Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

I hate all reviewers!

That is an exaggeration, but I think mediocre reviews have caused this perfectly good game to be overlooked by too many gamers, and I feel really sorry for developers Relic who have an excellent reputation based on many of their other games and did not deserve to have it diminished because of this one.

The game takes the form of an over-the-shoulder shooter.  You are an Ultramarine and a fanatical worshipper of the Emperor, as are all Space Marines in all Warhammer 40,000 games.  The sinister religious fanaticism of these future humans gives an otherwise largely ridiculous game world a dark edge.  The vast engineered environments in which this game's battles take place also lend it real atmosphere.

Ultramarine looking at Warrior Titan.

The game is split into short chapters.  During the first two or three of these I thought it might be too easy (I was playing on the middle of three difficulty levels), but it quickly became much more of a challenge.  This is very much a corridor shooter and I think this might be one of the reasons for its middling reviews as this style is out of fashion with the experts, but it is a totally valid form for a game and the fact that this is continuous Ork-splattering fun excuses it entirely.

I was hoping that there would be some vehicle sections in the game as the Dawn of War games have loads of great vehicles in them.  So far there has been one part where you are effectively the gunner in the side door of a helicopter, but it was extremely short.  I have not reached the end of the game yet so I don't know if there will be any more.

I suspect this game game will still get its sequel, despite the less than ideal reviews, and even though I have not finished this one yet I am very much looking forward to it.

My performance has not been a proud one.  The picture above shows the health bar which is very conspicuous and which I am constantly aware of.  What's more the screen fades to monochrome as you get close to death, which is both helpful and visually effective, but I still frequently fail to take the necessary evasive action.  Fighting boldly to the death is probably the true Space Marine way but it's not what I really mean to do.

Scores:

Speed through the game: 6

Intelligence: 4

Reactions and accuracy: 6

Observation: 5

I have got some PC games out of the attic which would not work on the old machine and have started playing Lost Planet, so that is what I'll write about next time.