(Recent information seems to suggest that this games development either did originate in THQ Australia and was switched to Relic, but other sites claim that it is a new game being build from the ground up by Relic and the aforementioned THQ version was nixed and development was stopped, rest assured I am searching for a solid source so that I can give you the accurate explanation, I will try to reach Relic with a question but I do not hope for much with it being so close to E3. As soon as the truth is definate I will post it here)
So conspicuously just a day or two after I posed the question of what had happened to the game Space Marine that we hadn’t seen anything of in a year?
Well today the game was officially announced along with some surprising and heartening news, the game development has switched from THQ Australia to Relic who are a little more familiar with the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The former brawler seems to have switched to a more familiar action RPG. If you ask my opinion it seems to look like a mixture or God of War and the recent Dawn of War 2. I could go on and on about Space Marines themselves but I will save you my nerdom and instead go through a quick run through of what I expect/hope for in this game.
I will start this by saying that quite simply 40k buffs will always enjoy a game like this more than your average critic or consumer who hasn’t had this kind of exposure to the genre. Anyone who knows Warhammer 40,000 knows about the Space Marines, giant 9 foot tall super soldiers who invented the idea of power armor. I mean Master Chief can have his flimsy spartan armor, I’d rather take a suit of 9 foot tall 6 inch thick ceramite armor with the ability to put my fist clear up the business end of a tank (Man I kinda feel like a fanboy right now).
The fiction of 40k shows these monstrous men routing whole armies with a mere hundred or so men, and yet the carnage they can supposedly create has never quite translated into any 40k game to date to the level it exists in the canon. That’s where the majority of my excitement comes from because this game seems to finally have that carnage in mind. For the rest of you, imagine God of War with more Sci-Fi and bad ass. I’m sure many a fan is looking forward to putting his emperor guided blade straight up the arse of the nearest ork you see.
Downfalls this game could suffer are numerous and many of you already know about. It could become too much of a ridiculous tedious challenge in its button mashing, or lack any diversity in it’s level design and enemy design like say Too Human suffered from. So instead I’ll talk about a couple of things I fear from this as a 40k fan. Trust me these could also affect how the game appeals to average gamers.
My greatest fear is an over saturation of grimdark story. If the majority of you reading who aren’t familiar with 40k reading this didn’t understand what I just said then it illustrates my fear all the more. While I cannot deny that I would love to have a game that is as deep in 40k canon as many fans hope it will be, I know enough about video games to say that this would ruin its appeal to the average gamer. It doesn’t mean that it won’t have an indepth story, it just means that if it is as in depth as I fear it could be then very few people would understand a word said.
The second thing I fear is that it will rely more on RPG elements like DPS and stats then pure balls to the wall action. While it’s been done before superbly before in games like Fallout 3, I feel like games like Fallout are more of a rarity then a tried and true method. I mean for Bethesda it may be tried and true, but in my opinion there are few developers on par with Bethesda when it comes to RPG in a western fashion. Once again I must mention that for the person whose played the actual tabletop game of 40k then this might not be a problem but that’s more to do with their background with the game then any critical acclaim the game could possibly earn.
I really feel a sense of opportunity for this game that is despairingly uncommon in 40k games outside of the Dawn of War franchise. Firewarrior on the PS2 was pretty hated by critics for being all around mediocre, while die hard fans loved it for the opportunity of immersion in the Imperium of Man. This has pretty much defined 40k games over the years up until Dawn of War and I sincerely hope that Space Marine can keep up the trend of critically acclaimed 40k games. This is why I feel a little more at ease with the game resting comfortably in the arms of Relic which is undoubtedly under the stern watch of Games Workshop to keep it 40k.
P.S I almost hope that my recent email to THQ Australia and THQ America may have prompted this announcement, but I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the case.
Until then FOR THE EMPEROR!
-Ichi
P.S Check the Videos Section for the First Trailer
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