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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine represents a risk for Relic, the developer renowned for its outstanding Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War strategy games. It's the studio's first jab at a game on consoles game since The Outfit, a well-intentioned but misdirected tactical shooter. The chance taken on Space Marine has little to do with the developer's competence, though; it has everything to do with how hardcore fans of the tabletop game will react to it.
From the outside, Space Marine looks like your typical over-the-shoulder shooter with dudes in hulking armor. As a fan, Space Marine looks to abandon the traditional squad-centric rules of Warhammer for the sake of player empowerment. Both sides are right. It's the campaign's clever variables that should suck them in regardless of apprehensions.
Battle Brothers
Space Marines rarely fight alone, and our main man Captain Titus has some bulky bros to watch his back. He's brought vetted soldier Sidonus and a young pup called Leandros along for the ride to rescue a planet from the ork overrun. These guys do a great job of watching Titus's back in combat -- don't be surprised to see them shootin' and bootin' a group of enemies on the other side of the fray. These are capable killers in their own right, rather than the worthless A.I. allies most single-player games half-heartedly throw our way. Expect to see some more friends late in the campaign, too -- some familiar friends are in store for the Relic faithful.
Lumberjack-ery
The Chainsword, Power Axe and Thunder Hammer are each handy, hefty melee weapons Titus can -- or, has to, really -- use to aid him during bigger battles. Sometimes a Bolter rifle just can't take down a swarm of green-skinned orks in the same way a humming, rumbling chainsaw-sword or electrified sledgehammer can. Cutting down enemies is essential not only to surviving, but to what makes Space Marine's combat as distinct as it is. This game is absolutely not a shooter. It just so happens that guns are present, but expect to charge into a terrifying mob more often than hanging back and taking pot-shots from behind a hunk of rock.
Battlefield Fodder
Those ork hordes Titus is up against are no joke. Enemies with axes, rifles, energy-weapons and other armor-piercing doodads come in droves. It's simultaneously frightening and exhilarating to see a swarm of 10 or more dudes charging toward Titus. Cutting them down takes work, but the process and result are sickeningly satisfying. Regaining health by eviscerating some poor stunned sap with an execution leaves little to the table-top gamer's imagination. Leaving an area with 20 corpses -- scattered into 50 or more pieces -- strewn across a bloodied battlefield is a satisfying way to walk away from one fight and into another.
Get High
Titus periodically encounters obelisks with goodies stuffed inside. Sometimes it's a new gun, others a Purity Seal ribbon to unlock new abilities. The rarest of these jewels, though, is the jump-pack, a burst-effect jet pack with excellent propulsion either up or down. Launching into the air and coming down quickly is a great way to get around bigger battlefields, but the allure is the violence it causes when attacking on descent. Boosting to a group of grounded greenskins entails a thick, syrupy mist of dark red erupting around our hero. It's an incredible moment every time you slam down, and it's something not really seen anywhere else. It's a pity about the limited usage we get out of it -- it "runs out of fuel" after you cross a checkpoint threshold. This is also part of what makes it so enticing. Who knows when you'll find the jumpy toy again?
Titus
The gruff, by-the-book protagonist doesn't have a lot going for him in the personality department -- wet sock, bag o' nails, take your pick -- but the conflict he faces implants it where necessary. More than just the murder, his regular problems involve a lot of trust issues, bickering between the aforementioned battle bros, and a drive so certain that it comes full circle to feel uncertain. He's a born leader with nothing to lose and all that other clichéd nonsense, but there's an air of unpredictability around him that could go a lot of interesting places if the more personal parts of the story pan out for him.
