Bringing the hammer down, slowly.
Starting off with the campaign, you only get 2 weapons; a pistol, and a small sword. The game throws a bunch of enemies at you in generous amounts, and you pretty much decimate them as one would expect; sheer force. Mastering the controls requires pretty much no effort; the game is fairly simple in how it handles weapons and movement. It's what you'd expect from either of the two genres that were blended in here; an action game and a TPS. Like I said, both of these elements are about as basic as they get, and the only thing that keeps them from being completely primitive is the slight variety that's available in selection of weapons. Throughout the game, you acquire man different weapons to use. You can only carry 4 weapons at a time, and weapons are supplied in different quantities among the many areas of the game.
The game doesn't really encourage experimentation, but you will definitely get to use every weapon a few times before you find out what really suits your tastes. Each weapon is different enough that different situations will usually call for different weapons to be used. Such weapons include the Vengeance Launcher, which fires mines, the Plasma Rifle, which is pretty much the equivalent to Halo's Focus Rifle, except with blue dust, and many more. It's pretty much the only incentive for one to keep pressing forward in the campaign. Between the repetitive environments, forgettable story, and slow pace, if the weapons hadn't had any variety, this would've been the blandest game to come out this year.
You also get upgrades to Captain Titus himself. These upgrades are definitely helpful in your main game, and the further you go, the more these upgrades seem to help. What I find really valiant on Relic's part is that they break these upgrades up amongst the numerous chapters in the game quite well. The game definitely tries to mix things up, while adding something with every corridor that you traverse. It's something that I can commend, but at the end of the day, these upgrades don't really change the game up all too much. I suppose, for what it's worth, it keeps the games main mechanics in place, and keeps the game rolling. This could be taken either way, depending on how much you enjoy the game.
The overall design of the campaign is very much like the way that the gunplay and action play out; very simplistic. There is very little in the way of interesting set-pieces, and it's mostly just wide open areas filled with Orks of only a few types. The game is really stingy with its enemy types, and it doesn't really mix up until the final few hours of the game. Up until those last few hours, you only fight the same 5 enemies over and over again. There are a ton of them too, and there are only a few boss fights in the game to really break up the monotony. So we have unimpressive level design coupled with monotonous enemies and action, which adds up to a game that'll eventually drag on, depending on when smashing in Orks becomes boring. The good thing about that is that smashing Orks is entertaining as hell, so the game is perfect in small doses. I think what I did wrong was playing the whole campaign in two sittings.
The campaign lasts quite a while, but it does drag in its final hours. Thanks to the co-op element that was added into the game in October, you can now play the game with a friend online or off. Like any game, playing with a friend greatly breaks up the monotony. You have to get it online though, but thankfully it's free. You can also go back to the campaign for many of the achievements that you definitely missed, and collectible audio logs that are scattered amongst the nearly 30 acts the game gives. Other than that, once the campaign is finished, you probably won't find yourself willingly playing it.
As for actual play, well, it's kind of hard to explain. As I've mentioned, there are two different genres that seem to be seamlessly linked in the creation of this game. The melee action seems derived from such action games like Devil May Cry and God of War, while the shooting in the game is similar to what's offered in the Gears of War series. The main problem I have with this is not that it lacks originality, but that it isn't as fleshed out as it should've been.
The melee combat is about as shallow as it gets, and there really isn't much to the gunplay, other than shooting, falling back to recover health, and repeating. It's about as shallow as any other TPS you'll play of this brutal nature, but it really hurts here because of the developers efforts in meshing a half-baked melee component into a TPS that doesn't have that great of shooting or weapons. The movement is kind of stiff. Sprinting isn't as loose as one would expect, and trying to move your ass around to different cover spots can sometimes be pretty frustrating.
But I do have to say, this game is damn satisfying. The sheer amount of blood that is being spilt on screen reminds you of how much carnage these Space Marines cause when Orks are all up in their planets. Between the many execution moves, the melee combat, and the heavy weapons, this game will definitely get a rise out of your competitive and light hearted sides. And it's really a shame too, because if this game hadn't dragged on, and had more in the ways of variety, then this would've been one of the funnest games I'd have played all year.
One thing that I appreciate about the combat is the segments in the campaign where you actually get a jet-pack. Needless to say, the game goes from fairly slow, to frenetic, and very exciting. All of the problems with the movement and the simplicity of the gunplay and melee seem to just vanish once you get into the arm-straps of these awesome contraptions. Then the game just pulls the plug on your fun when it's either "out of fuel" or "not suitable for the environment". They're sprinkled in the game, but not very generously. When you reach these points, enjoy them as much as you can; they're about as close as you'll get to legitimate gameplay variety. It teases at a concept that could've carried the game a hell of a lot further.
And of course, to complement the single-player, multi-player weasels its way into the fray. But it's such a breath of fresh air that it isn't a total waste of time. Surprisingly, there's actually a lot to it, that'll definitely appeal to those who very much enjoy the mechanics of the game. There are a total of 41 levels to go through, with their being generous amounts of unlockables as you go through. As for the actual gameplay in the multiplayer, it's basically what you'd expect. You start off with weak weapons, and as you level, you get new weapons and armor to use. If anything, the multiplayer is pretty much standard at this point. It's not bad, but it wasn't good enough for me to fully invest my time into it. If it's your thing though, then you should definitely check it out, it's added value that I won't complain about.
While I didn't really invest much time in the multiplayer, I still had a fun time with it overall, and that's the key idea of video-games: fun. This game almost had it, but it barely missed it's mark from being considered flat-out good. The visuals are sub-par, and the level design can be pretty monotonous at times, but at its core, it's just a fun, simple shooter with a nice multiplayer component and some other reasons to come back. If you can find this game for 30 bucks or so, then it's definitely worth the warrant; there are Orks to be smashed and guns to be shot, although I can imagine there being way better places to do that last part.
+ A new look at the Warhammer universe, with surprisingly vast results
+ Lengthy single player campaign with plenty of reasons to come back to it
+ Solid core mechanics and weapon choices
+ Fun multiplayer
+ Jetpacks.
-Lacks any originality in gameplay
-Story is underwhelming and silly
-Monotonous design, especially towards the end of the game
-Besides the ridiculous amount of blood, the visuals are boring.
Review by Cal Burkhart