Platform(s): PC (version reviewed), Xbox Series, PlayStation 5
Genre: Action, Beat-em-Up, Third-Person Shooter, Scifi, Warhammer 40K

The Warhammer 40K series is basically scifi over-the-top tropes, magic, and eternal warfare all rolled into one expanding universe filled with humans in powersuits and aliens fighting each other. Basically the perfect fodder for game adaptations. None is more apparent than Warhammer 40K Space Marine back in 2011 where the game answers the question “How powerful are Space Marines in combat?” with a resounding “Yes”. Imagine a slightly mobile tank with legs equipped with chainsaw-sword hybrids and guns aplenty; that’s a Space Marine in the 40K universe in a nutshell.

Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2, its sequel in the year of our Emperor of Mankind, is more of the same and made better to space marine boot. That’s all I ever want out of an action game sequel, plus the current-age visuals and scale to match.

Blue Man Group

As soon as you start off as a random Space Marine Kill Squad commander knee-deep in a space jungle filled with Zergs, I mean Tyranids, you see the game’s definition of scale: it’s huge, epic, and mimics actual warfare in the most extreme way possible. It’s also brutally violent, as you swing your chainsaw sword into fleshy Tyranid parts and perform finishers to replenish your armour, staying alive in the impending onslaught of aliens and heretics.

This generation’s triple-A budgets allow for massive hordes of enemies to be on-screen and assaulting your squad of death machines. Think your Musou games but made by Europeans and with over-the-top scifi aesthetics and war-heavy ensembles. Not only does this impress during the course of the 10-hour campaign you’ll be going through, but it’s all impressively detailed. This is the kind of action game PCs are built for, with graphical options aplenty and even a Photo mode to capture your kills with loads of filters to play around with. Fair warning; I’ve heard reports of the game overheating PCs when running on the highest settings possible, so overclock your rig with care.

Story-wise, the campaign pits you in the shoes of Lieutenant Titus, free from serving his sentence following the actions he did in the first game and carrying on with a new mission involving Tyranid extermination and Chaos Marines nonsense. It’s just an excuse to kill enemies in a series of missions -offensive and defensive “hold the fort” or “protect targets” with your squad mates Gadriel and Chairon. However, the game put thought and care with continuity and keeping the tone of the story serious and emanating a Band of Brothers but scifi narrative flow (and British accents), with said squad mates curious about Titus’ disposition. It’s serviceable and will sate Warhammer 40K fans. You may need to know what happened in the first game for additional context, as the sequel just jumps straight into the fray.

The campaign will take you through some impressive space war vistas, a number of action moments, and a buttload of aliens to kill. While the missions aren’t chock-filled with variety, the act of killing is just fun. The controls are spot-on, you get a number of defensive options like dodging and parrying, and your weapons range from mid-ranged assault rifles to laser guns, to even flamethrowers. On the melee side, you get the quick Space Marine knife, the aforementioned Chainsword that’s clearly the best all-rounder melee, the Power Sword that lets you switch between duel stance or AoE stance, and the Sledge Hammer that just wrecks enemies in droves with slams and lightning-powered ground pounds.

The Tyranids and heretics pose quite a challenge, as they have strength in numbers and some tricks up their sleeves like burrowing-slash-sneak attacks, invisibility, long-ranged sniping, teleportation, or hallucination magic to disorient you. It’s clearly no easy feat, but the challenge gradually bumps up so you can get the hang of the combat while getting tested in later stages. All this calcavades in a mess of action fun and cathartic third-person shooting, slamming and slashing foes while headshotting nearby mobs. And when you get the Space Marine jetpacks to slam down enemies from the sky with a ground pound melee attack? That never gets old.

What does get old eventually is the gun selection; I could use more shotgun and laser weapon variants instead of more assault rifles and scout rifles. Thankfully they feel and sound good to use and pop alien heads with.

Fun With Friends

The action doesn’t stop at the campaign. Space Marine 2 boasts online play as you can play either Player VS Enemy or Player VS Player modes. PvE is called Operations, where you and your friends control a secondary squad to complete Titus’ objectives that help push the campaign missions to a favourable outcome. You have a variety of classes to pick, from the offense-heavy Vanguard to the defense-focused Bulwark. You get a ton of perks to customize your class with, as well as weapons to outfit them, then enter the missions involving killing aliens and securing objectives with pals. This special co-op mode is really fun with people and gets hectic action-wise, with my sessions being very stable most of the time. You’d be surprised how many hours of co-op with random players eat up most of my Space Marine 2 time.

Mixing and matching the best Classes is part of the fun as you figure out the best synergy for each Operations mission, while also seeing the fight through different perspectives as they link up with the campaign. I’m a fan of the Vanguard class (maybe because of the Mass Effect series since it has a class of the same name) because its Grapnel Launcher lets you get into and out of combat easily while you dish out the hit-and-run hurt. Plus, you can customize your Space Marine with as many colours as possible, giving you opportunities to pimp out and fashionably stand out in a series known for war and garish gritty aesthetics.

The PvP mode, Eternal War, pits you in a 6v6 Space Marine battle where you complete objectives and kill each other in three game modes and a number of maps. It’s got its moments, as you can sort out the best class combination to beat the opposition. Pity the maps aren’t that interesting as it’s just boxy arenas with different coats of paint. Still two out of three modes ain’t bad at all.

For The Emperor!

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is the quintessential scifi action game experience you need to tune to if you fancy bloodshed, some co-op and PvP, and an all-round great-to-control 3D beat-em-up with solid gunplay. It’s brutal, it’s meaningfully paced and weighty to play through, and will serve as a capstone for those who followed the story of Titus back in 2011 during the Xbox 360 generation. This one stands alongside Warhammer 40K Dark Tide and Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader as quality license games that uses its source material to the fullest, blood and all. A god emperor-worthy sequel to a 2011 gem, long story short.

Pros

• Incredibly satisfying combat and controls for a giant walking suit of death.
• Campaign is packed with action moments and perfect wartime scale.
• Online co-op and PvP mode adds more replayability.
• Awesome dark and gritty visuals & audiowork.

Cons

• Needs more weapon & mission variety.
• No quick recap of the first game to keep you up to speed.

Final Score: 80/100