Relic Games deliver on their mantra: “Unleash visible violent death” in their 3rd person shooter/brawler Space Marine.
By René Bech Korsgaard
Wave after wave rushes violently towards me from the vast ocean of green orks and are crushed against my thunderhammer in a foam of red xeno blood. ”Unleash visible violent death” was Relic Games' mantra when developing their 3rd person shooter/brawler Space Marine and they certainly deliver on it.
Space Marine's best feature is it's unique combat system. You seamlessly move between ranged and melee combat by the use of the mouse buttons in a way that makes the gap between the two systems invisible. It just feels awesome to see a mass of orks charge towards you, while the thumbing sound of your trusty bolter sends round after round of explosive bullets into the mass, mowing down half of the damn xeno's, and then switching to the iconic chainsword once the orks are in melee range to slice the rest of them in a symphony of blood and guts. You truly feel like a space marine. The biggest bad-ass warrior in the universe.
The only flaw in the combat system is the manner in which you revitalize your health. It is done by performing finishing moves, where a predefined animation is played out to e.g. saw an ork in half. The idea in it self is not bad, since it forces you to constantly stay in the thick of the battle dishing out brutal aw-inspiring finishing moves that makes the battlefield resemble a slaughterhouse. The problem, however, is that you loose control of the character through the entire animation (and some of them are over 3 seconds long), while the rest of the foes can pound you unhindered. This results in the mechanic being unreliable and often times the very reason you die.
Even though it feels amazing to slaughter legions of orks, it becomes tiresome overtime. Relic Games tries to overcome this fatigue by continuously introducing new weapons to give the combat a new flavor, and it works for a little while. But what I really miss is some interesting and challenging boss fights with mechanics reminiscent of puzzles, much like raid bosses in modern MMO's. So if Relic's sister company Vigil Games decides to use the same combat system (or something very similar) in their upcoming MMO, Dark Millennium Online, then it is sure to be a treat.
The second best feature is the graphics. Instead of falling into the trap of trying to make it as realistic as possible, they have gone for more stylization, which stays true to the Warhammer 40.000 franchise. Even though I personally think they could have taken the stylization even further to being reminiscent of Joe Madureira's style from Vigil games, I must admit that it looks great and portraits the dark and bleak future well.
The one aspect in this rendition of the Warhammer 40.000 universe that certainly is not praiseworthy is the narrative. The story of Captain Titus and his squad defending a forgeworld from an ork (and later chaos) invasion is unimaginative and frankly boring, and the little twists and turns in the plot that are meant as surprises are predictable and banal. Furthermore their portrayal of the space marine is skin deep. It only shows their stoic and heroic behavior and completely sidesteps the fascistic holy-er than thou demeanor. So if you play games for their narratives, then Space Marine is not for you.
In conclusion I'll give Space Marine 4 out of 6 crab legs, and it has it's unique and nearly perfectly executed combat system to thank for it. It really does the space marines justice. However, the terribly poor narrative and lack of depth in the encounter design separates Space Marine from a perfect score.
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