Critical Miss: Space Marine

[Aprilgold]

I don't care, where else can I use a chainsaw sword and a gun that sounds like a gun thats used by people in construction jobs to rip and tear the whole civilizations to death. Seriously, it just makes you feel POWERFUL that game.

Combat could of done with more strategy, space marines aren't half as invincible as they are in this game either, a cover system would of been nice actually, marines get a 3+ armour save but cover save is needed against weapons like plasma cannons, which aren't half as fast as they are portrayed to be in the game either, they weren't even as fast in Dawn of War

You're hardly invincible, especially not on Hard, and you are a Captain. Last I checked in the rules, they have considerably more perks than your average marine.

I'm going to back up with emperor her, look at what Marcus wears, then look at what Cap' wears, which one is wearing the equilvilent OF A FUCKING TANK for their day job. If they added cover, they would have been a gears clone for gods sake. From a outsiders perspective, if I AM A WALKING TANK, I SHOULDN'T NEED COVER! In the demo, I died a few times for being careless.
The "YOU NEVHA DIE" complaint doesn't fly with this game.

 

[The Funslinger]

It's great for people like me, who thrive on unjust mockery of people's hard work

No wonder you like Mock the week. In the way merchandising, can we have critical miss sniper scopes?

Personally, I'd like him to publish a novella explaining the back story behind that blonde kid's teeth.

 

[Karma168]

Space marine could of been so much better, I still enjoy it but it could of been so much more, There was a part when I found an "experimental weapon" which annoyed me because there are no such things, all the weapons are relics that are maintained, there is no "Emperor R&D" section in the mechanicum it's kind of forbidden.

Getting the bit about the self propelled rounds right then missing that was kind of sloppy imo.

The gameplay is a bit sloppy to, to many "press be to complete objective"

Combat could of done with more strategy, space marines aren't half as invincible as they are in this game either, a cover system would of been nice actually, marines get a 3+ armour save but cover save is needed against weapons like plasma cannons, which aren't half as fast as they are portrayed to be in the game either, they weren't even as fast in Dawn of War

If you read the fluff on the Skitarii they are often described as having advanced experimental weaponry. The Mechanicus does have experimental technology, there's just a limit on how far they can diverge from STC tech until it's classed as heretical.

How exactly would you create a 'realistic' bolter round? I can't think of a way it would be animated realistically. At least they remembered the mass reactive part of a bolt round.

I will agree that the plasma weaponry and lascannon were a bit off. The lascannon is meant to destroy armour not be used as a sniper rifle and i could almost shoot a plasma gun as fast as a bolter.

While the gameplay wasn't platinum class it was still fun and considering that this is relatively new ground for Relic it's not surprising that there are a few miss-steps. (their games list http://www.relic.com/games/)

 

[thiosk]

i admit I am like the guy kneeling on the ground. space marine was awesome, but I spend a lot of time thinking about warhammery stuff and reading their books.

Its about "the dance of the chainsword"

nothing else

 

[Bostur]

Space Marine may be an unimaginative brown and grey shooter, but it is well done. The story is above par, better than what most shooters do. And most importantly it feels good to play. The controls are good, the enemies fit the setting, the weapons feel like they should.

Space Marine seems to have received a lot of polish, a rarity in game development and that deserves praise.

 

[RaikuFA]

holy crap that me in the first panel, shirt, coat, beard and commentary

except my hair is black

 

[Cory Rydell]

holy crap that me in the first panel, shirt, coat, beard and commentary

except my hair is black

Im watching youuuuu.... o__o

 

[Stabby Joe]

I'm really enjoying Space Marine at the moment, it really catches the style and mood of 40k. The thing is the style actually IS very different from Gears of War since Gears seems to be trying to shoe horn character drama and ironic comedic sensibilities into what is supposed to be a dark sci-fi setting. The 40k seems to have always dwelled on the bloodshed of war. While the game doesn't have much of a story, I can take it more seriously than most supposed "similar" shooters.

As for the gameplay, I don't really think it's clunky but the issue if it has to be brought up is repetition.

 

[The Random One]

The eldritch apparitions in charge of the Escapist? But I thought Russ had left.

