A fair dose of old school testosterone action.
The pedigree of Space Marine 2 is interesting. On the one hand, we have the original game, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine from 2011 by Canadian developers Relic Entertainment. At the time, it mostly received seven-point ratings in reviews, but I still remember its uniquely harsh atmosphere and strong story presentation. On the other hand, we have the authors of this year’s sequel, the American developers from the Saber Interactive studio, whose portfolio is the most relevant game for this case, World War Z, characterized in addition to 15 million players and impressive graphics, primarily by the unique technology of an avalanche of hundreds of enemies on the screen, which in They capitalized on Space Marine including accompanying mechanics.
- Platform: PS5 (Reviewed) XSX|S, PC
- Release date: 9. 9. 2024 (EA 5.9.)
- Manufacturer: Saber Interactive (USA)
- Genre: Third-person action
- Czech localization: yes (subtitles)
- Multiplayer: again
- Data to download: 54 GB
- Game Time: 15+ hours
- Cena: CZK 1,799 (Alza)
The screenshots are from the performance graphics mode
A bleak future of endless war
Following the events of the last game (and the Inquisition’s investigation into his mysterious resistance to the forces of Chaos), genetically enhanced Space Marine Demetrian Titus has been serving in the “Deathwatch” unit for nearly a century when he is sent to the jungle-covered planet of Kadaku, which has come under attack from deadly insect monsters , Tyranids. The mission goes awry almost immediately, but Titus still manages to release the virus bomb into the atmosphere before he himself goes down. He is subsequently brought back to life as an even stronger Primaris Marine aboard a ship called Resilient, from where he sets off with a new unit of soldiers back to the planet’s surface, as it harbors, among other things, top secret research with the code name “Project Aurora”.
Titus is brought back to life as an even stronger Primaris Marine.
The story has an excellent dark atmosphere and a great cinematic presentation, with stylishly written dialogue and convincingly grim acting. But the plot itself somewhat disappointed me. Although it swaps Orcs for Tyranids, it’s otherwise too similar to the previous game: Titus again arouses the suspicion of everyone around him with his continued resistance to the forces of Chaos, which, like in the last game, puts him right in the middle of the most important action, but don’t expect any satisfactory explanation , from which his unique abilities spring. However, it does not change the fact that the story progresses epically and especially the final battles are truly epic. The Czech localization (in the form of subtitles) is at a good level, however, some things simply do not sound as rough or “cool” in Czech as in English.
An avalanche of enemies, explosions and blood
In addition to the very honest and still unique atmosphere of the Warhammer 40K universe, the game will primarily interest you with its quest, which is truly extraordinary. From the murderous wasteland of an alien jungle to absurdly gigantic factory complexes to gothic metropolises, the creators know very well how to offer stunning views of the landscape around you. At the same time, thanks to the technology from WWZ, these views are flooded with literally hundreds of enemies, who roll across the landscape like a gigantic avalanche, and every time you see them, you get the impression that this simply cannot be stopped. An absurd amount of splattering blood and explosions flood the screen once it collides. In addition, all this is drowned in a suitably dirty and cold color palette, which emphasizes the overall gloom of this world. Both sound and music further reinforce this gloom.
An honest and still unique atmosphere of the Warhammer 40K universe.
The game offers two graphics modes on the console – quality with 4K resolution and 30fps or performance with 1080p resolution and 60fps. I played most of it in performance mode and I’m happy to say that the fluidity held up reliably for most of the game. When she did stutter for a while, it wasn’t so much in crazy mob battles as it was during transitions between some of the more challenging ingame cinematic sequences – but even there it was rather rare. Other than that, I haven’t experienced any technical issues. I’m just a little sad that the developers didn’t manage to maintain smoother transitions between individual passages, because all kinds of blackouts take a bit away from the atmosphere of the continuous journeys of your heroes.
Your craft is death
Not only in its visuals, but also in its gameplay, Space Marine 2 can easily remind the Gears of War series. This is mainly caused by the appropriately cumbersome movement of your marine in absurdly massive metal armor, but also perhaps by the presence of a motor sword, with which you can appropriately slice up a flood of enemies at close range. Although there is a “missing” mechanism of covering behind obstacles, in practice there will be moments when you will have to at least look for cover with your position in relation to the enemy, for example under the fire of an enemy sniper or before some attacks of massive bosses. These moments can be slightly frustrating, as the game is noticeably at its best when you’re wielding your weapons in the middle of a mass of enemies like a meat grinder.
Properly clumsy movement of your marine in absurdly bulky metal armor.
Although the majority of the game time is intense action, the moments of peace when exploring the location need to be used properly, because there are not too many ammo and first aid kits. It is also worth looking around the weapon rack, because the designers will usually offer you more “suitable” equipment for the next passage. As for health and armor, both can be replenished to some extent through combat itself, but you have to use well-timed special attacks to do so. This isn’t always easy, as sometimes the chaos on a screen with hundreds of enemies is just too wild, and coupled with the somewhat clumsy movements of your armor, you can’t achieve the mechanical precision the game might need. It frustrated me not only in some wild battles with a bunch of enemies, but also with some bosses that moved and attacked noticeably faster than my marine could handle.
Your work is not over
The story campaign offers 6 missions and about 10 hours of fun (it also depends on the difficulty setting), all spiced up with impressive cinematic sequences and supported by the possibility of playing in one to three players (the absence of players may be replaced by quite clever bots), including cross-play support across platforms PC, Xbox and PlayStation. The movie sequences really deserve to be highlighted and praised, some of them are pre-rendered and their content and processing can remind you of the famous movies from the final act of Diablo 4. After completing the campaign, you have the opportunity to jump into the so-called operations, which are extra PVE missions, pleasantly related to main campaign storyline – here you play as other units completing different missions during the same campaign as in the main campaign. In addition, there is also a PVP mode “Eternal War”, where 12 players can engage each other (6v6) in a classic deathmatch or two variations of territory occupation.
After completing the campaign, you have the option to jump into Operations or Eternal War.
While in the story campaign, the characteristics and equipment of your character are practically unchanged, or dictated by what you find directly on the battlefield, for Operations and Eternal War you can already start improving and “piping” your own marine. You can choose from six combat classes, from melee specialist to sniper. Each class has access to different equipment (a few weapons are shared), unique perks that you gradually unlock, as well as stronger weapon variants or a flood of cosmetic modifications to your armor and equipment. Higher difficulty operations strongly recommend bringing higher level characters. It’s clear that the publisher promises a longer lifespan from this side of the game, as it has already announced future additions of new missions and modes. It will be interesting to see how the game does in the long term in this regard, although I am a bit concerned that it is not as mechanically rich or precise as, say, Helldivers 2.
Verdict
Die-hard fans of the original can feel free to add an extra point to their rating, this treatment of their favorite universe is extremely honest. It perfectly captures the oppressive bleak vision of a future engulfed in endless war and offers fun adrenaline-pumping action. The story is somewhat predictable and the mechanics rather simple, but the spectacle is great and future additions could keep fans interested for a long time.
What do we like and dislike?
Careful and dignified processing of the original
Extraordinary design and atmosphere
Game modes beyond the campaign
Fun intense action
Dialogues and acting
A predictable straightforward story
Relative simplicity of game mechanics
