Warhammer 40K Space Marine: Chainswords & Starships (Xbox 360)
Warhammer 40K Space Marine: Chainswords & Starships (Xbox 360)
This is a title that it seems as though everyone is overlooking (save tabletop fans) because it "seems generic." Now please keep in mind that the Warhammer 40k universe has been around since 1987. Let that sink in for a second if you didn't already know, so between this and the Alien franchise we have found the source of many a current sci-fi properties' inspiration.
Now with the house kept, onto the game.
The player takes the role of the Space Marine named Captain Titus (voiced by Mark Strong), in what might be the hardest fight of his long battle scared life. The eternal enemy of mankind, the Ork hoard, has invaded one of the Forge Worlds with an army over a million strong, and the goal of capturing a massive machine of war known as a Battle Titan, and wrecking shop all over the place. Titus and his Ultramarines are tasked with taking it back, and then lore, and more lore, all while you are stomping things into a literal bloody mist from one side of the planet to the other.
Anybody who as seen any art or shots from this game know that the Ultramarines are really just human tanks at 8 foot tall and in huge power armor. Wielding massive melee weapons from Chainswords (yep), Thunder Hammers, Power Swords, and a Power Axe of all things. Ranged weapons in the build I played were mostly standard in that we had Bolt Pistols, short and medium range assault rifles called Bolters, sniper rifles, and grenades, very cut and dry for the most part, Jump Packs show up that turn your walking tank of a man into a airborne enemy misting tool stuck in ultra hyper blend speed.
Combat is really quite a nice blend of close 3rd person shooting and melee, with every kill building a “Fury” meter that boosts attack damage a whole lot and gives a slow time focus called “Marksman” to aiming once you use the meter. Swapping between the two is as easy as a button press to go from firing your Bolter to cleaving limbs with a Power Axe, you just pull RT and you fire; normal LT for fine aiming. Melee is a combo of light and heavy attacks, with a dash to close in and stun orks. Once stunned by either a dash or enough blows, they are open to a brutal finishing move. Surviving combat is handled by a recharging armor bar and a health bar that is refilled by using the finishing move in melee, forcing you to always be pressing your attack.
Unlike most 3rd person shooters, Ultramarines don't know what cover even is, a fact very much enforced by the fiction of the world. These are not men that would take cover, so when you are overwhelmed at range and your health is real low you end up dancing Titus behind a wall or something to let your armor recharge.
The feel of the game lands somewhere akin to both the gunplay from Gears and the melee and movement from Darksiders (also should be noted that the game is running on the same engine that runs Darksiders). Multiplayer was not at the event when I was shown the game so my impressions of it are, that as long as they keep the flow from the solo game, and make it a balanced contest it should be quite good if glossed over.
From what I've played it seems to be shaping up to a very good game. Just what I was hoping for from Relic after their stellar 40k RTS games from the past few years: a fun journey into the world that gave us the very concept of the “bald space marine”.
Warhammer 40k: Space Marine, comes out Sept. 9th, 2011
Video// You tube
Article,photographs and video taken entirely from the web http://previews.teamxbox.com/
