Image Credit: Saber Interactive
Space Marine II was an absolute first for me in one regard.
I have literally never played a game where the very first gear and appearance your character has is absolutely badass, and virtually anything that comes after that makes him look like a goon. Congratulations, Saber. You played yourself.
Titus starts off the game in the Death Watch, rounding out a century of service to the emperor for coming close to heresy without actually crossing the line. As such, he is a commander and is dressed to the nines with a skull helmet, red cloak, dark grey armor, and is an absolute monster on the battlefield. So much so, in fact, that upon his death he is essentially reanimated with additional parts in order to continue serving the Imperium.
No retirement plan? What a sucker.
After his reanimation, Titus is reinstated into the Ultramarines as a lieutenant. Definitely a downgrade from his former rank of captain 100 years ago. And seems to me like a further downgrade from his commander rank just five days prior. But hey, I'm just a regular Marine. Nothing ultra. What do I know?
With his reinstatement, Titus is handed the command of a small fire team of Ultramarines that includes a hothead named Chairon and a flat out jackass named Gadriel. Both of them are completely insubordinate, despite the fact that each one is just a non-commissioned officer, but it's up to Titus to work with them in order to stem the tide of chaos that he sees hiding behind a tyranid invasion.
The Good
The best part of Space Marine II is easily the graphics. Visually, the game is stunning. Whether it's when you are running around wreaking havoc, or watching a cutscene capturing the intensity of a moment, Saber crafted the visuals with a lot of time and dedication. They also did their homework, as I'm sure Games Workshop expects, with ensuring that everything ties into the overall lore with appearances.
It's more than that, however. The lore of the universe is kept coherent, and the game feels like it could easily be a short novel that takes place in the Warhammer 40K universe. I especially appreciated the dataslates that you can collect as you go through. Each one of them gives little insights into the tyranid invasion coupled with warnings of chaos coming through.
The Bad
Some of the things I'm going to mention could have gone either way. One is the audio aspect of the game. The voice acting was okay. Maybe it was better than I'm giving it credit for, but Gadriel and Chairon were both so damn annoying I've dropped it into this category. Their constant questioning was a character trope that didn't need to extend to both of them, and it takes so long for them to warm up to Titus that I just rolled my eyes through every interaction. The music was also not exactly what I think of when it comes to Warhammer. Some of it was decent, but it leaned too heavily into the action-hero thematics for me to be truly invested in listening.
Gameplay left something to be desired as well. The hack and slash component of the game is limited to just using the R1 bumper and configuring different ways of pressing it. That's kind of boring. The weaponry could also have had other options. Better ones, too. Give me some of Lord Calgar's options like wrist-mounted bolters and I'll smile. Giving me a bolter and then throwing a grenade launcher on another bolter and calling it two weapons? C'mon, Saber.
The Verdict
I wish Titus could have just stayed in the Death Watch for the duration of the game. Starting off in a Marine unit that basically gets sent on suicide missions back to back would have been a treat to play. Instead, my experience with Titus and the Ultramarines left more of a bad taste in my mouth than anything. I've played a lot of Warhammer 40K games in the past year... I suppose I thought this one would be higher on the list.
6/10
Better than Some
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