14 DAY TRIAL // THQ seems ready to once again make good on their ownership Warhammer 40,000 license after the success of Dawn of War in the real time strategy space, this time by creating a full third person shooter based around the concept.
Space Marine is a fast and exciting game and I got to spend some time with it at the THQ stand of the E3 trade show, enough to become excited for the possibilities that the game opens up.
The E3 2011 demo of the game allows players to go up against both Ork forces and against Chaos Space Marines and both types of enemies are exciting and can put up a fight, even if the toughness of the Orks could be toned down a bit to suit the lore of Warhammer 40,000 better.
The game puts the player in the tough combat armor of a Ultramarine captain and it manages to capture the experience of being the ultimate fighting machine of the Imperium of Man.
The main character and his combat buddies are strong, pack a lot of firepower, their only weakness is a lack of speed that makes them vulnerable to long range assaults.
The weapons pack a punch and their effects are appropriately over the top and the game manages to integrate the close quarters combat in an elegant manner, allowing me to change between a chainsword or battle axe to chop enemies nearby and a bolter or plasma rifle to take them out at range.
Space Marine also packs impressive graphics and a look that is close to that used by Relic in the various Dawn of War II releases.
The only issues with the E3 2011 Space Marine demo are the relative lack of intelligence of the enemies, which sometimes stand around confused and allow the player to chop them up, and the movements of the game camera, that can make it kinda hard to direct some attacks.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is set to launch on the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3 and the PC during September.