XBox 360 Review: WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE

Despite selling probably billions of units, Warhammer still has as many stigmas among gaming communities as it does fans: table-top gaming is quite cruelly looked down upon even by those who frequent the worlds of WoW and other MMORPGs, and Games Workshop is equally sneered at in the unnecessarily judgemental sidestreets of the gaming web. As a result, there aren't a huge number of video game tie-ins, even though the worlds created in the Warhammer mythology would lend themselves to gaming environments perfectly. The dystopian future worlds may not be particularly easy on the eye, but they provide excellent settings for the sort of all-out warfare that comes hand in hand with every Warhammer story, and in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine that marriage is obvious in full force. Smartly, developer Relic Entertainment have made a game that welcomes in those who aren't necessarily already fans of the Warhammer world - an approach that started with the Gears of War style pre-release advertising campaign in an admirable attempt to make a niche market more universally appealing. It isn't a real competitor for Gears (but then what it) despite the marketing similarities and the fact that Gears of War was always an unofficial Warhammer homage - the muscle-bound, alien-chainsawing soldiers, the shoulder obsession, it's all there - but there is some enjoyment to be had in the kill-frenzy-now, ask-questions-later approach to action here. And it is that gleeful ultra-violence that will represent Space Marine's biggest draw. The plot facilitates a Rambo-esque level of slaying, as we take up the controller as Captain Titus (voiced with particularly velvetine tones by Mark Strong no less), fearless leader of the Ultramarines, who is sent, along with his special forces contingent to a planet over-run by a near infinite number of rampaging orks to basically cause as much damage to those invading forces as possible on the front-lines. There is little needed in terms of tactics or technique for the most part: Titus is a one man army, equipped to the back teeth and able to call upon the assistance of numerous ammo dumps littered around the place so it's unlikely you'll ever run out of ammo in your quest to kill as many orks as humanly possible. The combat mechanic is also appropriately simple, and it is possible to dispatch an impressive number of enemies with limited concentration, and the slow-motion captured "kill moves" are almost balletic in their gruesomeness, and the weaponry range keeps things relatively fresh when it all gets a little bit samey. And there is thankfully a difficulty progression through later levels that keep you interested when the violence loses its lustre. Those executions are also how you regenerate health - a novel idea, and one that ramps up the gratuity quite considerably as you're encouraged to perform such finishing moves as head stamps and flashy impalings - but that represents a problem during particularly heavy combat as the player must sacrifice safety in order to execute the moves. So in the quest for health, you end up having to make yourself vulnerable - the ultimate speculation/accumulation dynamic for a fighting game. It isn't a killer, as it encourages more strategic combat choices, but in the heat of the densest battles it is difficult to get away with the multiple executions required to get through. For a game that positions itself as a high-octane, furiously violent experience based mostly on the combat experience of taking on multiple foes at once, the pacing is almost catastrophically misjudged. Too often the game is interrupted by cut-scenes (three in a ten minute period is too frequent even in slower games) that admittedly look great but do nothing for the immersive, frenzied experience that Relic are clearly aiming for. There's also a problem with combat frequency - at times there are some scenes that are rather too insistent that you enjoy the scenery, without getting your hands dirty with actual fighting, which is all well and good, because the scenery design is incredible, but there is only so much walking around aimlessly I can stomach in such a context. Sadly, despite the encouragement to enjoy the ultra-violence and gore porn, Space Marine is just a little too one dimensional to have any hugely lasting impact, and fighting off wave after wave of orks gets old pretty quickly. So, while there is probably more than enough for a solid gameplay experience first time round, there isn't a great deal that will encourage return sittings after the game's done, though the multiplayer is quite impressive for a little while. It's one I would recommend playing, but not a game experience I would personally bank on enjoying more than a couple of times. The best part of the additional modes is undoubtedly the customisation aspect, which unlocks when you hit Level 4 online, which features a raft of options for pimping your Ultramarine outfit to your own tastes, which inspired in me memories of being hunched over tiny metal figures, paintbrush in hand, squinting to perfect insignia on a Space Marine Terminator's body armour. Overall, it's fun while it lasts, and Space Marine is certainly a well designed game, but there are a few too many problems in the gamplay experience to make it a really great experience, and there isn't enough depth to keep gamers coming back. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is available to buy on XBox 360 and PS3 now.