Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Review

I was halfway through the opening level of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2's campaign, firing off bolt rifle bursts with my two teammates, when I found myself smiling at how good it feels to be back in this futuristic, gritty battle. It's been over a decade since the original, but Space Marine 2 reinvigorates the team-based shooter series with seemingly no effort. The environments are varied and stunning, the running and gunning feels great, and the sense of camaraderie when fighting alongside your team, be they bots or friends, can be exhilarating. It may not break much new ground in its genre, but it didn't need to for me to have a lot of fun playing through the twelve-hour campaign.

Let's get this clear right from the start: the original Space Marine was clearly inspired by Gears of War, and this sequel follows suit. It's a shooter with heavily armored guys who growl their dialogue while either firing guns or wailing chainswords to fend off invading aliens. The similarities don't bother me one bit (especially when you could argue that Gears borrowed from Warhammer first). It's been years since I've played a game that satisfied that particular appeal, and Space Marine 2 uses the rich lore of Warhammer 40k to carve out its own identity. That goes for both the extensive campaign, which can be played solo or in co-op, and two additional modes that let you upgrade your weapons and customize your armor between rounds, designed to keep you coming back even after the credits roll.

The campaign puts you back in the formidable shoes of Demetrian Titus, the hero of the first game. It picks up over a hundred years later and tells you everything you need to know, whether you played the original or not. Despite the century-long hiatus, not much has changed for our grumpy hero since we last saw him. He's still a seasoned, gravelly-voiced soldier who doesn't seem to have aged at all thanks to his genetically-engineered longevity. He's spent the last century serving in the Deathwatch chapter of the Space Marines, who go on the most dangerous missions. After an intense opening level where you use a “virus bomb,” you'll be rewarded for your bravery and dedication by being reinstated as a blue-armored Ultramarine.

The story is more than serviceable and moves at a brisk pace, sending your squad to interesting locations on several planets. There are a few twists and turns that take them to surprising places, and there are even some intriguing conflicts within the squad to spice things up. Still, the whole thing is pretty monotonous: it's all very serious. I understand there's a war going on and lives are at stake, but just a dash of humor – even the gallows humor that many other 40k games use – would have added a welcome extra dimension.

You'll be accompanied on your missions by two teammates, who are bots by default, but you can also invite friends to take their place. The bots are useful companions who can do their part to fend off enemies and revive you if you fall in battle. But as with most games of this type, it's more fun to play with friends, who you can coordinate from your home base, known as the Battle Barge.

The Orks from the first Space Marine are gone, and in their place is humanity's newest intergalactic enemy: the Tyranids. These alien monstrosities come in many forms, from giant carnifex beasts to hordes of smaller creatures that look like xenomorphs or velociraptors. Some can fly, while others swarm along the ground and pile on top of each other to scale cliffs and attack you and the rest of the Imperial Guard forces. You'll also encounter other enemy types as the campaign progresses, which provides enough variety that I rarely got bored blasting them to bits with an array of Imperial and alien weapons.

It's a good thing the firearms and melee weapons feel good, because that's what you'll be spending most of your time with in Space Marine 2. You can customise your loadout between missions, choosing a primary weapon, sidearm and melee accessory at the start. You'll also find plenty of weapon caches scattered throughout the levels, letting you use flamethrowers, plasma blasters, sniper rifles, energy swords and all manner of explosives, from sticky bombs to shock grenades that trigger an electric area effect. There's a weapon for every type of encounter – although you usually don't know what to expect when you have to choose. There are frequent checkpoints, though, so you can make a more informed decision next time you get wiped out.

Hitting an enemy with one of these weapons will splatter blood in a satisfying way. Larger enemies on the brink of death will flash red to indicate that you can execute them with a gruesome finishing move. Executions will recharge your shields, which is helpful, and you can pick up Medicae Stimms to heal or activate Titus' special ability, Righteous Fury, which increases your health bar while you slice through enemies with your melee weapon. I always like it when health recovery in a shooter is tied to hurting your enemies.

In fact, Space Marine 2 feels great to move around in. You're a bulky, heavily armoured soldier, and walking feels appropriately clunky – but your character is also more nimble than in the previous game, so the weight never gets in the way. It feels just right.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the original Space Marine was its drab color palette of browns and grays – an unwise trend of the era in which it came out. Thankfully, that trend was abandoned in favor of much more colorful and vibrant environments in the sequel. Some levels have you trudging through alien worlds that are green and purple and littered with alien flora. Others are set in towering urban areas filled with gothic buildings with stained glass windows. Wherever your squad is deployed, the artistic design is consistently stunning and beautiful enough to justify leaving the previous generation of consoles behind.

Most areas are active war zones, with human soldiers fighting hordes of enemies in the foreground and background. Sometimes you'll follow a tank through the ruins of a city, supporting squads of Astra Militarum soldiers. Other times you'll see flying Tyranids zooming through the sky like a Flock of starlings while entire platoons of soldiers fire projectiles at them. More than most military games, Space Marine 2 makes you feel like there is actually a war going on and you are just part of the action. I don't usually like taking screenshots, but here I switched to photo mode in almost every level to capture the beauty.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 gameplay screenshots