Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Hands-On Preview
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 or as the team in Saber Interactive likes to call it, Space Marine II is the action-packed sequel to the 2011 third-person shooter hack-n-slash title that turned new heads toward Warhammer 40,000 franchise. As one of the highly anticipated games of 2024, let’s have a look at what Space Marine II has to offer.
The story picks up not exactly where we were left off since now a century has passed since commander Titus faced off against the orcs in the first game. Demoted in rank as a consequence of what happened at the end of the first game, he has to fight a new galactic threat to prove his loyalty to the emperor once again. The two missions available during the preview were chosen by the devs and did not represent the chronological order of the story, but the setting seems compelling enough to encourage gamers to sit through it; especially those who played the first game and want to know Titus’ fate after the events of the first game.
The gameplay on the other hand is pretty clear to explain. Space Marine 2 tries to improve upon the third-person shooter elements of the first game with more focus on melee fights. Titus and the two ultra marines accompanying him wield a sword and a rifle for short- and long-range combat superiority. Multiple types of guns and swords are available that prioritize speed over raw damage or vice versa. Melee combos can break enemy defense or hit them with a splash damage area attack that’s great for crowd control. The best new combat feature is perhaps the ability to parry enemy melee attacks. This opens the enemy up for critical shots that deal massive damage.
Titus can also use different abilities based on story-driven gameplay scenarios such as jetpacks or damage buffs. In a general sense, Space Marine II looks like the gorier, bigger, and more explosive version of the first game; especially due to the new enemy faction that Titus and his unit are facing. Tyranids are the new threat to the empire. They are intelligent insectoid species that obey a hive mind and try to conquer human colonies; something like the Zerg from StarCraft. Due to their insectoid nature, they attack in hordes, and fighting them creates an intense, action-packed gameplay routine.
Space Marine II also comes with a PvE multiplayer mode called “Operations”. Players can form a squad of three ultra marines and deploy to different locations in order to complete lengthy and multi-staged military scenarios. Completing missions in “Operations” mode awards players with XP that can be used to buy cosmetics or upgrade weapons and abilities. To put it simply, “Operations” is like a smaller version of Hell Divers II.
Final thoughts?
Space Marine II looks like a decent sequel to continue Titus’ story. The combat feels satisfying and the couple of missions I experienced had enough variety in its gameplay scenarios to keep me hyped for the full release. There were some optimization issues for me, however I’m sure the devs are planning to address it before September 9th and the game’s official release.
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