Space Marine
Handing out murder based justice for the Emperor!

Us Warhammer 40,000 have been waiting for this day since we got into the hobby. Maybe it was when we rolled our first D6 or more likely when we swore our allegiance to Khorne the Blood God.

Blood for the blood god! Milk for the Khorne flakes!

 The day we could see in action the universe we invest so much time, effort and a stupid amount of money (seriously it takes the biscuit) into. Then Fire Warrior came along and we all went "Oh. Thats.....nice. Non-refundable? Oh that's....that's fine."
But lets crack on. For thoose who are unfamiliar with the 40,000 universe here is the quick version. Imagine that Lord of the Rings had idea sex with every Sci-Fi trope of the last 60 years all as part of a satanic ritual. Afterwords they cover her in a load of GrimDark like the dirty slut she is. Then take the baby that results from that and pump it full of steroids. That super baby is Warhammer 40,000. Torture, indoctrinated super soldiers, xenophobia, religious fundamentalism, genocide, planetary destruction and that's just the good guys!(Relatively speaking)

The Imperium manages to out Nazi the Nazi's

In this universe there is no black and white. Not even black and grey. Its all varying shades of black. Except maybe the Tau who look like an ok bunch on the outside until you find out they have concentration camps and practice mind control. Mankind does what is has to for it to survive. Too my horrible surprise I found that this had all been taken out of Space Marine. All that's left is a decent hackn'slash/shooter hybrid.
You play Captain Titus, a space marine of the Ultramarines chapter. Space Marines are 8 foot tall super warriors that make Master Chief look laughable in comparison. The barbaric alien Orks have invaded forge world whats it called and your sent in to deny them the chance to loot a Titan. A Titan is a giant bi-pedal war machine that can level entire cities. Inquisitor emo fringe turns up, something about a power device, Chaos marines appear, lots of elevators. Frankly I lost interest in the story before it even properly began. The only interesting thing in the game is that Titus is seemingly immune to the corrupting power of the warp. If you know the universe you'll know that this is sorta against the rules. The ending leaves it open so it will likely be the focus of the next game.

This guy taunted me for 4 hours before I crushed his skull with my hands. I still have no idea who he is.

Lets get the good stuff out the way so I can get back to griping. Space Marine looks the part. Its big, loud and isn't afraid to throw waves and waves of troops at you until your fighting for your life. The voice acting is good with Orks sounding like Orks, cockney Imperial Guardsmen (regular human troops) and angelic voiced Space Marines. The Space Marines are fantastic. They dam well sound like Angels of Death.  They talk like proper gentlemen with voices of honey instead of taking lessons from Marcus Fenix's gravel eating class.
  The pacing is superb, Despite the complexity of the game never reaching beyond "go here, kill that" I never got bored. New foes, weapons or situations are drip feed to you so perfectly you never notice you are doing the same thing over and over again. The health system gets my praise too. You have one bar which regenerates and another which can only be refilled by preforming execution moves on stunned enemies. However preforming this move takes time and leaves you open to attacks so you have to plan it well. The multi-player is rather good. Classes and perks are well balanced and its good fun even if there is only control points and team deathmatch.
The weapons feel powerful. Titus feels heavy. The Jump Pack makes you feel like an Angel of Death. However, it just doesn't feel like Warhammer.

Everything looks the part but its just too clear cut. "You are the good guys, here are the bad guys. Go for it." That's not how it works Relic. If they added just one scene were a Commisar executes a Guardsman for cowerdice then I would be happy. Then it would feel like Warhammer 40,000. While I'm at it why make us go Ultramarines? Fans of the series would go literally any other Chapter that isn't the fucking Ultrasmurfs! Why Cadian Guardsmen? There are a million planets in the Imperium and you choose the bloody Cadians! Why a Forge World? Anything but more god dam brown battlefields and industrial buildings. 
  The melee fighting is as basic as you can get with only 4 different combos and 3 different weapons. Poor show Relic. I think a Batman: Arkham Asylum style combat system would have been far more effective than one were you wade in and spam the attack button.
I understand Relics choice to not include a cover system but when your under attack by 30 odd Orks with machine guns and rocket launchers you'll wish they had.

Taking it like a champ is your only option.

So to conclude. We have Relics first attempt at a third person action hackn'slash/shooter. Its pretty poor to be honest and I can't even remember the story. However I played it to the end. Its not very long and the pacing makes you ignore the piss poor melee system. It doesn't even provide decent fan service by showing the grim darkness that appeals to us. The multi-player is good but it won't keep me playing for very long. Co-Op is coming as a DLC so I'll give that a look at least. One to buy if your a big fan and have spare cash.

72%
Shows promise but fails to live up to expectations.

Side Quest
Side Quest time! Haven't got anything for you today just some Warhammer funnies.