Her Review with Tracey

Despite it being the 41st millennium AD, some things never change. Orks are still green, barrels of highly flammable liquid are still precariously and conveniently placed on high bridges just where enemies will emerge and girls still aren’t allowed in the Marines. This is perhaps for the best as I doubt humanity will ever be ready for a colossal, 8 foot tall, genetically enhanced female Space Marine from the Warhammer 40K universe, with tree trunk neck, giant meaty hands and gruff voice. There is a petite female Lieutenant Mira who manages to organise a raggy bunch of ground troops though she comes across as neither weak nor commanding but of course, she can’t protect the Imperial Forge World from utter annihilation without the assistance of some rather burly boys so enter Captain Titus who stands as the last line of defence between mankind and it’s seemingly endless enemies.

Pumped full of psycho-chemicals, with years of brutal training that would otherwise kill a man and several battles under his belt, Titus runs like a tin of spam on legs whilst spouting fanatical ideals about serving the Imperial Emperor (“It is better to die for the Emperor than to die for yourself”) in a deep, Shakespearian actor voice and wielding a huge chainsword.

It’s not a particularly pretty game, with rusty beige tones running throughout due to the fact that it’s set within a factory so big it’s the size of an entire planet. With it’s dramatic vuvuzela soundtrack, humanities battle for survival is threatened when a plethora of invading Orks plough into the cavernous factory warehouses as they’ve decided they’d like to own a manmade giant walking war machine – known as the Titan (no, I don’t know why it wasn’t given a name that wouldn't be confused with Titus). Faced with losing mankind’s weapon of mass destruction to the cockney greenskins is unthinkable so your job is to hold key locations until the Imperial Liberation fleet arrive as reinforcements.

The carnage kicks in right from the word go – but it’s a strangely addictive and hypnotic experience that is sometimes howlingly frustrating and frantic but is ultimately satisfying. I tended to stick predominately to intense melee, using a massive sword with chainsaw capabilities, a two bladed war axe or a warhammer so big it required two hands. It allows you to really slice up the Orks and swiftly zip from one enemy to another super quick, delivering more of a wallop if you hit combos. Melee also allows you to stun enemies which drains their health and replenishes yours. Risking getting totally overrun as a million Orks thunder your way (often accompanied by some rather pesky slug type creature on little hopping legs that explode if you hit them) and creating enough space and time within the battle to stun and regain health requires skill and timing. What can first feel like a mindless rushing onslaught as wave after wave of enemies come crashing through is carefully paced and for me, is just the right side of button mashing. Whether on a speeding train or jet packing through shattered towers, you get a sense of invincibility, even when Titus appears defeated and a new, more difficult threat emerges as a result of his actions…As well as an expected range of guns on offer from bolters, shotguns, snipers and grenade launchers for distance attacks, there’s FURY! Spilling enough blood fills up your fury meter which when used at crucial moments fighting against overwhelming numbers or big bosses results in spectacular slaughter. Just as you might get weary of the same section of battle, there’s usually an upgrade or new weapon to discover as you progress. Switching between melee and ranged combat is seamlessly slick and quick so there enough to keep your interest though be under no illusions, despite there being a story this is pure button frenzy action and long game playing sessions can become monotonous - best to keep it to short sharp bursts or head online for 2-16 multiplayer. Fighting against other Space Marines or Chaos Marines in annihilation is a great way to spend an afternoon. Split into two teams, the winners are the first to get to 41 kills and though you may be a lowly level one up against a level 38, the ability to respawn using the loadout of the marine who just killed you makes things pretty interesting.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is either going to be your thing or not but it's certainly another solid sci-fi title from THQ. The challenge of slicing up millions of Orks whilst wearing a futuristic battle suit is perhaps a basic idea but works well enough that this game shouldn’t be just for Warhammer fans and remember “Success is commemorated; Failure merely remembered”…

His Review with Ian

Hmmmm. I am not a space marine, I am not a marine, I am not even a soldier with a spud gun, I am merely a man with a few digits who can repeatedly press A or X - sometimes both at the same time. This game is an adventure in button pressing, pure and simple.

A third person action shooter set 2000 years in the future. You wear what looks like a giant iron bell and you’ve got a couple of buddies who try to cover your back as you traverse forged worlds, kill orks, and board a few ships. Now I’d normally want my support buddies to actively engage in the official ork removal process but these two dullards (Sidonus and Leandros) are always so far behind the action that it feels like you’ve got a couple of dawdling shadows rather than two ravaged vets.

I couldn’t find a relationship to the story/narrative and so the environments that Relic strived to create and authentically recreate from the original Warhammer world passed me by. I also felt strangely disconnected and couldn’t invest in the lead character either, there was no depth or redeeming features to Captain Titus, I didn’t believe his quest, the choices he made and he felt strangely inert.

The graphics are safe and not breaking any new ground; the pacing is particularly painful with lots of time wasted running between action areas and the level design is rudimentary with predictable linearity the order of the day yet again. The enemies are not tricky enough to even get finger cramps.

The colour palette of the environment works well with the browns and creams complementing the ruinous visual design whilst the atmosphere created by some parts of the audio design and voice acting added a touch of humour “ello space marine!”

For all the flaws and averageness of the single player campaign, the proposition of playing multiplayer with up to 15 others is a much more exciting prospect. There are two modes on offer Annihilation (team death match) and Capture the Flag (self explanatory). The environments are quite small and tightly designed. Combine this with eight enemies swarming around and you'll find the game really ramps up the pressure and intensity whilst creating a big ole sense of gun toting fun. Sure you’re going to die (loads), but the prospect of having the loadout of your killer is very generous indeed and goes someway to equalising the handicap of not being particularly well equipped. It would have been more interesting to have some maps which were huge in their scale and ambition to engage with, but sadly these are lacking.

I think it will suffer from the big autumn shadow cast by the likes of Gears of War 3 and Battlefield 3 who’re also releasing in the same window. There are better examples of this type of game that have been released in the last year and will be released in the next few months. To touché the Imperium Thought of the Day from Tracey, I’ll leave you with this: “Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment”

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is out now on Xbox360, PS3 and PC.