"It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.
Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in his name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat from aliens, heretics, mutants - and worse.
To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods."
This very metal and intense quote is the iconic introduction to the Warhammer 40,000 setting. It is meant to give essentially an elevator pitch for what the universe of "40k" is all about, and it does so beautifully. Warhammer 40k is many things: grand, majestic, immense, horrific, gruesome, repugnant, and profoundly bloody. If you dip your toes into nearly any side of the Olympic-sized swimming pool that is Warhammer 40,000, your toe is coming back out bloodied. And there are so many different ways that you can experience 40k - be it through novels and literature, the iconic tabletop miniatures game, video games, fan films, etc. Today, we're talking about a video game. A very cool video game.
Space Marine is a fantastic video game. It was my on-ramp to learning about the 40k universe, which prior to that had seemed daunting and quite overwhelming. Space Marine wisely took an approach that felt very welcoming to those unfamiliar with the setting; choosing an accessible gameplay style. The game is a brutal, bloody affair of gut-wrenching melee combat, combined with solid third-person shooter elements, which ultimately produced a digestible, fun to play video game, that perfectly encapsulates the overall tone and aesthetic of Warhammer 40,000. The story is also a great, thrilling plot that really nails the types of tales you typically hear in this universe, especially out of the flagship faction - The Imperium of Man. Let's dig deeper into the gameplay and story of Space Marine.
On the gameplay front, Space Marine is familiar and comfortable, yet still a ferocious beast of its own class. If you've played great third-person shooters like the Gears of War games, Space Marine probably carves out a niche for itself somewhere on that family tree. Where it differentiates itself is that instead of being a cover-based shooter like Gears of War, Space Marine wants you to play like a warrior of the Imperium. The game implores you to draw your wickedly designed chainsword and get in the face of the Ork enemy, slashing and sawing them in twain and throwing yourself into the gruesome fray. There are a few melee weapons to get your gore-covered gauntlets on, each with its own traits and fighting style. Across both the campaign and in the multiplayer, you can use the chainsword, power axe, combat knife, power sword and the incredible Thunder Hammer. The melee portion of the combat is fun and intensely satisfying, but also of critical importance, as it is the main way to regain lost health. When an enemy is sufficiently wounded they can be horrifyingly executed for a regenerative boost to your health. You also can utilize a Fury ability, where your melee combat becomes substantially more effective, allowing you to instantly execute some enemies and quickly clear hordes of enemies out of your warpath.
I want to explore some of the third-person shooter aspects of the game as well, because they're equally as important and filled with pulse-pounding, pulpy fun. Perhaps the most iconic weapon of a Space Marine is that of the Bolter. These guns may look unassuming, but that's because you only ever see them in the hands of gigantic, heavily armored soldiers. They are in fact too large and too heavy for an average human man to hold, so you can gather that they're actually considerably bigger than they appear. Bolters fire "bolts," which are rocket-propelled 20mm projectiles that can pierce armor and then are designed to detonate upon penetration, resulting in massive, bloody messes where the target used to be. Given the over-the-top nature of the 40k universe, Bolters really only are shown to be so destructive against inferior, weaker life forms, while gunfights against other Space Marines (those warped by Chaos) or the brawny, hulking Orks result in something more like a standard shootout you'd see with smaller arms in our world, where potentially multiple shots are required to inflict fatal damage on a target. Space Marines are also kitted out with a Bolt Pistol, which is essentially a smaller, semi-automatic Bolter, which means it is potentially just as deadly, but you have to make your shots count. There's also a long-ranged, scoped Bolter variant and an upgraded version of the Bolter, as well as a Heavy Bolter that can be obtained in the game, if you prefer your firepower even stronger. Why not? There a few other ranged weapons that can be used in Space Marine as well: a few different plasma guns that feature unlimited ammo (but require heat management), a handheld flamethrower, a grenade launcher and an anti-tank "Lascannon." As you can see, Space Marines have a full armory of ridiculously powerful weapons at their disposal, both melee and ranged, and this game allows you to treat their weaponry like a playground of wanton violence.
I could wax poetic about Warhammer 40k: Space Marine for 40,000 years - until we're actually living that hellish vision of the future. But, I truly think the best way to experience this game is by playing it. It's short, coming in around 7 hours, so it's not even a huge time commitment. But, the gameplay is so crunchy and sleek that I don't think it's even going to feel like any sort of a chore; in truth those 7 hours will likely fly by like an Assault-class Space Marine soaring down onto a Chaos Marine to cleave him into pieces in the name of the God-Emperor of Mankind. Sorry, once you spend any sort of meaningful time in this world, you become indoctrinated into its lore and universe, envisioning yourself as a ten-foot tall mountain of bio-engineered muscle and armor, serving some emperor in the reaches of space.
Post a Comment