Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Previews

The Easter weekend gave us four more Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine previews, all of which are based on what was shown of the game during Relic’s recent press event.

OXM UK:

It’s interesting that Relic still refers to this game as a shooter when its melee combat is so satisfying. Space Marine floods the screen with enemies of varying sizes, meaning you’re often wading through Gretchlings that pop like jam-filled water balloons if you so much as clip them. Clearly the larger the foe, the more hacking and slashing they’ll require – but the angry, revving chainsword is an outrageously satisfying tool for the job. Fingers crossed the Power Axe and Thunder Hammer are similarly pleasing to wield.

It helps that the feeling of weight that should be exhibited when a seven-foot-tall bundle of muscle in honking great armour bull-rushes a fleshy green mutant has been nailed. Relic has achieved the balance between speed of movement and a feeling of momentum beautifully.

TVG:

Space Marine really does throw the enemies at you thick-and-fast with markedly less opportunity to duck into cover for a breather. To balance this though, Relic has developed a couple of gameplay features that soup-up your marine’s powers. Successful kills bolster Captain Titus’ armour (effectively a forgiving health meter of sorts) while also building up his Fury meter, which can then be dispatched as either a more powerful melee attack (one hit, one kill) or a short period of bullet-time to ratchet off a volley of ranged kills.

Much of the game’s appeal can be found by using these powers in conjunction with the many weapons to dispatch enemies in the largest possible volumes, while a wide variation in these enemies also helps to keep you on your toes. On the Ork side of the battle, there’s the tricky Bomb Squig (a wee-beastie strapped with explosives that runs at you suicidally), rocket propelled Storm Boys, or the riot shield issued ‘Ard Boy. And then there’s the Forces of Chaos, which Relic likens to the Sith in Star Wars. We came up against a Bloodletter Daemon during our hands on – a devilishly quick Chaos foe that can warp over short distances – as well as the levitating Tainted Psyker with its psychic abilities and powerful balls of energy as ranged attacks. All the various Forces of Chaos are former Space Marines or Imperial Guard soldiers that have been corrupted by the Chaos gods, so in other parts of the game (not featured during our hands-on) players will come up against the likes of Chaos Space Marine Raptors and Chaos Space Marine Lords.

Click Online:

After the introduction from Relic, we got hands on with four levels from a pre-Alpha build, featuring an array of combat situations, weapons and enemies. The first thing you’ll notice is the frantic pace of the game enemies are plentiful and you are constantly driven forward by carefully placed spawn points and the natural strengths of your character.

Combat is effortless in Space Marine ranged weapons spit out shrieking death at a furious rate as you charge towards the massed ranks of Orkish foes but the game really comes into its own when you get up close. Strike a melee input and the camera subtly pans out giving you a better view of the battlefield as you use light and heavy attacks to bash, bludgeon or simply chainsaw your enemies into piles of glistening flesh. An effective roll mechanic gets you in and out of harm’s way with ease and gives you a little distance to lob in some grenades or make use of the powers associated with the Fury meter.

And Destructoid:

The visuals are hit-and-miss, too. I loved the character designs for all the races. The Space Marines look as badass as they should, the Chaos class definitely looked fearsome with their devish looks and lightning-like reflexes, and all the various Orks all looked distinctive. The Gothic architecture seen in the majority of the environments off in the background was well designed, too. It was areas that saw me in buildings/close quarters that felt very generic. Only one of the four levels felt like it had some life and attention to detail.

Note that what I saw was all pre-alpha gameplay; a majority of my complaints, such as the combat and environmental design, can be addressed between now and launch. I just hope there’s a lot more to the story that will bring people in. I’m sure Warhammer 40K fans will eat the game up.