Gaming Booth Reviews: Space Marine

Greetings gamers, I am taking some time out of blogging about 40K as this is also a gaming blog, so you would expect me to talk about some games at some point. So I thought I would start off at the middle ground by reviewing a game that is also 40K.

It seems recently, games have all been having a brilliant time copying each other. Well, I never knew copy-paste could go down so well for a game with story, characters, weapons, backgrounds and game play mechanics even if its a completely different game (title) made by a completely different company. You can practically hear the designers go "Wow, they made so much profit off of that game, it would be a crime not to completely rip off the idea, copy everything but then change the name, textures and skins so then we can jump on the big bucks band wagon and head into the starlight shine of profit." When what they really are is a big pile of stewing porridge that has an odd whiff to it that I would rather not taste.

Welcome Space Marine, the thing every game with a power armoured hero has been copying since the dawn of time because the ideas book for designers nowadays consists of Google Images. Space Marine is a third person hacker, slasher, shooter set in the forty first millennium where half the time you don't bother with the guns. Why? because tearing off your enemies head with a six foot chainsaw is generally more fun than shooting at them from a distance.
You are the hero, obviously. I mean, why make a game where you are just a standard solider in a giant battle that cares not if you were to survive or not? I mean, that is a rubbish game idea right? Anyway, you are Captain Titus sent to save a "Forge World" from an Ork invasion force to stop said Orks from looting an important battle titan currently held their. Albeit for me to point out that there are probably a fuck tone more other weapons they could also loot but no, only one Titan for us thank you storyline! You are accompanied on your travels by Sergeant Spoiler, meaning "I am so obviously going to die in the plot at some point" and the biggest cry baby marine in the universe, he probably could be called Balder. Seriously, he complains when you do things right or wrong. The only reasoning I can determine is that he is there just to try and let you know how much of a bad ass you are through complaining at you all the time. I am sure that some, I don't know, action sequence or even perhaps making you do something bad ass like punch the annoying whiny Marine in the face could give me some justification and would be far more entertaining. Also I, like the game, will brush over the fact of the missing other squad members, I know 10 support characters would be hard to do, but nothing said that they couldn't all die at the start of the game be pretty simple, also if you wouldn't mind taking the whiny one with you I would be grateful. Anyway, Gameplay!

Throughout my play though of the game I have got to say the game handles itself very well. The combat system is simple and easy to use, hit X to swing your combat weapon, mash it to do multiple strikes, which you will be doing a lot with the multitude of combat enemies. Hit Y to stun a single enemy, or if you have the mashing X thing going stun several. Then hit B to finished a stunned enemy. There are several types of combat weapons too, there is the fuck off big ass chain blade, which turns your enemies into tenderized meat, the fuck off large ass Power Axe that turns your enemies into cooked beef and then there is the Thunder Hammer, or as I call it the Mighty Fuck Off I Have Won This Game hammer! Obviously picking the last whenever it is available. Or, if you are boring you can also shoot at enemies, if you are the CoD type of person who gets no fun out of drilling an enemy up the rectum and tearing out his intestines to feed to his friends and would rather get some quick scoping in there.

Ok, the blood letters are cool, I will give em that

Where the copy paste games have auto recharge health for no reason than you are shit at games therefore need infinite health, Space marine forces you to work for the regen by doing finishes to enemies to get health back. The bigger the enemy the harder it is thus the more health you regain. Brilliant concept! Unfortunately it means you have to time when you do this correctly, as the finishers, although insanely brutal and bloody, leave your blue ass open to attacks and grenades, which in more than one occasion vaporized me mid finishing stroke. This can be frustrating, but not frustrating enough to quit the game as once you have got the hang of it. Most of the standard enemies become a complete breeze, even on the harder difficulties. But luckily there are an abundance of enemy variations to keep it interesting, there is normal choppy Ork, more powerful choppy Ork, shooty Ork, missile Ork, shield wall Ork, big choppy powerful Ork mini boss and the shooty missile powerful mini boss Ork too. There is also the magic Ork that summons other Orks and teleports around making multilevel battling really fun to do, also really fucking annoying if you, like me, can't seem to catch the bugger then drowned in green skins. Ok, there are squig bombs, but they are so fucking annoying they might as well made them a boss battle every time one appeared at my ankle and sprayed my guts across the room!

