Topic: New from Relic - Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

[idolminds]

PS3/360 game

3rd person action RPG? Sounds neat.

[Quemaqua]

Looks epic.  They could really do something special with this, methinks.

[MysterD]

I won't even say what I'm thinking here...

[TheOtherBelmont]

Awesome, a 40K game that isn't an RTS, hopefully it turns out to be good.

[Xessive]

I recall an old Warhammer 40k shooter on PC called Fire Warrior. This one looks like it's more like beat 'em up though. Awesome.

[sirean_syan]

Huh. So I take it this is that 40K game with the video of the alpha leaked months ago? Looks like it's come a ways. The leaked alpha seemed pretty out of touch in terms of how Space Marines fought and their gear worked. The hope at the time was that the problems were more of a reflection of placeholders put into the alpha rather than how the final product will look. It looks like a lot of that has been fixed now. I also didn't know Relic was onboard. After two DoWs, they've pretty much proven themselves to be the 40K experts in the gaming world. Maybe THQ brought them out after someone saw how the original developers didn't have a handle on things? It might be possible. If things switched from a shooter to a action/strategy game, that could be simply because it's closer to what Relic does. That can't be a bad thing.

Still, it's a shame. If done right a shooter at the level of Gears of War could be awesome. I guess we'll just have to wait for another game before that happens now.

[Quemaqua]

I'm not worried.  This looks like it has great potential for some real cinematic epicness.

[PyroMenace]

I want to play as the Orks.

[scottws]

It's like one of those SAT analogies:

Space Marine : Warhammer 40,000 :: Starcraft: Ghost : Starcraft

[MysterD]

PC Version announced for 2011.

[W7RE]

Pretty good video interview on Gamestop showing off some gameplay.

Originally I was thinking this was gonna be more of a hack and slash, similar to God of War. Really though, it seems more like Gears of Warhammer 40K. It has no cover system though, but much more melee combat.

[PyroMenace]

Holy shit that looks fantastic, I can't get over how good it looks. I'm sold.

[Quemaqua]

Holy fuck... you aren't kidding.  I'm sold too.  I was prepared to be interested because I trust Relic, but... jeez.

[TheOtherBelmont]

Looks fucking awesome, can't wait for it.

[idolminds]

RPS writeup

About five minutes into my demonstration of Relic’s Space Marine I realise what I’m looking at is a 3rd person shooter that draws heavily from Gears of War, so I ask an obvious question. “Is there some kind of cover system?” Relic man grins. “Actually, the team has an internal line about that. We say, ‘Cover is for Pussies.’”

I don’t take my eyes off the screen, but my ears do a double take. “We do have this though,” says Relic man. With the press of a button he sends Ultramarine Captain Titus running straight through a low wall of cover like a wrecking ball, and begins hacking apart the orks on the other side with his chainsword. “Oh,” I hear myself say, mesmerised. “Right!”

There’s a very specific image of a Space Marine Relic are pursuing here, one distinct from the rules of the Warhammer 40K tabletop game or Relic’s own RTS. It’s the image of a Space Marine put forward by 40K’s fiction, which I’ll summarise.

Space Marines are given 19 extra internal organs to help them fight, including an extra heart and a bonus lung. Their bones are laced with a ceramic substance which also causes their rib cage to grow into a solid plate. Their Power Armour is inches thick, and the Marines interface with it through cybernetic fibres that grow into their chest. Plus, all Space Marines carry inside them the enhanced genetic material of the Primarchs, superhuman generals bred when humanity was at its zenith. Altogether a Space Marine weighs around a ton and is a legendary badass, said to be the match of 1,000 Orks.

Space Marine is a game of these terrifying men. You can leave any rules you know about Weapon Skill and saving throws at the door.

As such, Space Marine is the kind of over-the-top action game that I can’t remember seeing on the PC in a while. For most of the time you don’t need to worry about taking damage, just dealing it out, which is looking to be an enormously satisfying business. Your default Bolter rifle doesn’t just fire bullets, it fires rocket-propelled slugs designed to detonate inside the target. And aside from being absurd in and of themselves, your melee weapons (chainsword, power fist, storm hammer) are all backed up by your Marine’s mega-strength. And this is before we’ve gotten to the heavy weapons- one setpiece I saw involving a heavy bolter left behind a pile of ork corpses straight out of any piece of 40k artwork.

So, no, there’s no cover system, and that’s not just because it doesn’t fit the fiction. It’s also because Relic are trying to create a game that’s precisely half shooting and half melee combat, and apparently they found out that if you have cover then people just hunker down behind it. Hardly ideal when every single piece of Space Marine art in existence shows them standing up. Come to think of it, I’m not sure how far they can even bend their legs.

[idolminds]

Steamworks

<Insert bitching>

[MysterD]

Steamworks

<Insert bitching>

I guess the good news is this game won't require BOTH G4WL and Steam...

[Quemaqua]

Well, nevermind...

[W7RE]

New Trailer from Gamescom.

[Quemaqua]

OH GOD YES PLEASE

Maybe I can cut Steam off with a chainsword.

[idolminds]

Demo next week

The Space Marine demo features two very different areas of the game. The first pits the player against an Ork horde outside the gates of a munitions factory. Armed with six devastating weapons, including the iconic bolter and lethal chainsword, the player will get to experience Space Marine’s seamless mix of melee and ranged combat first hand as they take on the rampaging invaders. The second area gives players a taste of the exhilarating Jump Pack sequences where the game’s hero—Captain Titus—takes to the skies to rain death from above.

The demo is planned to launch simultaneously for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC on 23rd August and then on PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system on 24th August.

Wow, a PC demo. I'm shocked.

[W7RE]

I so want this game. As similar as it seems to Gears of War, I'm actually looking forward to Space Marine more. Much more.

