Review of Space Marine

Throughout the existence of the "Warhammer 40000" universe, many video games have been created based on it, but as if some fate loomed over them - aside from strategies of all kinds, developers never managed to create a single decent project. The shooter Firewarrior turned out to be incredibly dull, the RPG Inquisitor never saw the light... However, everything comes to an end eventually. This saying was once again confirmed when Space Marine, an action game by Relic, was released. Why am I so confident that the black streak for non-strategies in Warhammer has ended? Let's find out.

Three Against the Whole World

Your life belongs to the Emperor. Spend it wisely.

The plot of Space Marine unfolds on an imperial planet called Graia, which was suddenly attacked by Orks. The simplest and most effective way in such cases is Exterminatus, simply burning everything alive on the surface. Unfortunately for the imperial authorities (and fortunately for the players), Graia turned out to have a strategically important object - a titan forge with a ready-made "Commander" class titan. Therefore, it was decided to send a full combat fleet to cleanse the planet. And to prevent such a valuable and powerful war machine as a titan from falling into the hands of the Orks, a small squad of space marines was sent ahead of the fleet, led by our alter-ego - Captain of the Ultramarines, Titus.

Meet Captain Titus. Armed and very dangerous.

Along with two comrades - a seasoned sergeant and a green recruit who has just become a full-fledged space marine - we must carve our way through hordes of Orks to the titan forge and ensure the war machine's safety until the main forces arrive. This task is just right for the representatives of one of the most famous and glorious orders. However, no one could even imagine what the brave trio would actually face on the surface of the planet...

Such color music in the skies heralds nothing good. Never.

Study in Crimson Tones

Success is measured in blood - yours and the enemy's.

Blood for the Blood God!

In terms of gameplay, Space Marine is a classic third-person action - Captain Titus runs forward and dodges, shoots enemies and slices them to pieces, occasionally taking position at a turret with a heavy bolter, plasma gun, or auto-cannon to deal with particularly dense crowds of enemies or something like a battle ship. During shooting, the camera hovers behind his right shoulder, and during melee attacks, it smoothly shifts to the back - convenient and effective. If you are used to the diverse acrobatics and puzzle-solving in games like Darksiders and Devil May Cry, then try to forget about that. Captain Titus moves with the grace of an armored rhinoceros - after a sprint, he sometimes gets carried away, and jumping from some ledge, he leaves a significant dent on the ground, while enemies caught under the charging Ultramarine fly away like bowling pins. The developers brilliantly conveyed the feeling that our hero wears heavy and powerful armor, turning him into a living tank. This armor also makes jumping and rolling impossible - for each of the four melee weapons in the game, there is exactly one attack combo that can be mixed with stunning special moves.

With a heavy bolter in hand, Titus can truly feel like a tank - for a brief period.

Overall, Captain can carry one melee weapon and four guns for engaging enemies at long or not-so-long distances. The combat knife, chain sword, power axe, and hammer differ not only in damage and attack speed but also in stunning blows, performed by pressing a special button during combos - from a regular kick when swinging the combat knife to a powerful slam to the ground at the end of the hammer attack. Out of the four slots for ranged weapons, two are firmly reserved for a pistol and bolter, which improve as the campaign progresses, while the other two guns can be picked depending on your taste and situation requirements. The arsenal of presented weaponry is impressive - there are sniper rifles, grenade launchers, laser guns, plasma rifles, meltas, and paired assault bolters. Besides, you can throw grenades or, upon finding a turret with something like an auto-cannon, detach it from the turret and, until the ammo runs out, enjoy the speed of turning enemies into bloody stains.

In such capsules, we usually find new weapons.

For melee combat enthusiasts, there’s also a surprise - several times Captain Titus will have the chance to don a jetpack and feel like an angel of death, bringing vengeance from the skies to the enemies of the Emperor. This joy is strictly timed and occurs only through the plot, but it's enough to savor new possibilities. With the jetpack, the Captain of the Ultramarines jumps around the level like a flea, literally turning enemies into bloody dust, landing right on their heads.

Rhinoceroses don't fly well, but with their weight, that’s no longer their problem.

Speaking of blood. There is indeed a lot of it here - enemies are torn to pieces, limbs and heads fly off, and after melee encounters, Titus’s armor changes from blue to reddish-brown. However, there are also executions performed by pressing a special button on weak or stunned opponents. The Captain crushes enemy skulls with his foot, stabs them in the mouth with a sword, tears off heads with his bare hands, crushes ribs with a hammer, and impales shield-bearing Orks with their own shields. However, all this bloody madness serves a very specific purpose - it is how health is restored in Space Marine. You see, our brave space marine has two bars constantly hovering above his head - armor and life. When he starts getting hit, first the armor fails (noted by the disappearance of the bar and electrical discharges running over the hero's armor), followed by his health. And while the armor automatically regenerates if the hero stands somewhere quiet without taking damage for a few seconds, Titus cannot regenerate life. Thus, for replenishing health, he must break into enemy ranks and crush them in particularly brutal ways.

In a second, an Ork's head will be uniformly distributed across our shoe.

However, there’s another way to restore health while ruining it for everyone around - the sacred fury accumulated during attacks allows for a short time to significantly increase weapon damage and activate health regeneration, and during aiming, it slows down time and increases shooting accuracy. Unfortunately, even by the end of the campaign after all upgrades, fury runs out very quickly, but at times it can help in seemingly hopeless situations.

