Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

Publisher: THQ

Developer: Relic Entertainment

Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360, PC

Genre(s): Third-person Shooter

D.O.R: September 6, 2011

War is an everyday occurrence in the Warhammer 40k universe.

You play as Captain Titus, leader of an advance force of Space Marines from the Ultramarines chapter. As a biologically enhanced Superhuman you are of course a force to be reckoned with in combat.Titus is accompanied throughout the game by two other AI controlled Marines, Leandros and Sidonus. Though for quite a lot of the campaign you are on your own and only in radio contact with the other two. You play from a third person viewpoint and engage in furious melee and ranged combat. The game features a Fury meter that, when filled up during combat can be activated to either slow down time or engage in powerful melee attacks.

The main enemies in the game(as with most 40k games) are the Orks. This brutal race alien warriors are led by the huge and completely vicious, Warboss Grimskull and under his leadership, the WAAAGH has taken control of Forge World Graia, which is a hugely important manufacturing planet that produces, among other things, the mighty Titan war machines. Later on towards the end of the game the focus switches to the ever present menace of the ruinous powers of Chaos. Inquisitor Drogan(Possessed by a Chaos Lord) opens up a portal to the warp and the forces of chaos pour through.

The scenery and little touches that make this instantly recognizably from the Warhammer world have been beautifully rendered and your character feels as powerful as you would expect him to be. There really is nothing quite like charging towards a group of enemies and shoulder barging them all to the ground. Combine that with the lethal Force Axe and you are almost unstoppable. One thing that does get frustrating is that to regain health you have to stun, then execute enemies. Now this probably sounds like a good thing, but as soon as you initiate the execution, you are locked into the animation and other enemies can just walk up to you and hack you in the back.

The weapons are cool, my personal favourite being the Stalker pattern Bolter. Also you have the chance to use a jump-pack, which means you can slam down onto enemies from above which is a particularly efficient way of clearing large groups of enemies. The enemies get bigger and nastier as you progress through the game, starting off with tiny Gretchins and finishing with a full blown Demon Prince. The story sequences really build the tension up, making you believe you will destroy the Ork threat and then just when you think its done, a new set of enemies arrive to destroy eveything.

I am definitely looking forward to a sequel as you are left with quite the cliffhanger!