Space Marine

[Wubbles]

I wonder why there wasn't a thread for this. In any event, Space Marine is not a game in which you play a space marine, oh no; it's a game in which you play a Space Marine, one of the God-Emperor's Angels of Death. In His name, they crush the foes of Man.

Here they are, stabbing guys:

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Incidentally, I like how the game is alluring simply because it features some WH40k Space Marines.

Edited May 25, 2011 by Wubbles

[Gwardinen]

I've been waiting for this game since the first screenshots were leaked years ago. I vacillate between thinking it can only be great, because Relic is great and you can hardly go wrong with a third person character action game based on Warhammer 40,000 and thinking that it'll probably be a huge disappointment because of my overblown expectations, Relic being an RTS studio and third person action games with "space marines" being so prevalent at the moment.

The animations really give me hope, though, because animation is almost what matters to me most in this sort of game. Beyond even the design of it, if the game LOOKS right in motion I can forgive a lot of failings.

[JonCole]

Tangentially related at best, but this might be a good game to get if you're interested in OnLive because they have a promotion going that grabs you a $5 discount along with a free copy of Darksiders and Microconsole. Just thought I'd share considering I got that email from them a couple hours ago.

[Orv]

I've been looking forward to this for a while, but watching those dev diaries concerns me. You can see them chainswording plenty of dudes in the collarbone, but they're decidedly intact. Plenty of blood! No floppy bits. And I mean really, it's GRIMDARK 40K, we need more bloody floppy bits.

[Irishjohn]

I know very little about the 40K universe but I love everything I've been exposed to, really looking forward to this game, as well as the 40K MMO, assuming that ever happens.

Also a bit worried about this game though... I'm naturally worried about any game which has a setting or premise I really like but seems a little bit too much in the pack when it comes to gameplay. This feels a little like "People like 40K, people like Gears, let's do this!"

It's not very fair I know, I'm mostly lowering my expectations in the hope that I will like this game as much as I really, really want to.

[DanJW]

I feel pretty much the same way John. Although I'm pretty familair with the WH40K setting.

One other minor super tiny niggle: despite all the blood, the art design looks pretty cartoony. I'd go as far to say that they have done too good a job of recreating the citadel miniatures - but those are designed to be recognisable when looking down at a tabeltop and to to have personality whilst being small scale (design considerations that also apply to RTS games). Scaled up, I would expect everything to be more realistically proportioned. And MOAR GRIMDARK!!!!1

Also, needs more dakka.

[Nachimir]

I was talking about this with a friend last night. After watching the first video, he said "I'm surprised it's all orks, early stuff I saw suggested it would be mainly chaos".

I hadn't thought of this before, but immediately: "Oh, there'll be loads of chaos stuff. He mentioned betrayal, and Games Workshop don't do complex betrayal, they need a simple and obvious antagonists to project it onto".

I'm eternally unexcited about 40K, but Relic have done awesome games in it. Looking forward to this despite badly named cartoon characters in power armour.

[K-bohls!]

It seems to me that Space Marine is going to be a game that will be pretty good, but it wont be curb-stomp your mother good.

However it is also a game that I feel should be made and I am glad it is being made. So Relic, keep being awesome.

[vimes]

To me, the only thing interesting about this game is how they'll make the transition between range and melee in terms of camera, controls and AI : my brain keeps telling me this foreshadows a Relic RTS that allows you to 'jump' into one of you soldier to give the final push.

[miffy495]

Oh man, Relic's Battalion Wars? I'd totally play that. Now slightly more interested in Space Marine as a potential forerunner.

[K-bohls!]

Oh man, Relic's Battalion Wars? I'd totally play that. Now slightly more interested in Space Marine as a potential forerunner.

Did you enjoy Battalion Wars? I loved the first two Advanced Wars and could not get past some lame jeep driving section in Battalion Wars because it was so squirmy.

[captainkitteh]

I wish they made a Space Hulk game instead. It's not that Space Marine won't be good. But it won't stand out from heaps of corridor crawling shooters like Gears. Space Hulks unique tactical gameplay with near endless replayability on the other hand is something not seen in the movie like structure of modern games.

[Patters]

I wish they made a Space Hulk game instead. It's not that Space Marine won't be good. But it won't stand out from heaps of corridor crawling shooters like Gears. Space Hulks unique tactical gameplay with near endless replayability on the other hand is something not seen in the movie like structure of modern games.

There were a few Space Hulk missions in DoW II Chaos Rising, which received a of of praise.

[DanJW]

Space Hulk: Vengeance Of The Blood Angels

Also

Really though metallic corridors are just going to get compared to Doom.

[miffy495]

Did you enjoy Battalion Wars? I loved the first two Advanced Wars and could not get past some lame jeep driving section in Battalion Wars because it was so squirmy.

I enjoyed it a lot, and the Wii one as well. I'm not sure why exactly, though. Despite some of the vehicles being incredibly lame to get around in, there were enough super cool things to keep me interested, and the light tone helped it stand out enough from the pack for me to remember the series very fondly.

[Salacious Snake]

I wish they made a Space Hulk game instead. It's not that Space Marine won't be good. But it won't stand out from heaps of corridor crawling shooters like Gears. Space Hulks unique tactical gameplay with near endless replayability on the other hand is something not seen in the movie like structure of modern games.

If you like Space Hulk, there's a little Swedish game based on it which you can find here, if you haven't played it already: http://www.teardown.se/

There was an earlier version which was specifically Space Marines and genestealers, but Games Workshop threatened them with legal action, so they changed things around to avoid litigation. It's good stuff, or at least it was when I last checked on it.

