What do you feel when you kill a xenos? Recoil. Review of the brutal Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2

It is much more difficult to justify some of the writers’ blunders related to the structure of the Warhammer 40k universe and the laws written in it. Like the so-called “shadow in the Warp” cast by the Tyranid fleet. About half of the events in the campaign are extremely difficult to explain to people who know about the structure of the Warp, the forces of Chaos and astropathic communications in “Forty Thousand” – as if it was written by other people. 

Nevertheless, Saber Interactive developed the plot of the first part, gave answers to the questions that tormented players for 13 years and ended the story on a high note.

Meat. For everything. Money!

As mentioned earlier, the story in these games usually serves as a simple backdrop for the gameplay, which Space Marine 2 has no problem with.

It’s a bloody and brutal game where Titus and his comrades slice their enemies into ribbons with power swords, tear them to shreds with heavy bolter shots, fry them with hot plasma, rip out limbs, or simply trample skulls with ceramite boots.

Saber has beautifully adapted the Swarm engine used in The World War Z to show the scale of the Tyranid invasion. Titus spends the first half of the game bravely fighting off hordes of evil aliens: there are sometimes so many enemies that the game literally forces you to engage them in hand-to-hand combat. After all, once you kill one, five grinning snouts with sharp fangs are already in your crosshairs. Even a simple magazine change can quickly lead to Titus being surrounded. You’ll have to fight back with your hands.

Small flocks of smaller Tyranids can only scratch their claws in vain against a Space Marine’s power armour until he grabs them by the tail and smashes them into the ground, while larger hordes can literally crush them – sometimes their number on screen reaches a couple of hundred. 

Quite often, Titus will have to deal with more serious Tyranid warriors, armed with acid-shooting guns or bone swords, which they can not only skillfully fence with, but also deflect shots like Jedi. In full accordance with the lore of Warhammer 40k, small Tyranids behave more aggressively in the presence of larger individuals, acting as a kind of amplifiers of the signal from the hive mind, so their destruction should become a priority.

The game becomes much less interesting in terms of combat towards the middle, when the Tyranids, who have featured in much of the game’s promotional material, are suddenly replaced by Chaos Space Marines and their lackeys from the renegade Guards. Space Marine 2 doesn’t turn into a simple shooter, but you can engage in firefights with the same Space Marines in multiplayer mode (more on that later).

While the Tyranids offered at least some variety and forced you to act tactically in an attempt to deal with larger and more dangerous creatures as quickly as possible, the Heretek Traitors simply lazily shoot at Titus and occasionally teleport out of the line of fire. And they are killed faster, even Chaos Terminators on normal difficulty barely pose a threat. Although on Veteran, a difficulty that the developers consider “designed for completion”, every victory on the battlefield will have to be snatched with your teeth even in battles with the forces of Chaos. 

Space Marine 2’s shortcomings also include the lack of variety in missions – simple forced marches from point A to point B and the need to hold a position for a certain amount of time under enemy pressure. From time to time, Titus is given the chance to fly with a jump pack, allowing him to fall on the heads of enemies with his entire gigantic body like a meteorite, but the number of such sections in the game can literally be counted on the fingers of one hand. Soldier, you are in the Imperium after all, there is no place for fun here – there is only war!

All story missions in the game can be completed in co-op or you can take a look at the campaign from a different angle in the “Operations” mode. It complements the story at different periods, when Titus’s comrades from other squads provided all possible support and simultaneously carried out equally important tasks. For example, eliminating the Hive Tyrant to stop the Tyranid attack, or destroying the Chaos Drake so that Titus could heroically break through to an important point and… Okay, spoilers ahead! 

Note: Chief Editor. When playing, you get the feeling that the Operations mode was the focus of Saber: division into classes, upgrading not only the space marines but also the weapons, and end-to-end progression with PVP. Despite the fact that it only has six missions so far, playing them never gets boring, and the process resembles constantly replaying missions in World War Z. The AI ​​director copes with its task and throws up new surprises every time.

The arsenal in Space Marine 2 is not as extensive, but each weapon has its own use on the battlefield and you never feel like the game is forcing you to use a certain blaster or rifle.

Close combat is a big part of Space Marine 2. Saber Interactive has done everything to show off the power of a space marine, and you can feel the force of every blow and the crunch of bones of the enemy who was unfortunate enough to take it. However, target tracking in power armor is still a bit iffy. Titus sometimes refuses to parry attacks or starts brutally attacking the void.

Kill the mutant, burn the heretic, level up!

Space Marine 2 has much bigger problems with its competitive multiplayer mode “Eternal War”, which needs some work. A lot of work. But first, what can be praised in the multiplayer.

Space Marine 2 offers several really interesting and unique classes with their own set of skills and available equipment. The same support fighter with a force field can choose one of three heavy weapons – a multi-melta, a plasma scorcher or a bolter – to become a real nightmare for the enemy team in the mode of holding the point. When the Assault with his jump pack quite comically drives enemies into the ground like nails, landing on them with his thunder hammer, and then soaring upward in search of new victims.

The main problem with multiplayer is the complete lack of feeling that you are playing as space marines, as well as the poor balance. If the aforementioned support fighter’s shield breaks after a short but intense enemy fire on him, then the main problem with the assault trooper is only the ceilings. This is the most unfair and annoying class of all.

Space Marine 2 has a very low TTK (Time to Kill – the time it takes to zero out an enemy’s health). It seemed like the space marines were given wet cardboard armor in multiplayer.

Note: Chief Editor. I have the opposite opinion about the multiplayer. Having played it for a couple of evenings for the Bastion class and having gained experience, having learned the maps (of which, by the way, there are only three, which is disappointing) I began to understand how to counter opponents of different classes. The same assault troopers with backpacks, in a more or less well-coordinated group, die already at takeoff. But I am well “countered” by the vanguard, capable of being pulled in from afar on a rope and putting the character into a stupor.

In my opinion, Saber simply used the old formula of multiplayer games: fun should come first. Playing Space Marine 2 multiplayer is like returning to the days of Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles, when in competitive mode, it was not your personal achievements that were important, but completing goals, teamwork and a smart choice of classes for different modes. If Saber does not abandon the development of PVP, adds more maps, match types and rewards for players – it will live long and happily. Today, something like this is worth its weight in gold, for those who are tired of the annual Call of Duty or heroic Overwatch.