And such situations happen frequently - the enemies of our brave Ultramarines are not inclined to show mercy. Initially, it seems that hordes of Gretchins and Orks are quite harmless and can only inflict damage by sheer luck. However, the first chemical squig that sneaks into a crowd changes the outlook dramatically. And when heavy-armored leaders capable of easily crushing our hero by themselves appear among the foes, you begin to understand - life won't be easy. Each type of enemy requires its own tactics, and just when you think you've got it down, the developers throw in a new, previously unseen foe. Have you learned to carve Orks into paste and crush Gretchins? Time to run from the leader. Have you gotten good at shooting sluggish brutes from afar? Here come the Orks with rocket launchers. Have you gotten used to constant rocket explosions above your head and rolling from cover to cover? Say hello to the shield-bearing Orks, which must be literally besieged like miniature fortresses. It would seem that you know how to handle all the Orks already? And here, too, a surprise awaits... New types of weapons appear with just as much frequency as enemies, allowing for flexible adjustment of tactics and keeping things interesting. The developers managed to maintain the pace throughout the campaign without allowing for dips and boredom. And for those who enjoy collecting whatever they can find in the levels, servo-skulls with diary excerpts are generously scattered about, offering plenty of interesting information about the world.

Here is how audio diaries look in the Warhammer universe.

The developers have created a remarkable world. They managed to convincingly depict the realities of the grim dark 41st millennium, where doctors kill their patients to prevent them from being seized by Orks, colossal war machines await their moment in cyclopean halls, the devices of slain Tech-Priests still record psalms to the machine god Omnissiah, the forces of Chaos weave intrigues and mock foolish mortals, and the victors are indeed judged. From the standpoint of its fidelity to the Warhammer 40000 universe, one cannot take issue with the game.

A detailed recreation of the Titan "Commander" - one of the most lethal war machines of the 41st millennium.

Blue, blue, we don’t want to play with you!

Burn the heretic. Kill the mutant. Purge the Unclean.

Let the galaxy burn!

Although the single-player campaign turned out more than worthy, its completion is unlikely to take more than two or three evenings. But fortunately, the game is not limited to just the campaign - the developers thoughtfully included multiplayer, and what a multiplayer it is! In online battles, teams of loyal Imperial space marines and Chaos soldiers face off against each other, differing only in appearance. However, they are radically different – the game features a powerful editor that allows players to customize their marine's appearance with meticulous attention to detail. You can manually select each piece of armor, paint it, and affix your favorite emblem on top. Not all armor sets are initially available - they must be unlocked as you play, gaining levels and achieving milestones. The same goes for weapons and skills, which are unique to each class - and there are three classes in total. A standard space marine, a heavy weapons specialist, and a melee assault marine with a jetpack.

There are six classes for players to create, as well as three basic classes that can also be modified.

The strategy of the game depends not only on the chosen class but also on its weaponry. For example, a devastator with a heavy bolter provides fire support, raining round after round on enemy positions. The same devastator armed with a laser gun turns into a sniper, carefully picking off enemies from distance. A plasma rifle-wielding marine swiftly shreds enemy shields, while a melta wielder waits around corners for a chance to incinerate with a well-placed shot. The only one whose role on the battlefield doesn’t significantly change depending on weaponry is the assault marine. His task always consists of swooping in, preferably from an unexpected direction, slicing someone into thin pieces, and quickly bolting away - if successful. In addition to weapons, each class can adopt two special skills that often dramatically change the gameplay. Thus, the marine can take, among other things, a skill that allows him to wield two weapons instead of one, the devastator can sharply increase its own armor, and the assault marine can become a living bomb, detonating his jump pack upon death.

You can equip your marine with one of the available armor sets or manually compose his gear.

For killing enemies, assisting teammates, and winning battles you earn experience - but it's not so simple. Did you avenge your killer? Enjoy a pleasant bonus. Did you shoot someone across the entire level? Additional points for sniper shooting. Did you use more than one type of weapon to kill an enemy? Once again, receive an extra reward. This system encourages not just dispatching enemies but doing so in a stylish and diverse manner.

Currently, there are only two game modes in multiplayer - capture the point and regular team deathmatch. No special innovations were cooked up by the developers here, but it is already clear that for both modes, tons of tactical tricks can be concocted when playing as a team. A free expansion is expected at the beginning of October, which will introduce a third mode - something akin to Last Stand, where four marines will fend off waves of enemies. This means that the already fantastic multiplayer will become even more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, in the multiplayer aspect, the weakest point of Space Marine is revealed - the technical execution. I haven’t seen so many minor and major bugs in a long time – disappearing textures, horrendous lag, glitchy models, problems with finding game rooms... On some graphics cards, the game is unplayable, while others require you to twist and turn just to launch it. The developers are buried under wrathful complaints and promise to fix everything, but so far, there’s been no visible progress in this regard. It's especially frustrating to observe against the backdrop of excellent graphics, a physics model, and wonderful sound.

The true face of the Ultramarine

In summary, I can say the following: Space Marine is a very fun, stylish, and bloody action set in a wonderfully recreated Warhammer world, with a good campaign and simply fantastic multiplayer. Unfortunately, the picture is slightly marred by the abundance of technical errors; however, they promise to fix them soon.