Warhammer 40k Space Marine II

Overly Dramatic Review in One Sentence

In the future, a religious organization worships a dude who has been genetically modified to live forever, and his space marines are fanatical about slaying his enemies… even the demons who were once their own.

The Actual Review

Game time:

PC: 8.4 Hours

Gameplay

The gameplay is solid. I mean you are tearing into, mostly, bugs and the executions and gun finishes are really fun. The bigger issue for the campaign gameplay is that most of the guns feel the same, at least for the automatic ones. There isn't a lot of variety in the way they look either. Meaning you constantly might pick up the wrong one mid-battle if you don't pay attention to the name, which is difficult when surrounded by a horde of termites.

The might be the most jaw dropping part. Seeing the horde flood in from the backdrop and then climb the walls that you are atop of is just nutty. The fact that you can interact with them is even crazier, but I think I remember the devs says that killing that doesn't do as much as you'd think. Even still, it is crazy to see.

Where the gameplay is at its best, is when playing with friends, kind of like Helldivers II. In fact these games are so similar, you'd be hard-pressed attempting to not compare them. The Space Marine 2 feels more serious because you are not mobile, you are a walking tank. There isn't diving or rag doll mechanics, so you are the rock or hard place the bugs smash into. That weighty feeling of movement does also play into the weighty attacks. It's a lot of brawn and big attacks with limited mobility.

Graphics and Sound

The levels aren't open world, but they do a great job of making you feel like you could walk to what you can see, until you hit the tree wall. The blood and dismemberment from executions is super cool. The environment as a whole feels good.

The sound however, is either good or so poorly balanced that it effects other parts of the game. Playing games like Call of Duty Black Ops 6, you know that if you can't hear what is going on around you, you lose the game. This game takes it one step further and says "Oh you can't hear the story if we through a horde of bugs at you." The sounds themselves are very cool, but there is just too much to understand or appreciate them all. This along with poorly balanced exposition during fights means that you have no idea what you are doing during some of the most important parts other than what the marker tells you to do. Why are you killing this guy? Who knows!

Story and Characters

The complaint about the sound is really a complaint about the story. I have no clue what the story is other than I am a Space Marine that is in trouble(?) and I did something bad a long time ago. However, now I am being called to go fight another fight against space bugs. During this we learn that these Demon Space Marines are back and are looking to break into our world.

Most of that I got from watching YouTube videos trying to understand what I missed, and I know that I am still missing things. Part of that is because of the co-op play system. You can join your friends in playing the story, but the progression you make does adjust your story. In my instance, I played most of the game on Carter's story line and so when I went back to play mine to make the short, I ended up on the second mission because it hadn't triggered in my playthrough.

Because I have no real understanding of the story, my complaints about some characters are unfair to the writing. I have no idea if their starkness, bad attitude, insolence, is justified or just bad writing to have conflict. Captain Titus is cool. I liked his push for truth and justice. He was fun, so I assume the others would be as well, but I am not sure. Couldn't hear half the conversations.

My Rating

I want to like this game. However, it isn't close to being worth it unless you are a huge 40k nerd, which I would love to be, for an 8-10 hour campaign. Yes there is multiplayer, yes there is secondary game play options, but not enough to justify the cost. I want to play games that take me away from reality and let me dive into this world. I just can't do that with this game. I'd rather play Destiny 2 which if you listen to 2024 Episode 1 - Destiny, you know that I am not a huge fan and so that statement is massive. This just isn't my cup of tea. It's fun, but it relies too much on sources outside the game to provide a cohesive story line.

Parental Rating

There is a lot of gore. Yes it is alien bugs for the most part, but it is a lot. To the point that my mom would never have let me play this as a kid. Even my dad would be a little cautious about it. I think if my parents had a choice now, they'd ask me not to play it even with limited language and no sex.

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