Have you ever wanted to be an 8ft super human clad in armour with a massive gun and a chainsaw for a sword? Have you ever wanted to fight waves of alien bugs and stomp them with your giant power armour? If you have answered yes to either of these then I have the game for you!
Developed by Saber Interactive in collaboration with games workshop this sequel to the 2011 game (Space Marine) is a breath of fresh air in a games market that seems to have stagnated in the past few years. This game is in simplest form a 3rd person hack and slash set in the far future with stunning graphics. You play as a space marine (super human) fighting for his life and for duty during an alien invasion set on one of several human worlds in the 41st millennium.
The developer and games workshop have done a great job at making this game enjoyable for both people familiar with Warhammer 40K’s lore and completely new gamers. This has been done so well that you can pick up and put down the game at will and from the start be stomping aliens in the grim dark within minutes.
The combat system is pretty simple with your standard melee, dodge and parry being staples for a hack and slash, the addition of a powerful pistol adds a bit more versatility. As you progress through the game you gain access to bigger and more powerful weapons and can tailor the type of character you would like to fight as. With a choice of 6 classes you can focus on firing every bullet possible as a heavy type or if you play more as an tough immovable character who can take on waves with just a sword and shield the bulwark class maybe for you. The game offers customisation of both perks and play style but also aesthetics and looks for your character. Because who wants to stomp on alien bugs if you can’t have your cape match your boots whilst doing it.
With the success of games like Hell Divers 2 in recent years the combat for the campaign is structured in a similar way with waves and waves of smaller enemies with the occasional boss fight. This is mixed in with large well edited cut scenes to add story, to explain why we need to fire this canister into space or why these other people are bad. Once you have gotten a feel for the campaign or even if you’re just starting out and have only done the tutorial, you can also play this game online in 3 player co-op. This allows you to invite your friends and to play through the campaign as a squad or to go online to play several other PvE (player versus environment) missions or their recently added PvP (player versus player) missions where you can square off against other players on similar missions. The inclusion of multiplayer really rounds out the whole package into a very palatable campaign that doesn’t get repetitive as other games of this type can over time.
One of the main points of discussion that cannot be overlooked when discussing this game, is the visual aspect. It is, to put it politely, a bloody spectacularly designed and rendered game. For this section I must state that I have been playing this on PS5 with a 4k monitor but if you are thinking of grabbing a copy a 4K screen with HDR is what you should be playing this on for the best results.
The overall quality of the game play, the fighting and the movement is absolutely amazing. The worlds wrap around you with fighting going off in the city scapes behind you character and the jungle stretching off as far as you can see. The setting of Warhammer 40K is described as grim dark as it tends to be a lot more bleak than other sci fi genres. This has been translated into the look of the game spectacularly as the environments, although super advanced or futuristic, have a feel of griminess or dirtiness even before they’ve been blown up or knocked down.
Even the menu area (large spaceship) in the game where you choose missions and adjust your character is designed and brought to life in a way that very few games have done previously. NPCs walk around having their own conversations whilst ships fly off into the distance.The sheer attention to detail that they have put into this game’s visual aspects are what you want for a sequel. You want it to feel familiar in terms of the setting but you want it to improve on the visuals and story.
With this game not only are you amazed with the visual spectacle of going toe to toe or sword to sword with big alien beasts but you can also be drawn into conversations that NPCs are having or just stare blankly at the beautifully created worlds they have made the backdrop for this game.
The stand out quote for Warhammer 40K is “In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war”. And the new space marine 2 game lives up to this and allows you to jump in on the action.
Author: Tom, Cardiff Store.
