This game made me feel like I was living my teenage dreams. I used to be a huge Games Workshop fan, especially the Space Marine faction and Warhammer 40k in general. Hero Quest got me into it all, then Space Crusade hit and I was hooked. The Dark Angels were my favourite Chapter, and I’m looking to get their emblem tattooed onto my shoulder as a way of respecting my past. Anyway, on to talking about the game.
This game is bloody. Very bloody. Hack through a group of Orks and you will be drenched in blood. Although, it only seems to stick to you, the player. There is never any on the floor, never any on the walls, never any on your AI squad-mates… It’s a bit odd. The melee weapons are nice and meaty, as you’d expect from a game that professes “Cover is for pussies!”. Chainsword, Power Axe, Thunder Hammer, they very weighty and super effective. The ranged options are also very sturdy – they punch through Orks and Daemons like industrial strength nailguns through tracing paper. Even the standard Bolt Pistol felt like a power weapon. The Jump-packs were pretty well implemented, fun to use, and balanced in multiplayer. Story-wise, it’s passable. There are no really shocking moments or clever twists, and sadly you don’t get to pilot the Titan – I would’ve fucking loved that – but I guess you can’t have everything.
While I was a bit disappointed that you had to play as a goody-goody Ultramarine (I would’ve preferred to have been a Dark Angel), you can fully customise your Space Marine in multiplayer, from individually coloured pieces of armour, to what badge you proudly display on your shoulder pd. While my colour scheme in the game isn’t strictly Codex, it takes cues from Dark Angel history. Black with bone white details, a glimmer of red here and there, it’s quite nice to be able to have the freedom to design your Marine just how you want him. Multiplayer is pretty good, pitting those loyal to The Emperor of Mankind against the tainted forces of Chaos. There’s a lot to it: A wide variety of loadouts, classes and perks. A few different game-modes like straight up deathmatch, territories and CTF.
And there are so many weapon and perk combinations, it’s hard to pin down a favourite. I like that you can steal the loadout of the guy who just killed you, it’s awesome when you get revenge and kill them with their own loadout. You only get to keep it for one life though, well, unless the same dude kills you again, of course. There’s a Firefight-esque mode in there too which is great fun. Playing offline by yourself is a bit boring, but joining randoms online creates a real sense of camaraderie. I’ve just got some multiplayer Achievements left to nab; but some will take a while, to say the least. You get optional upgrades for weapons when you kill so many guys with them, and more upgrades for killing them a certain way. One Achievement is to get all the upgrades. Sheesh.
Overall, it’s a great game – it really lived up to the imagination of a 16-year-old me.
