“Within the grim darkness of the far future, there’s solely warfare.” So goes the notorious Warhammer 40,000 opening display, however if you wish to perceive Warhammer 40k: House Marine 2, it isn’t the far future to which you will need to journey. As an alternative, you will need to journey to the not-so-distant previous.
Particularly, you need to return to the seventh console technology, the times of the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. That is the place House Marine 2 dwells, which is suitable sufficient given it is the sequel to a sport from that very period.
Not like the Tyranids that Demetrian Titus faces, House Marine 2 appears pretty content material not evolving too considerably. It presents the identical type of hack-and-slash-come-shooter thrills you may discover within the unique, however there are a couple of new quirks right here that alter the components, for higher and for worse.
Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2 Feels Like a Throwback
Just about each side of House Marine 2 appears like a callback to the period that spawned its progenitor.
It is acquired every thing you’d count on from an early-2010s third-person shooter: boxy, two-dimensional degree design, a Halo-style regenerating armor system, and large manly males in energy armor murdering scores upon scores of monstrosities.
I will attempt to keep away from beginning each sentence on this evaluation with “very like the primary sport”, nevertheless it’ll be troublesome, as a result of House Marine 2 typically comes throughout like extra of a remake than a sequel, albeit one with Tyranids rather than the primary sport’s Orks.
In the event you’ve performed House Marine, you may know the drill. You and your two House Marine buddies should journey to numerous huge, imposing Imperial amenities to dispatch droves of Tyranids in fight that veers between ranged blasting and up-close-and-personal chainsword pace relationship.
You will have quite a lot of weapons to select from, however you possibly can solely carry two weapons at a time (plus, sometimes, a 3rd heavy weapon), and your aims are just about solely “press that button”, “fall off that ledge”, or “trip that elevator”.
I am on file as a fan of throwback Xbox 360-era shooters, although; I used to be an enormous fan of Evil West, and so it is no shock that House Marine 2 supplied related comforts. For all its flaws (and it has many), I loved immersing myself within the nostalgia of a bygone period with Saber and Focus’ sport.
Very like with Evil West, House Marine 2’s lack of contemporary trappings reads like a refreshing return to fundamentals. You will not discover a ability tree (besides within the multiplayer mode), and there is not any open world to be seen. As an alternative, it is simply you, your enemies, and the holy wargear blessed by the Emperor.
Fight in Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2 is Enjoyable, however Awkward
That is to not say there’s nothing new right here in any respect. Whereas the fight intently resembles that of the unique Warhammer 40k: House Marine, Saber has seen match to throw in a few improvements, not least a system that has you dodging and parrying enemies primarily based on coloured prompts.
This technique is probably the most important change from the unique, so I am unhappy to report that it by no means fairly felt proper to me.
When a very massive Tyranid (or Chaos Marine afterward) approaches with designs in your gene-seed, they will throw out assaults that should both be dodged or parried, which typically works high-quality while you’re one-on-one.
The issue right here is that is probably not how House Marine 2’s fight works. At any given second, you may be dealing with off in opposition to scores upon scores of slavering monsters, and expecting parry or dodge symbols in chaos (no pun meant) like that’s troublesome.
There’s additionally the difficulty that to be able to lend a way of weight to proceedings, your House Marines’ assaults are heavy and ponderous, which implies you may typically be locked into animations and blindsided by a parry or dodge immediate you have acquired no means of responding to.
In follow, I discovered that this method resulted in simply ready for enemies to strike and reacting appropriately, which did not really feel very ‘House Marine’. I am alleged to be charging in for the glory of the Emperor, not gloomily hoping Lictor-senpai will discover me so I can return its flirtations.
Fortunately, hacking via hordes of Tyranids or Chaos cultists nonetheless feels nice. The chainsword nonetheless packs an actual punch, and the bolters really feel precisely as heavy and impactful as they need to, which is an enormous plus in House Marine 2’s favor.
If House Marine 2 had leant additional into its energy fantasy strengths and ditched the parry system, I might be wholeheartedly recommending it. Because it stands, although, this method feels to me like a wierd, clunky imposition fairly than a game-changer.
Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2 Has a Nice Sense of Place
Between fights in House Marine 2, you may principally be wandering via ruined industrial amenities, non secular buildings, and swampy jungles. There’s not rather a lot to do while you’re not carving up enemies, however that feels applicable; these are the Emperor’s chosen, in any case. They are not administrative assistants.
Developer Saber has accomplished an important job of rendering 40k’s oppressive, nearly comically brutal world writ massive. Interiors have that distinctive 40k mixture of claustrophobia and grandiosity, and when issues open up, a few of House Marine 2’s vistas are really jaw-dropping.
The characters, too, look nice. Titus and his Ultramarine compatriots really feel like strolling fits of armor, tech-priests look appropriately alien, and when Chaos Marines be a part of the fray, the alien otherness of the Immaterium feels genuinely intimidating.
In the event you love the immersive, dirty maps of Warhammer 40k: Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters, and even the chilly industrial environments of one thing like Mechanicus, you then’ll probably respect what Saber and Focus have accomplished with House Marine 2’s worlds.
It is a good factor the environments look so fairly, too, as a result of the story that takes place in them is totally unremarkable and bog-standard. Titus stays a reasonably flat and boring protagonist, and the most effective House Marine 2 can handle when it comes to character arcs is the outdated, drained “I’ve come to belief you as my chief” trope.
To be honest to Saber and Focus, a few of that’s right down to the fabric. House Marines aren’t precisely essentially the most thrilling characters within the 40k setting, in any case; they’re stoic fascist enforcers, so clearly, they are not going to be cracking smart each jiffy.
Nonetheless, I really feel like House Marine 2 is much less participating on this degree than its predecessor. That will even be right down to the selection of enemies. Tyranids are a lot much less charismatic than Orks, so it is much less enjoyable to chop via their ranks.
On that entrance, there is a very, very merciless tease in the direction of the tip of the story that threatens to make issues much more fascinating, however House Marine 2 is over earlier than it will probably go anyplace with stated tease. Higher look ahead to House Marine 3, I suppose…
Strive To not Play Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2 Alone
All through everything of House Marine 2, I acquired the sense that Saber and Focus actually, actually did not need me to play alone.
The marketing campaign presents help for 2 additional gamers who take the roles of Titus’ squadmates Gadriel and Chairon, and there are additionally a spread of additional missions designed to fill in a few of the gaps in House Marine 2’s story (simply six at time of writing, however extra are promised).
Whereas the marketing campaign can largely be loved solo, these aforementioned missions just about carry the prerequisite of enjoying with others. It is attainable to expertise them with bots at your aspect, however they’re clearly designed for multiplayer.
House Marine 2 positions these missions as non-obligatory, however provided that they characteristic complete boss encounters that you just will not discover in the primary marketing campaign, I’ve a sinking suspicion they have been minimize from the story to be able to shore up the multiplayer providing.
The missions themselves are completely high-quality. They provide extra of House Marine 2’s indiscriminate xenos homicide, and there aren’t many cutscenes to interrupt the motion both.
The aforementioned distinctive encounters are additionally nice; they play to House Marine 2’s strengths, though they, too, are higher with different gamers fairly than bots.
I am simply undecided how a lot longevity House Marine 2 has as a reside service-adjacent sport.
Focus and Saber have promised it would characteristic no microtransactions, and a strong roadmap has additionally been put in place for the subsequent yr. Six missions feels a contact paltry, although, and I can see gamers getting bored with House Marine 2’s simple, no-frills motion earlier than the 2 studios would possibly envisage.
Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2 Assessment | Closing Ideas
By no means was a sport extra appropriately named than Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2. It feels very very like “one other House Marine sport”, so for those who loved what the primary one needed to provide, you may most likely get together with this one as effectively.
That does, nevertheless, immediate the query of whether or not ready 13 years for one thing that feels so much like its predecessor was value it. I am an enormous fan of the primary House Marine, however actually, I hoped for a little bit extra motion than this.
Nonetheless, House Marine 2 has its thrills. At its finest, it is uncomplicated, horde-slaying enjoyable, and it presents a fascinatingly well-rendered have a look at the 40k universe. That could be sufficient for you, and in that case, you may discover rather a lot to love right here.
Warhammer 40,000: House Marine 2 was reviewed on PC with a duplicate offered by the developer over the course of round 14 hours of gameplay – all screenshots have been taken in the course of the strategy of evaluation.