Throughout the game you encounter different amounts of these enemies in different variations to keep you on your toes and keep the game challenging. That is until the second half of the game when Chaos shows up to reclaim some warp power object that feels really insignificant but we are told that it holds untold power, universal destruction yada yada yada. So on you go on your merry way battling duplicates of your whiny marine buddy with pointy bits attached. This is where the game takes a dumping turd on itself. Seen as though we are used to and involved with the orks for what is 3/4 of the game why not shove a surprise enemy down our throats for the last couple of hours of the game instead of delving deeper into our first enemy that we have come to respect and enjoy painting across the entire planetary landscape and painting the boss ork in more picture as we draw closer to a showdown? No ok. By the way the ork boss fight was the shit! In a gritty part destroyed out building where there are little lights and the mold has started setting in is the showdown between your two selves. This showdown, which has been forecast throughout the entire game promising a good fight, and I am glad to say it didn't disappoint! Having a boss battle somewhere where it isn't a cinematic showcase event is what i wanted and it is definitely what i got! The boss, names Grimskull, possible downgraded Gazgull throws waves of Squig bombs and Orks at you whilst every now and then diving in a smacking you about whilst shouting about it. Whilst all your little blue ass can do is either keep away from him and shoot him a much as possible whilst trying to regain health in the alternating waves or take up the thunder hammer and slug it out man to man, unfortunately i went for the latter and found out it is the much fucking harder of the two ways to do it, but it didn't take anything away from the game by far.

Grimskull, crappy voice acting, but a good fight!

What does rob the game of almost everything is the pompous failure of the scene including the titan, its looming presence in the box art and throughout the game lead me to believe we were going to interact or even battle beneath this monster but once again failure. Ride on shoulder with no cover, be shot by air units then watch a cut scene, done! That is fucking it! What was the point of bothering with that bit if I'm honest, and mostly because of its inclusion within the chaos slice of the storyline.with the ending boss being the worst let down since gaming began this game seriously cripples itself, but that's not the finality of digging your own grave is it Space Marine?
No, the horror story of your Multiplayer is what I am on about. Titles like Gears of War and Call of Duty allow free multiplayer and free leveling up whilst costing pocket money for them golden weapons whilst you charge for leveling up your characters? Sorry, and this is a subscription thing? What the bloody hell were you thinking? That hardened gamers who played all the CoD games were now going to accept that they were going to have to pay out every so many weeks to level up their crimson pinked Marine online because its Space Marine and so much better than everything else, or were you just aiming to take more money from your already existing fan base of nerds?
Whilst I am at the "what stinks" section of the review can i say that the storyline is a massively dampened down and simplified version of Dawn Of War 1.
All in all its not a bad game, its actually quiet good, with a nice hint of colour and nice scenic roots coupled with the game play gives it many pleasant features but the online and final boss fight, which is just a series of four waves of Chaos enemies then a quick time event then you are done, no actual boss fighting like with the Orks. Let. Down.

Ok, you tried Space Marine and you did alright, but what were you thinking coming out at the same time as Gears of War 3 and Dead Space 3? I'm sure there were other big titles floating around at the same time as you but you should know your limits before you go in swinging. You should of known that this would of never gone to plan when people can pick between a new brilliant game associated with nerds and a copy paste game associated with all the cool gamers where you get to find out that Dom dies halfway through and Marcus' dad dies at the end. Oh sorry, spoilers!
My end rating for you is a D-. You know what you had to do to impress, but you don't know is how much you disappointed with how fast you appeared in the 2nd hand section for £4 after release week, and the answer is a lot. Like a contender you stepped up to the ring and then threw up on the referee, you tied a noose for yourself, its only fair that you hang in it. I don't know why I keep going on with metaphors, I hope you all get the point. The point is you had the chance and failed, you could of flue so high but shot yourself first, you could of had a tea at a dinner party but had some lemonade instead only your allergic to lemons. Do you get it yet?