Warhammer 40000: Space Marine - Discussion Thread

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Gannu

Gannu

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Juggernaut
Developer: - Relic Entertainment

Publisher: - THQ

Platforms: PC, PS3, X360

Type: Action, RPG, Third-person

Mode: Single Player, Multiplayer

Release Date: - Sept. 6, 2011

System Requirements:

Minimum:

- 2.0Ghz Dual core CPU (any Core 2 Duo or AMD X2 or better)
- 1GB (XP), 2GB (Vista), 2GB (Windows 7) RAM
- 256MB GPU w/Shader Model 3 (equivalent to AMD Radeon 3850 or NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT)
- Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 OS
- 20 GB Hard Drive space (10 GB free after install)
- Steam account

Recommended:

- Any Quad-core AMD or Intel CPU
- 1GB (XP), 2GB (Vista), 2GB (Windows 7) RAM
- 512MB GPU w/Shader Model 3 (equivalent to AMD Radeon 5750 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260)
- Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP1, Windows 7 OS
- 20 GB Hard Drive space (10 GB free after install)
- Steam account

Trailer:

[youtube]SvymPlPaXDE[/youtube]

Gameplay:

[youtube]DLHtqI8CEDo[/youtube]

Finally, an action RPG title (first?) after several RTS titles which garnered critical acclaim in the series. Some say that the Gears of War and Starcraft series were inspired from Warhammer! Looking forward for this one. :D

A small preview courtesy Ars - Warhammer 40k: Space Marine finds identity outside of Gears of War
 
Completed the game yesterday and it sure was an awesome experience. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from the game having read the reviews but it turned out be pretty good. I'll briefly sum up the experience.

The protagonist of the title - Titus, Captain of the Ultramarines leads his forces against the Orks and the Forces of Chaos to secure the Imperial Forge World. Titus is accompanied by Leandros and Sidonus in his missions. The gameplay is fast paced, features a linear campaign and feels/plays like a cross of the Gears of War series and Darksiders (in fact the game is based on the Darksiders' Phoenix engine) blending elements of the shooter and hack-and-slash genres.

The combat has been well refined in the game. The game features a modest arsenal and our hero who sports a tank-like armor can wield a melee weapon for close-combat and 4 ranged weapons for long-range combat. Some of the melee weapons such as the Chainsword, Power Axe or the Thunder Hammer have devastating attacks and can shred the enemy armor and bones into minced meat! Ranged weapons include the Vengeance Launcher - deploys mines over a large distance which can be manually triggered, Lascannon - short for Laser Cannon similar to the Railgun in the Quake series shoots a bolt of cannon which rips through the enemy armor like a hot knife through butter, Meltagun - similar to a shotgun but instantly melts and vaporises anything in its way, Plasma Gun, Stalker Bolter - long-ranged scope weapon a la sniper rifle and the standard issue Bolt Pistol - later replaced by Plasma Pistol permanently and the Bolter - later replaced by Kraken Bolter which is essentially an assault rifle. Titus can also man mounted weaponry such as the Heavy Bolter and the Plasma Cannon (think Kraken Bolter's size doubled and attack quadrupled!) and be taken apart from the mount but slows down Titus as a result. They also get heated up when used and requires cooling off periodically. Titus can also use a jump pack intermittently to boost his jumps (meh!). One major flaw in the combat being the absence of a cover system! No clue as to why the devs. chose not to have one.

Titus sports a regenerative armor. The depleted armor recovers itself almost instantly but if his health takes a hit, enemies must be stunned and taken down to regain the health. The game also features a Fury system wherein the Fury meter fills itself when enemies are killed. When activated, Titus goes berserk for a brief period of time with his improved attacks while the health recovers itself as the meter depletes. The Fury system upgrades itself over the course of the game and Titus can slow down time when using the scope of the Stalker Bolter or the Lascannon. Think of the Fury system as the Rage system in the God of War series titles wherein the Omega shaped meter fills itself when enemies are killed and Kratos can later use the Rage to his advantage to quickly finish off his opponents.

The game's visuals and level designs are certainly commendable. Relic has beautifully crafted the Warhammer 40k universe as was evident from the rest of their lineup. The game doesn't require a super high-end system to max out the settings either.