OT: I know what you mean, although my main criticism after playing the Space Marine demo was 'this doesn't seem to run in my computer'. I hate Gears of War, but if there's one thing it did right, was the color pallette. They were going for a devasted, forgotten world, and they got it brilliantly; the GoW world doesn't just look abandoned, it looks bleached, like it's been left to rot.

I agree there's a problem with critics whipping out a list of features they hate instead of giving any actualy criticism, but it stems from devs reading out of a list of features they must put in their game instead of weighting their merits.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I didnt say all people who play 40k are shut ins whose opinions don't count, I'm a Tau player myself. Its just if you met this guy, you'd understand what I mean. Hes about 25 stone, in the shop from 9am to 5:30pm at least 6 days out of 7. So I feel that his opinion on Space Marine being "the best game ever" is biased based on that evidence.

He's a fanboy. His opinion is already biased. Has nothing to do with his weight or lifestyle, my friend.

Also, I was thinking about it - about how Warhammer 40k fanboys will fall at the feet of anything bearing the 40k stigma - but more I think about it, that's not true. Fire Warrior was met with almost unanimous "meh," and Dawn of War II has more than its fair share of Warhammer fanboys who loathe it. I don't think being a Warhammer fanboy means you are blind to seeing if a game bearing the "Warhammer" title is bad or good. It might be "best game ever," as your friend would have you believe, but if it was a bad game, I'm sure he'd let you know that, too. With... typical, reverent passion.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

And as expected, people start bashing XCOM simply for being a shooter and completely miss the point of the comic...

 

[Elf Defiler Korgan]

There needs to be more mockery like this. Good job!

 

[rsvp42]

Fully agreed with the added text. I feel like there's a culture of criticism among gamers that's little more than an attempt at sounding discerning and tasteful. Some critique along these lines is expected, but I think there's a lot of bandwagoning going on as well.

 

[emeraldrafael]

The blonde kids reminds me of Wonderweiss Margela.

...

If you dont know who that is, This is him
<url=http://bleach.wikia.com/wiki/Wonderweiss_Margela>http://images.wikia.com/bleach/en/images/6/60/Wonderweiss_Margera.jpg

 

[Aardvaarkman]

It's just rose-tinted "Things-were-better-in-my-day-get-the-hell-off-my-lawn" fogeyism masquerading as populist criticism,

How does that work? The guy telling people to get off his lawn is supposed to be a cynical curmudgeon. He's looking at the world through murky, cataract-inflicted eyes, not optimistically looking through rose-tinted glasses. That's such a collision of mixed metaphors!

 

[The Wooster]

It's just rose-tinted "Things-were-better-in-my-day-get-the-hell-off-my-lawn" fogeyism masquerading as populist criticism,

How does that work? The guy telling people to get off his lawn is supposed to be a cynical curmudgeon. He's looking at the world through murky, cataract-inflicted eyes, not optimistically looking through rose-tinted glasses. That's such a collision of mixed metaphors!

Well, Rose-tinted refers to how they look at the past, like it was some golden era of game design. I suppose it does kind of clash with the rest of the metaphor. Fuck it, they're rose-tinted bifocals.

 

[TheRundownRabbit]

Hah, thats exactly how my RTS friends act!
And I like the shirt the guy on the left is wearing :3

 

[Iron Lightning]

It's not really fair to criticize the tone and aesthetic of Space Marine for being widely prevalent. Warhammer 40k invented the modern power-armored space marine concept. Criticizing Space Marine on the basis of it all having to do with space marines is kinda like criticizing a new Alien game for having a lot of dark claustrophobia-inducing tunnels.

I also disagree with the comic's statement that Space Marine is a brown-and-gray washed-out game. You spend the entire game looking at a guy in bright blue armor with burnished gold trim for love's sake. The game also cleverly uses to color to differentiate the heavily detailed enemy models on a moment's notice (e.g. brown-shirted Orks (Snake Bites clan) use melee weapons while yellow-colored Orks (Bad Moon clan) use guns.)

 

[rapidoud]

Because basing your gameplay on the source material means you're just copying everyone else. Right. And 'comparing' it to GoW when clearly GoW (and starcraft where zerg = tyranids as well) stole the majority of their material from something decades old is a valid comparison.

These comics are getting worse somehow.

 

[tamerman]

For the Tyranids! Hrikikikikikikiki!