While its sequel shows more and more making it one of the most anticipated games of 2024 alongside Black Myth Wukong, Space Marine released on PS3, XBOX 360 and PC almost 13 years ago still remains for currently one of the most notable Warhammer games to be released on consoles. More familiar with hack’n’slash, RPG or strategy productions, upon its release it fulfilled a dream for fans of the science fiction counterpart to Games Workshop’s medieval Warhammer saga; by offering an unbridled action game playable in the third person. Developed by the late Canadians from Relic Entertainment and published by the no less missed THQ, the title now has no more secrets for us! While its future sequel particularly caught our eye and it was imperative to update ourselves before its release, here is our return almost 13 years later on the one which was released under the sweet and very long name of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine!
Our show on Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine
An Ork invasion on Graia
As briefly stated, Space Marine takes place in a futuristic version of Warhammer. Absolutely gigantic, we will spare you a complete presentation of the complex world of the license. If you want to go deeper, there are several possible entry points ranging from role-playing games, to anime, to novels as well as video games of other genres.
Remember one simple thing: We are in the 41st millennium and the Imperium of Humanity (largest galactic human gathering united under a totalitarian regime) is waging a merciless war against several extraterrestrial factions through its various units.
Here, the one that interests us is embodied by the Space Marines, genetically, cybernetically and biologically modified soldiers and more precisely one of their sub-divisions called Ultra Marines.
Accompanied by Sidonus and Leandros, we take control of Captain Titus who seeks to repel an invasion of Orks (one of the antagonistic factions of the Imperium) who wish to seize the World Class Titan, a combat technology built on the world of Graia controlled by humanity.
Presented quite briefly by a few screens at the start of the game, this is what is essentially explained to us even if the uninitiated or those who have never learned about the basics of Warhammer will still be left wondering why. of the how. Too bad, it wouldn’t have cost much more to have one or two more slides to explain to them!
As the 8 hours of the single-player campaign progress, the universe described to us will thicken slightly with the presence of the Inquisitor named Drogan, a secret agent. of the Imperium whose mission will be to hunt down your corrupt brothers in arms: the Space Marines of Chaos!
Punctuated with audiologs, and cinematics which open and conclude punctuate the different chapters, the story of this Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine is relatively pleasant to follow. It offers some well-considered twists and epic scenes that make you want to see the end of a somewhat repetitive adventure.
A TPS that stands out a little!
Totally inspired by one of the king genres of its time, Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine is an old-fashioned TPS (understand without skill tree or loot) totally inspired by Gears Of War but a little stiffer, and playable solo only !
With its feeling somewhat reminiscent of the Resistance saga on PS3, the fairly linear title is very relaxed and managed to distinguish itself from the competition by not relying entirely on gun fights. Certainly the four types of weapons: handgun, explosive rifle, precision rifle or for firing in bursts were evolving as the adventure progressed, but it was added to a gameplay giving way to hand-to-hand combat. to make it couldn’t be more complete!
Leaving the possibility of entering the pile and performing combos, knocking out, and finishing off your enemies with devastating finish moves, the close combat gave pride of place to various melee weapons such as the chainsword, the energy ax or even the power hammer. When playing the game, we can only see that the genre has evolved over ten years but Space Marine was relatively complete when it was released. The roll dodging system in four directions was ultra-effective, the player had a few grenades available from time to time (even if it was impossible to really aim with them); he could race to charge his opponents or even crush them after using a jetpack when the level design allowed it.
In retrospect, the work on the title was well above average and the icing on the cake, the wild gameplay was rewarded by making the player regain life or even by giving him the possibility of triggering an L3 + R3 fury allowing to be a real melee bulldozer or to slow down time for a short while using your weapon!
In short, complete and ultra solid gameplay!
Pure product of its time!
Let’s not lie about the merchandise, Space Marine is a pure product of its time. If its upcoming future sequel displays an ultra-attractive plastic, this first episode was even a little technologically behind the competition at the time.
If it is entirely possible to play it today on PC with a more than honest rendering, the native console versions on PS3 and XBOX (the lead version at the time) pale in comparison to a Gear Of War 3 which would be released a few days later.
Developed with the Havok engine, which was rather popular at the time, the game had all the makings of an AA production straddling the gap between the previous generation and the PS360. A poor lip sync that we still paid very little attention to at the time, the title was not particularly impressive in its time but nevertheless managed to maintain its framerate when the player was invaded by a bunch of enemies leading to the fights to deliver a maximum of special effects.
The power of the Warhammer license
Not equipped with the craziest and most joyful artistic direction in the world but faithful to the license, the title highlighted in the first half of the game the typical brown and ocher colors that we could have on productions running under Unreal Engine.
Despite a fairly random character design and a complete orc-level bestiary which lacked variety overall, we could still highlight a relatively qualitative VF with the presence of the late Marc Alfos.
As for the game’s 1-hour soundtrack with perfectly mastered warlike and epic colors, it was the result of the joint work of Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco (God Of War, Mass Effect, Darksiders, Borderlands)
Verdict
With a lot of competition in front if we add the release of Uncharted 3 which landed on the market 2 months later, Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine was difficult to match in terms of TPS with its rather starving multiplayer.
If it had a big license for it, the latter was unfortunately not very mainstream and did not benefit from the support of a publisher as important as Microsoft or Sony.
De facto, despite more than satisfactory gameplay and a story that is completely followable, the title could not display the degree of finishing of a first party game. If the French press at the time was a little harsh in giving it a little more than the average, we tend to side with the overall international opinion which gave the title a good 14/20 on average.
Even today, like a few months after its release, Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine is a sure value in the TPS and an excellent deal on the second-hand market. If the closure of the studio and the publisher led to the cancellation of the two sequels initially planned, we can only rejoice at the return of the franchise which could take the place of best TPS in the absence of real competition. the PS5 / XBOX Series generation.
We can’t wait to find out!
To know
► Release: 09/2011
► Platforms: XBOX 360, PS3, PC
► Gender: TPS
► Publisher: THQ
► Developer: Relic Entertainment
► Age: +18
WE love
► Complete gameplay, nag
► Very good soundtrack
► Ideal lifespan
We regret
► Bestiary that lacks variety
► Gameplay a little stiff at times
► Lack of visual finesse
► Sometimes repetitive
Video
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