Enemy variety sadly is very limited however. There are these Orks (referred to as the Ork Boyz collectively within the game, yeah Boyz with a 'z'!) and the forces of Chaos led by Nemeroth which include the Space Marines, Daemons and the Militia but that's pretty much about it. Relic, why you no include more enemy? :(

There were a few gripes associated with the game however. The campaign was linear without any side quests, the storyline was okay'ish, the absence of quick/manual saves, the absence of a cover system, weapon upgrades, vehicles, collectibles etc. Voice acting is literally non existent limited to a few sequences. That said the game is definitely enjoyable while it lasts - the campaign felt a bit short clocking < 8 hours on Normal difficulty. At least until Gears of War 3 is out, this might serve as a filler for most of them out there and is definitely recommended. Relic can definitely come up with an RPG with a better storyline and a polished game altogether.
 
Gannu said:
Voice acting is literally non existent limited to a few sequences.
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I think the Space Marines follow the doctorine of kill first, questions later. =P

HEEHEHEHEHEHEHE, anyways thanks for this quickie review, might just buy this game.
 
I played a bit of this, a bit of Dead Island(SP) and a bit of From Dust.

Nothing got me going. I'm keeping Deus Ex for later when I can devote 20 hours full to complete the game properly!

So, MEH to all new releases. Maybe Dead Island(Co-op) might be good.
 
@Gannu

Nice review. Thanks!

Was really interested in this title, but now I think I will wait for sometime. Short campaign, plus other reviews have said it gets repetitive quickly. BTW, did you play this on the PC or console?
 
^PC of course. And I forgot to mention, the game is best played and enjoyed using a controller. :)
 
Thank god it supports 360 controller I have nearly forgotten to play with keyboard and mouse and I got this game since it looks so similar to geow especially the pallete in the game
 
I completed the game a few minutes back! It's a pretty solid title, I enjoyed playing through it. But man, I so wish there was a proper cover system like GeOW in this game. I was practically getting mowed down by the huge number of enemy forces unleashing their hell on me! This game would have totally rocked with a good cover and shoot feature. Other than that, like I said... it was a fun title. :)
 
Black_Hawk said:
I completed the game a few minutes back! It's a pretty solid title, I enjoyed playing through it. But man, I so wish there was a proper cover system like GeOW in this game. I was practically getting mowed down by the huge number of enemy forces unleashing their hell on me! This game would have totally rocked with a good cover and shoot feature. Other than that, like I said... it was a fun title. :)
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This is a W40k title. Cover has no place in this universe ;-)
 
The game is good but the grapgics are very poor,, even on highest settings.....Age-old graphics........
 
Just completed the game and WOW, I'm honestly impressed. Having no prior experience with any Warhammer title, I couldn't relate to any of the character, or the storyline. However, the gameplay was right around the corner, Gears of War style. The initial part of battling the same set of Orks over and over again got a bit boring, but as the story progressed and I got hold of new weapons, it really shaped up. Voice acting was perfect and for a change, it was good to have a "no swearing" dialogues. I love the way they ramped up the action in the last few chapters, it really gave more momentum to the fast gameplay. Also, the combination of ranged and close melee combat was mixed commendably. The quick kills were brutal and well executed, but I noticed one thing, it didn't make the player invulnerable to the enemy attack during that animation. Most games usually don't use that approach during a quick kill animation. The game also didn't seem to be taxing on the hardware at all, hence goes without saying, it was brilliantly optimized.

I could also spot a lot of similarities to Gears of War. Particularly the weapon switch grid, the control scheme, heck there was even a chapter called 'Belly of the Beast'. For people who have played Gears of War 2, would know that there is a chapter named exactly with this same title. :P

Anyway, I had a blast playing it and with some of the recent titles being sub-par to total disasters, this was quite refreshing and adrenaline pumping. :)
 
Ethan_Hunt said:
I could also spot a lot of similarities to Gears of War. Particularly the weapon switch grid, the control scheme, heck there was even a chapter called 'Belly of the Beast'. For people who have played Gears of War 2, would know that there is a chapter named exactly with this same title. :P
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IIRC there was a chapter called 'Belly of the Beast' in Gears of War 1. Dunno about GeOW 2 since I can't play it. :(
 
viralbug said:
IIRC there was a chapter called 'Belly of the Beast' in Gears of War 1. Dunno about GeOW 2 since I can't play it. :(
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Oh yes! My bad. It was the first one indeed. :P
 
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