Introduction

The world of Warhammer 40k is one that is vast in its size scope and story telling, spanning across millenniums, with some history being lost to time with in the realm of 40k universe. The multitude of races, and various factions, pave the way for a multitude of different stories, that can be pinned to a particular point in time on the timeline of 40k.

Space Marine despite not being the first video game to bring the grim-dark future to PC's and consoles, would be a starting point for many and a strong one, as it adrenaline pumping third-person action was primed to appeal to many feeling as gritty to many of its contemporaries of the Xbox 360 and PS3 era. But here in 2024, Space Marine, and the narrative of Captain Tatius and the 8 hour campaign still offer a solid time, and are absolutely worth experiencing if you're looking for diving into it before the recently released Space Marine 2.

Overall there is a mostly solid experience here, and outside a few performance issues on PC, there is a pretty good game here that has aged pretty well. Without further delay let's get into my video for Warhammer 40k's Space Marine.

Story

The story puts you in the shoes of Titus an Ultramarine who has been tasked with responding to a distress call from the invasion of the world Graia, which has been invaded by Orks. The game follows a trail of events that will see Titus and his squad fighting back the Orks and working to take back the planet from the Invasion. There are some twists and turns that unfold later in the game which will see you fighting back against Chaos Marines, and trying to stop the games central antagonist Nemeroth who is trying to ascend to the status of a demon prince. If you're looking to play this in 2025, the ending of Space Marine directly ties into Space Marine 2 which takes a much more cinematic approach and focus to its storytelling.

That being said, the story of Space Marine is still entertaining and fun, but its narrative is more of a driver that carries us location to location providing us a maguffin to face, and whilst may entice the more hardcore of Warhammer fans, for me it felt like it lend itself well to the component of this experience that I felt was the high point and that's Space Marine's combat.

Gameplay

The gameplay for Space Marine has held up surprisingly well over the course of the years. It in many ways made me feel nostalgic for the games of the Xbox 360 and PS3 era. It really does tap into the monster like energy that you get from an experience like Gears of War with its third person combat, the way that it handles its levels and having friendly allies follow you around in combat. It isn’t just a shooter, you’ll be able to wield many melee weapons which will make you feel like an absolute unit, and mirror the blood pumping intensity of the original God of War games. For the grim dark fantasy where there is only war, I guess it is good that the most comparable games I can think of are ones that have "of war" in the title. But it does make sense given the fact that Relic Entertainment the developer of Space Marine hired staff who worked on both of the mentioned series of games.

One thing that I loved about Space Marine is the level of variety that the game offers with a plethora of weapons and it allows you to switch between four weapons at a time which is great. But it isn't just the weapons that allow you to tap into the power fantasy of being an Ultramarine. Their are a great wealth of tools that come with the Ultramarine trade like a jetpack which is accessible in certain segments of the game making you feel absolute juggernaut, where you can hover over your enemies and soar down clashing and obliterating anything that comes between your feet and the floor. Seriously it is incredible. It's unreal, and even with my amount of minimal knowledge of the 40k universe there are tons of neat little references and tools that are put to use, that fit the role of the Ultramarines, like you get the protective Iron Halo attachment.

Performance

My one biggest grievance or issue that I have with the original Space Marine package is how with its anniversary edition it is difficult to get running on modern PC’s with continuous crashes before I could get to the main menu, I was able to eventually get the game running through finding a DLL file through Github which got it running. However, your mileage may vary, but that was my experience and even after I got the game running there were still moments where the game would crash. It honesty was a hurdle though and if you're playing this on PC and are just wanting to play a game that has no hassle or setup or aren't up for potentially trying to get the game up and running, then I'd be cautious before committing to picking this one up on PC.

The game itself however once you’re able to get it functioning outside the mentioned crashes, does run well with a steady frame rate, and no major bugs, soft locks or major issues.

The Legacy of Space Marine

Space Marine when it released was met with mixed reception on PC and PlayStation with the Xbox 360 generally receiving the more favorable reviews. The game was praised for its gore and how well it blended its hack-n-slash and shooter combat together. What's crazy to me is that this game was originally planned to be a trilogy with two sequels that were planned to come after the release of Space Marine, but unfortunately with the closure of THQ, these two future sequels would never see the light of day. But that doesn't mean that the series would never see a continuation, as you've probably heard or seen in recent months, there was a sequel to Space Marine developed by Saber Interactive and published by Focus Entertainment, and the future of this series is looking like it is in good health and in good hands, but that is the topic for another video, which is in the works.

But the legacy that Space Marine leaves behind is one of the Warhammer 40k video games that was able to release at a time when there weren't as many games really exploring the expansive universe of 40k, and it was able to borrow mechanics and ideas that were popular at the time, but still carve out its own identity and be satisfying to play for the 8 hour duration that this campaign runs for. It is a 40k game that was able to be looked back upon fondly by many who played it and is in large part a reason why many yearned for a sequel and cheered when the eventual revival would arrive. I'm sure much like its successor, many Warhammer fans were born from experiencing this video game, and I can see why.

Conclusion

To bring this video to a close, Warhammer 40k Space Marine was a great experience that has aged well as a video game, but as a PC game may be hard to get up and running. Once you overcome the hurdle of getting into the game, you'll be in for an action adventure that is jam packed full of the gore, the action and violence that the futuristic grim dark universe calls for. There is a a wealth of weapons and tools that tap into the power fantasy of being an Ultramarine and harken back to the third person action shooters of the 2010's. If you're wondering if it is still worth experiencing in an age where we have Space Marine 2, I would still give you a resounding yes, and with that I'll see you in the next video.

Thanks for Watching.