[sirean_syan]

I honestly don't understand the idea that it's similar to Gears of War outside of the fact that there are big dudes with power armor. It looks like it plays more like God of War or some third person action game from the Quicklook at Giantbomb. No cover, lots of melee crowd control and some first person shooting mixed in.

So is everything with power armor Gears these days?

[Quemaqua]

I never got that comparison so much either.

[PyroMenace]

Yea either do I. For me, the biggest comparison is Darksiders, since it is the same engine (I think) and it looks like the melee mechanics play similarly.

[Xessive]

I recall the first screenshots I saw immediately made me think of Darksiders and God of War (beat 'em up games); Gears of War never even crossed my mind and I was surprised when people started mentioning it.

I think some people just made assumptions based on the vaguely similar aspects: space marine, armour, 3rd-person camera, and anyone who's not familiar with Warhammer 40k might assume the chainsword is a rip-off of the Gears of War Lancer.

[W7RE]

To me it seems sort of similar to Gears because of the camera view and controls when aiming and shooting. It's very close and over the right shoulder, and the first other game like that which comes to my mind is Gears. That's where the similarities end to me though. I don't think the big characters, the chainsword, or any of the rest of that is similar to Gears.

[W7RE]

Demo is out for Steam preorders. If you go to spacemarine.com and sign up for the Honor Guard, you can get Steam access now as well. Xbox demo will be out sometimes tomorrow (Tuesday).

The game is awesome! I thought it was going to be a lot of shooting, but it's really more melee combat than anything else. Lots of chainsword action, kicking ork heads in, and splattering blood everywhere. Basically you beat the shit out of the enemies and then when they're weak enough, you can kick them to stun them. Once an enemy is stunned, you can execute them and get some health back. So you just wade in ripping the enemies apart, and then start executing if you get low on health.

[Xessive]

Awesome, I'm psyched for some ass-kicking action!

[W7RE]

ROFL I didn't even think to try and switch weapons. I was just charging straight into groups of enemies that I could have shot from afar. It did make me feel like a total badass though. I thought you only had the chainsword and bolter pistol. You also have a bolter (assault rifle), stalker bolter (sniper rifle), and vengeance launcher (fire to send out a sticky mine, reload button to detonate it). Using these, you can make the game a lot less melee focused, but you'll still want to melee when stuff gets close. The melee is so satisfying anyway.

The sniper rifle sound is so beefy!

[W7RE]

The demo is up on Xbox Live now (probably Gold users only). I don't see it listed in the demos section yet, but if you browse to the game from the alphabetical list, it's got a "get trial" option there.

[Xessive]

Just played the PC demo and I liked it!

It's definitely the most visually inspired and visceral WH40K game. Impressive detail, and absolutely raw action!

The game has guns but I'm reluctant to call it a shooter. If anything it's a horde-mauler, whether you're shooting or brawling. I can see a bit of Darksiders style in it but Space Marine is in a class of its own. The demo was certainly fun and if you're a WH40K fan this is the action title you've been waiting for.

[Pugnate]

Played the demo on Steam and PSN. For some reason it was more impressive on the PS3. Really impressed overall though.

So the game won't have splitscreen. What the hell is up with that?

[sirean_syan]

Yeah. I played the demo too and, if it wasn't before, it is abundantly clear that Relic gets Warhammer better than pretty much any other game developer to touch the universe before. Hell, I sort of think they get it better than some of the book authors and even folks who work on the core table top game. Well, they at least get the Space Marine and Ork aspects. While it was always cool to see the iconic stuff in the Dawn of War series, it's almost a different matter when your in the thick of it and ripping it apart with a chainsword. Like, seeing Squigbombs, being in the middle of lasfire, and hearing a guardsmen choke up for a second when he realizes he's talking to a Space Marine all had me audibly giddy. And this was all within the space of a 10-15 minute demo. If Relic can keep stuff like that up throughout the game it's going to be a dream come true for people like me.

THQ is doing what they did with the last DoW II expansion and releasing a collectors edition exclusively through their online store. I folded quickly and ordered the PC version earlier this week. It has a purity seal!



Edit: I can't imagine the game working very well with the default PC controls. I just ended up plugging the 360 controller in.

[Xessive]

If I've learned anything from all my THQ purchases it's to never buy anything from them on release unless I really, really want a Collector's Edition like that one (which is a rare occurrence for me). A few months down the road they'll have a major price-cut or a better package like "Space Marine Gold Edition, includes all DLC etc. for $30" or so!

[MysterD]

If I've learned anything from all my THQ purchases it's to never buy anything from them on release unless I really, really want a Collector's Edition like that one (which is a rare occurrence for me). A few months down the road they'll have a major price-cut or a better package like "Space Marine Gold Edition, includes all DLC etc. for $30" or so!

I think we can say that's true for MANY games, these days and age - especially stuff published by any of the major publishers EA, THQ, 2K and Bethesda/Zenimax.

[sirean_syan]

It's 40K. Rules like this don't apply. I'd take a bullet for Warhammer. Maybe two.

[Xessive]

Ok, you guys need to play this, especially all you WH40K fans!

If you've played the demo you know what to expect, the game expands on that kind of action and the story so far is pretty decent. Relic Entertainment always deliver quality and it shows.

The multiplayer is barrels o' fun! It's pretty basic with only two modes: team deathmatch and a WH40K domination variant, but the different classes really vary the gameplay.

[sirean_syan]

I just got my collector's edition in the mail and it is *easily* one of the best collectors sets I've bought. It's just packaged so nicely it's hard not to like it. Even the purity seal feels nice and solid unlike most collector's editions trinkets.

Check it out:

[Pugnate]

TEMPTATION ISLANDDDDDDDDD