Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2: The ultimate hack and slash sci-fi game
Charge into the Warhammer 40k universe with Saber Interactive’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, a hack and shoot and slash full of non-stop action and butchery where the super human space marines pit themselves against the never-ending horde of a tyranid splinter fleet. Developer Saber have pulled on all the right in-universe levers to provide Warhammer 40k fans with a highly addictive game with a really solid story at its heart for those wanting more than just raw violence in power armour.
In Space Marine 2 Titus must rejoin his Ultramarine brothers after a century in the Deathwatch to support the Cadians in defence of Kadaku from the Tyranid hive fleet invasion. His black shield status is hidden. He no longer trusts his brothers. He’s been demoted in rank. And he’s taking over another sergeant’s squad. Titus is thrown straight back into the thick of not only the fighting, but the internal battles of the mighty Ultramarines. Added to that, he’s just been physically upgraded to a primaris marine, while his new command were born that way. He’s an outsider, in more ways than one, and hopefully his brothers don’t find out just how much of an outsider he is.
The Space Marine 2 wider story at first seems a simple one: a series of special forces missions saving key elements of the Imperial and Mechanicus forces from horrible deaths at the hands of the Tyranids on Kadaku. I have to tip my hat to the developers and storytellers at Saber as they really nailed the feeling of what being a Space Marine would be: one mission after another into the nooks and crannies of the meatgrinder to provide key impact point assualts and help the overarching war effort of the Astra Militarum forces.
As the game continues to develop, the story from Space Marine 1 starts to rear its head, with Titus’ fears and frustrations creating plenty of conflict in his new squad and driving a wedge between the Ultramarines and the Mechanicus as we romp through jungles and facilities and destroyed cityscapes in search of a way to save the planets from the splinter fleet. In particular, the way the growing tension is written between Titus and his captain, and also beteen Titus and the key squad members of Chairon and Gadriel I think is really well done, and had me consistently telling myself “I’ll just play one more section. Just one more. Oh, it’s midnight and I have to work tomorrow? That’s almost six hours sleep; I can go a bit longer …”
Other Warhammer 40,000 factions also come into play, as you’d expect from a great 40k story, so while I assure you you’ll get to see and kill more than just tyranids, I won’t be spoiling the story for you.
The detail of the world is awesome (as it was with Necromunda: Hired Gun), especially the more you get away from (what I assume is) the difficult to animate jungle and tyranid vegetation and into the city and Mechanicus landscapes. The consistent scenes of destruction and just-missed battle, with bodies piled up against barricades and desperate or hopeless last stands written across the landscape are a credit to the art team at Saber. In particular, I loved entering the crumbling Mechanicus facilities, something that had a very Aliens feel to it, with red emergency lights providing just enough to see the swarming enemy when they jumped out to surprise you (at which point the warm glow of the heavy flamer’s expulsion becomes wonderfully comforting). And when you reach the cityscape ruins with a bit of sunlight on them to really open up the art, this game just becomes breathtakingly beautiful.
The Astartes battle barge–your base of operations–is incredibly cool, and houses your Mechanicus armourer (who kits you out with all the awesome things), battle brothers (who join you on missions), captain (who sends you on missions), Chaplain (who doesn’t trust you with missions), and the thunderhawks (which fly you to missions). While at times the battle barge might feel like extra steps to achieve things, if you sink into it and remember you don’t need everything right now it provides further immersion into what it would be like to be a Space Marine.
Titus’ movements and attack are many, and the casual gamer is likely going to need a bit of time to get the finger movements down (I played on Xbox S)—especially the time-sensitive (and awesome) parry movement (which I sucked at for a good while). There are plenty of combos to remember and nail down as well. I loved the executions, and really enjoyed the brutality of the moves to finish the larger tyranids and later foes.
The tyranids themselves are really well put together, with the swarm aspect of them honed in on by the game’s designers. The use of an AI Director by Saber to break up the hordes of attacking tyranids into small groups to chase you and your squadmates down has worked brilliantly and makes for a really immersive gameplay experience. It’s not surprising to see the tyranids as the main foe. They are a pretty awesome enemy, seem quite in vogue at the moment with plenty of books and short fiction such as Tears of Raphaela by Richard Swan and Deathworlder by Victoria Hayward, and aligned with the popularity and releases for Aliens, such as Alien: Romulus.
One additional bonus that I didn’t get to play in the time I had with Space Marine 2 before this review had to go out (I finished the main storyline and just ran out of time) is that, if you want to, you can check out the other supporting squad’s missions. Ever wanted to know what that side quest mission looked like that you only get to know about over the vox? Go find out! Finish the game and you can even choose your character to do so, be it a vanguard, assualt, tactical, devastator, sniper … you can even be one of Marneus Calgar’s champions with sword and storm shield!
There are a few minor quibbles I have with Space Marine 2. And when I say minor, I mean minor. Firstly, no small map on screen means at times it’s easy to lose where you after the swirling combat. Some of the first opening jungle sections in particular weren’t incredibly intuitive about where to go and where a clear barrier might prevent you from accessing a certain area, and I think a mini map would have helped keep the game flowing. Having to press a button to get a guidance map, as opposed to just having it bottom right of screen is a bit of an annoying choice.
I also wasn’t a fan of how the game changes your chosen weapons in certain scenarios. I was looking forward to giving the first lictor a taste of my heavy bolter. I was enjoying using that thunder hammer to detonate the enemy as I whirled through their masses. But there were times when you finished a cut scene that all of a sudden your roaring weapon of choice had been reverted back to a simple bolter or chainsword. Usually something that meant a coming battle was going to be that much harder.
What Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 really nails is the awesome moments. Be it supporting a glorious Cadian charge, planting your feet and unloading a drum magazine into a wall of Tyranid flesh and watching them clamber over their bodies to get at you, the assembly of a chapter for their oath of moment prior to a full company charge, fighting a battle that looks like it came off the cover of the Codex: Ultramarines, or a Space Marine 1 character showing up … this game just absolutely hammers you with on-point scenes and the scenarios that we as fans grew up imagining on the tabletop. The deeper you get into the game, the better and better they get. AND the ending leaves so much room for more story and conflict, which I really, really hope Saber and Games Workshop do (as opposed to waiting for Space Marine 3).
I cannot say enough good things about how the team at Saber have delivered this game. If I could buy you a beer, I would.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 absolutely FUCKING EPIC.
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