to rent for these reviews), I don’t have the password needed to unlock all the cool weapons.  I’m only allowed to use the most basic ones, and when I’m fighting against opponents whom are wielding mighty thunder hammers and shield-enhancers with my dinky rifle and knife, the fun is quickly diminished.    

Overall

At the end of the day, I must admit that I actually really liked Space Marine. The campaign does start to drag after a while, but right as you begin to notice it, it ends, so I guess it’s the right length.

To parents: This game is rated “Mature” for a reason.  It is very violent and deals with abstract religious concepts that will undoubtedly make some folks uncomfortable. If he is under 18, do not buy this game for your child.

Investment suggestion: It depends. If you're not big into multiplayer, and just want to do the campaign, rent it. It’ll take you about a week. If you are big into multiplayer, I had fun with it, even without all the awesome hand-held WMD’s, so go ahead and buy it if you can spare the $60.

Where to Purchase

Here's some great local places to pick up Space Marine in Northeast Cobb: Walmart Supercenter and Gamestop.