Is Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 Worth It? – Review
Ever wanted to play as some of the most merciless, brutal, bad-ass mother******s in the galaxy? Me too!
Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 is no ordinary video game, and when you play Space Marine 2, you are no ordinary hero.
The Wrath of the Emperor Made Flesh
In Space Marine 2, you are the wrath of the Emperor made flesh, charged with inflicting merciless brutality on all who threaten the Imperium. You are the Emperor’s unrelenting, unstoppable angels of death.
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Brutal Combat, Massive Hordes, and Jaw-Dropping Visuals
Space Marine 2 delivers almost everything you might want from an action-packed video game. It’s got brutal melee and ranged combat, massive hordes of monsters to obliterate, jaw-dropping graphics, and visceral audio. It has a campaign that can be played alone or with friends, PvP and co-op PvE multiplayer, unlocks, customisation, and a whole lot of fun, hard-hitting, good-and-gory gameplay.
Short Campaign, but Entrancing Gameplay
The campaign is pretty short and a direct sequel to the first Space Marine game. You can watch some catch-up videos if you want a better idea of what’s going on with the game’s protagonist, Titus, but for the record, I haven’t played the first game and didn’t feel too lost, because the story itself comes second to the grand settings and enthralling gameplay.
Multiplayer Modes and Customisation
Progression and customisation across the different classes only come into play in the multiplayer modes. The step up from normal to veteran difficulty in the campaign is a bit rough, but in PvE, it’s very much based on recommended levels, so you could almost think of them more as New Game Plus for the Operations missions.
The PvP Eternal War multiplayer mode didn’t feel that amazing, if I’m honest, but maybe I just need to give it more time. The Operations co-op PvE missions are really where the good stuff is at, though – and where I finally got kitted out in Dark Angels green to honour the little tabletop army I played in high school years ago. I think I look awesome.
It’s Addictive, but Not Without Flaws
Space Marine 2 isn’t perfect, though. For starters, I had to stop playing it to go to work – which is kind of unacceptable.
Seriously though, it’s super addictive, and my complaints are actually fairly minimal for now. We had a few issues with server connections when starting missions, and if you don’t have local servers in your region, you might have to deal with a bit of lag even when only playing with your local friends. On the note of playing with friends, I have one other major gripe, but I’ll get to that in a moment.
Familiar, Yet Original
You can’t help but be reminded, when playing Space Marine 2, that the Warhammer 40K tabletop game has – well, let’s be kind and say it has “inspired” many other games you’ve played before, or at least it feels that way: 8-foot-tall, genetically modified super-soldiers in power armour? 40K. Armoured-up military bros running around gothic cityscapes chainsawing monsters? 40K. Blue Space Marines with tanks and aircraft engaging in warfare against hordes of alien creatures? You get the point. And in many ways, it feels like we’ve come full circle, because Space Marine 2 feels sort of like playing Gears of War on crack, while dressed as Master Chief, in the middle of a massive Starcraft conflict. There’s shared DNA, is what I’m saying.
A World War Z Connection
Speaking of shared DNA, Space Marine 2 is made by the same team that developed World War Z. If you’ve played and are familiar with World War Z, you’ll actually find quite a lot of similarities in Space Marine 2’s systems. As a huge fan of WWZ’s 4-player co-op, I’m still really annoyed that my 4-player group isn’t able to play Space Marine 2 co-op together because of the shift to only 3 players. They said they tested it out, and it’s a balancing thing. For the record, I blame Destiny for popularising 3-player squads.
A Bad-Ass Game with More to Come
Space Marine 2 is absolutely bad-ass and lives up to the hype. It’s full of epic moments and exciting gameplay, whether you’re jamming alone or with friends. And if you’re wondering where it goes from here, the 2024 and 2025 roadmap revealed new missions, enemies, difficulties, and modes on the way. I’m pretty excited for more of this because it’s pretty damn good.
