A new kind of trip into the World of Warhammer!
This may come as nothing new, but the storyline isn't exactly strong, in fact it's pretty rubbish – at least, so far. You play the role as Captain Titus, one of the commanding fighters of the Ultramarines, and must carry out a set of missions in an effort to stop the Ork Uprising and claim victory for the day. Titus' personality is somewhat one-dimensional, but he still has that awesome true Space Marine look with a good IQ and a genuine voice to the God Emperor with his deep tone and Posh British accent. You can always just get the strong feeling that despite how violent and death-filling this war is, there is a thirst of patriotism as you fight to serve the Emperor.
Even though this is Relic's own new engine, the feel is similar to Gears of War in its controls, but don't quote me on that as it is a hundred times better from that certain game which, although unforgettably fun, did nothing new to the TPS genre at all. As least here, WH40K has a class of its own. There's no cover system and with such awesome combat controls, you wouldn't really want there to be one. There could've been more variation of Counter-kills and a bit more variety of decapitation, but even then the combat is satisfyingly brutal just as you would want it to be. And the (only) ability to regain health by inflicting these stylistic executions is a nice new addition. The guns pack just enough punch, but it's the melee combat that will get right up your alley. Also, who cannot forget those awesome Jump-Packs? They were just such an excellent addition I couldn't help ending up hoping I would see A LOT more of them later on the game.
These are the most important stuff for a WH40K game by Relic. Not only the awesome gameplay, but the developer, as usual, has crafted a fantastic world making you really feel a part of Warhammer and I don't think any other VG developer could do much better. Even though, the paths are generally very linear – with the exception of Jump-Pack moments, and even then it's just wider paths – the environments look really stunning with beautiful backdrops, and dynamic and hearing that that was one of Relic's biggest intentions to ace, I have to say Congrats to them! On the smaller side of positivity, the music and sound effects are appropriate and contribute well enough to the experience.
But while it does so many things well, there's just something missing. It is not that there is anything questionably bad about this game, but rather that more could have been done for a few things. For starters, there are a few missions that stand out, but despite all being fun they are often very generic. Secondly, the graphics look artistically great, but so consolized on the technical side. The customization options are quite minimal as far as I have discovered, which makes the rather high price for this game not too fitting for PC Gamers. I also mentioned before about how the backdrops are stunning and because they are, you can't help feeling that they should have made the environments bigger, considering the low graphics quality and big environments being what we fans had in the RTS's.
None of this takes away from the special fun you endure in this violent action game. Did this game deliver on what the previews had been promising, it certainly has. You can expect endless and agelessly enjoyable carnage along a rather engaging single-player campaign. There have been many games this year that we have been anticipating and looking forward to, and this is one of them. The (only) pricing I have seen, which is on Steam, is kind of outrageous but it's still a fantastic game that needs to be played sooner or later. Nevertheless, from looking at things like the dated graphics and stuff, I just feel that the wait is a bit overdue for a game like this.