I agree though, a new, high fidelity Space Hulk computer/video game would be great. The previous two official versions were very good.

[Irishjohn]

I wish they made a Space Hulk game instead. It's not that Space Marine won't be good. But it won't stand out from heaps of corridor crawling shooters like Gears. Space Hulks unique tactical gameplay with near endless replayability on the other hand is something not seen in the movie like structure of modern games.

Yeah, I am drawn to the game mostly because I love the 40k universe, but I'm fairly worried about the whole GOW clone problem. I had told myself I wouldn't get it, but now it's getting closer and... you know... space marines.

[Wubbles]

Did you know you can download the demo for this game on Steam? I am sure this excites you.

[Irishjohn]

I just downloaded it yesterday! I really like the demo. I like playing Gears, but after this demo I think I finally understand why Gears is THAT popular. Just going nuts killing dudes.

I'm a huge nerd. I've always found Marcus Fenix's jockness ridiculous but it's totally justified with Space Marines. They're Space Marines for crying out loud.

Also, Mark Strong, who's just a brilliant actor in any event, nails the voice of the lead character in my opinion.

[Gwardinen]

I don't really think comparing it to Gears of War is apt at this point. Gears has a very methodical pace, rewards taking cover and killing enemies as they become vulnerable before moving on. The term "stop and pop" was made popular almost entirely by the first Gears game.

By contrast, Space Marine plays much more like a hack and slash, or character action game a la God of War. It's even simpler (from what little was in the demo) and does incorporate some shooting, but I definitely felt like I was playing a tight camera angle on something like that rather than Gears of War. Cover-based shooting and Gears are almost inextricably linked, whereas Space Marine abandons the cover system and has actually spent some time using that as a marketing feature.

For my part, I found the game solid but a little dull. Even in the half an hour or so that I played of the demo I found myself growing a little bored with the pattern of moving from area to area, shooting Orks as they ran towards me and then fighting them in melee once they got to me. The executions are fun, and a cool way to regain health, but again even in that brief time I ended up seeing every animation on both the chainsword and power axe several times over. The jump pack sections seem more interesting because most games of this type don't have really vertical or free rapid movement involved, but I don't know if that'll hold me for the whole game.

All in all, I think it does a decent job of capturing the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and I'll probably play it to an extent once it's released because I'm a Games Workshop fan, but as a game I don't see it keeping my attention beyond a couple of hours.

[Murdoc]

They used the Darksiders engine, so I kind of always made the connection between that combat and Space Marine... only with guns. An offhand glance it looks like it would feel similar, so not sure if you guys have played it could comment.

[Gwardinen]

Yeah, it does feel quite similar. Actually that would have been a better comparison than God of War but I didn't think of it at the time. Darksiders actually did have a projectile weapon system too, though the one in Space Marine is more fleshed out. In SM, the reticle is on screen any time you're not actively fighting in melee, and can just be aimed more accurately by pulling the left trigger (or whatever the PC counterpart is, I'd guess RMB).

The way the combat works is that basic attacks are one button (X on 360) and then combo enders that may be stunning attacks, or cone attacks or AoE attacks depending on how many basic attacks have come before them are another (Y on 360). Stunned enemies can then be executed in a similar fashion to Darksiders, by pressing the third combat button (B on 360 - same as Darksiders). The aiming and distance required for than execution is a little more generous than I remember from Darksiders, possibly because it's literally your only way of recovering health.

Speaking of which, it's worth mentioning for those that don't already that Space Marine splits the difference of regenerating health and recoverable health - your actual health bar is recovered by executions, as I said, but it's surrounded by a shield bar which regenerates after time spent not getting hit. This is meant to represent the Space Marine Power Armour, although that's kind of a weird abstraction for the idea that wearing armour prevents some injury. Nevertheless, it's a decent game mechanic and it was the only part of the game that didn't really gel with the lore for me.

[Irishjohn]

I don't really think comparing it to Gears of War is apt at this point. Gears has a very methodical pace, rewards taking cover and killing enemies as they become vulnerable before moving on. The term "stop and pop" was made popular almost entirely by the first Gears game.

I'd agree with that. I like the Gears games, but if anything the complete lack of any "stop" at all in the demo got me really excited. I guess I meant that I imagine that people who are really into Gears feel like that after they play Gears, but I don't, I got it from this demo.

Then again, I do wonder how it would carry over a whole game. I think I'll be fine because I'm down with having a W40K adventure, but then I'm basically admitting bias and giving the game a pass, to a certain extent.

[Irishjohn]

Speaking of which, it's worth mentioning for those that don't already that Space Marine splits the difference of regenerating health and recoverable health - your actual health bar is recovered by executions, as I said, but it's surrounded by a shield bar which regenerates after time spent not getting hit. This is meant to represent the Space Marine Power Armour, although that's kind of a weird abstraction for the idea that wearing armour prevents some injury. Nevertheless, it's a decent game mechanic and it was the only part of the game that didn't really gel with the lore for me.

So, yeah... I'm basically a baby, but I found myself occasionally running away from dudes to let the shield come back and then trying to get that "U" up to get all furious and recover health. I'll admit that running away didn't feel very Space Marine-y.

[Sno]

Played the demo, really liked it.

Drives me crazy that people keep comparing it to Gears, it very obviously plays nothing like Gears. I mean, Gears of War is a game where you will die in a second flat if you are not making good use of cover, this is a game with a huge melee emphasis that actively rewards you for wading headlong into enemy fire.