Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 PS5 Review. The Warhammer 40k universe is the most terrifying and satisfying universe one can experience. It’s been thirteen years since Space Marine was released as we took on the role of Titus as his Ultra Marine squad was tasked with helping to stop an Ork invasion. Space Marine was one of the better 40K video games released at the time, and now, more than a decade later, its sequel returns to take that mental back.
Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 PS5 Review
In The 41th Century, There Is Only War
Space Marine 2 drops us back into the shoes of Titus in his new squad, the Deathwatch, a squad specifically established to investigate and hunt down aliens. It just turns out that the Tyranids have begun an invasion of three neighboring planets.
Titus and his squad are sent to the planet to help the local military quell the Tyranid invasion. However, they are overwhelmed by their sheer numbers, and Titus suffers a mortal wound but is reconstructed and genetically modified to save his life. With his strength returned, Titus is given a new squad and returns to the Ultra Marines to stop the Tyranids once and for all.
The story follows the same beats as its predecessor and as such is just as solidly execute, whereby you have an invading force that must be stopped with another force working in the shadows and taking advantage of the chaos. However, one thing that makes the narrative stand out this time is your squad mates.
A Squad Of True Brothers
While the original Space Marines squad mates were decent enough, your teammates Gadriel and Chairon in this sequel add much to the story and how they react to Titus and his decisions. Gadriel is very untrustworthy of Titus because of his past and the secrets he keeps from the squad, while Chairon is a level-headed marine with an absolute distaste for the forces of Chaos.
As the story progresses, you learn more about your squad’s past, and I quickly fell in love with them. Even though Titus is the only one you control in the campaign, I always felt they were just as much the main protagonists as Titus.
Unfortunately, the campaign references many of the events of the original Space Marine. For those who didn’t get a chance to play that game, you’ll likely scratch your heads at moments and even some of the characters that appear. It’s a shame there wasn’t any recap of the original game, as the only console players can experience Space Marine is through a PS3 or Xbox 360.
The campaign itself is pretty solid in terms of pacing and took me about twelve hours to complete. There is some replay if you want to go back through missions, find all the datalinks, and explore the world of Warhammer 40K.
Fast-Paced Combat That Mixes Gun Combat And Melee Action
Combat hasn’t changed much from Space Marine but is much more refined now. Though the game is both a third-person shooter and a melee action game, I found that melee was the way the developers wanted me to play. The game’s various guns never felt like they did a lot of damage.
I would unload almost forty bullets from a Bolter Machine Gun into a Tyranid Prime enemy, hardly causing damage, or I could run up to it and unload a five-hit combo with a Chainsword and take it out.
Futhermore, as the Tyranids come in massive waves, it’s a lot easier to be swarmed by them, forcing you to switch to melee combat. It’s not a problem by any means, as you get a variety of melee weapons from the popular Chainsword, a massive combat knife, and Thunder Hammer.
That’s not to say long-range weapons aren’t helpful. I just found some of them to be questionable. When you’re facing large hoards of Tyranids, I question why I would be using a Sniper Rifle. It also doesn’t help that the stronger Tyranids put up their arms and block attacks from firearms.
Melee Combat Takes The Spotlight Against Tyranid Swarms
As you battle the hoards, you’ll get prompts indicating an attack can be countered, and an uncountable attack is coming. When the attack is blue, pressing the counter button before the attack hits will either deflect the attack from a larger foe or a smaller foe will instantly kill it. Red prompts mean you have to dodge out of the way as the attack can’t be stopped.
Countering these attacks is vital to surviving in Space Marine 2 as it’s a way to regain your shields and health. As you take damage, your health bar will have a white bar to it. If you can pull off an execution on a stunned enemy or counter them, you’ll regain health based on that white bar. You’ll also gain a bar of shield back.
Though I didn’t have a lot of issues with countering, there are times when attacks feel like they come out of nowhere and are impossible to counter. For some enemies, just pressing the counter button will activate the counter, while the prompt will appear for others. Still, the enemy will wind up an attack and attack you after you’ve already performed the counter animation, leaving you wide open to attack.
It led to many deaths because the indicator would appear before an attack was even ready. This was the most infuriating during boss encounters, and I found that dodging out of the way was more beneficial than trying to counter attacks.
Some Frustrating And Overwhelming Encounters
The campaign has some frustrating moments, and I can only imagine how difficult these moments are on harder difficulty settings. In one instance, you have to defend radio towers from flying Tyranids hell bent on destroying them while also cope with being swarmed by massive hoards.
Another example has you shooting a flamethrower to keep Reapers (minor alien bugs) away from your squad. Once again, you have to do this while being attacked by dozens of swarms of enemies. If you stopped blasting your flamethrower, the Reapers would gather around you and instantly wipe out the entire team.
Space Marine also comes with a co-op mode called Operations. This mode plays a lot like Sabers’ own World War Z game and runs parallel to the campaign. Throughout the story, Titus commands other groups of Marines to complete another task to help them carry out their main objective.
Great Co-op With Plenty Of Customization With Slow Progression
Operations is a challenging co-op campaign that can also be played solo with bots across six stages or two friends, but you’ll have difficulty doing so alone. Operations allow you to select one of six classes ranging from a Sniper, Heavy, and Vanguard, amongst others. These classes level up as you complete missions and find hidden objects throughout the mission.
You can buy perks to improve the class and their unique abilities as you level up. The Heavy class allows you to create a shield that stops all long-range attacks. Leveling up the Heavy class unlocks perks like extending the shield’s duration. Plenty of perks exist; you can choose which ones you want to acquire across three paths.
All three unlock as you level up, but you can only equip one perk from each row. Thankfully, you can always buy the other perks and change what ones you want to use from mission to mission. Those who played World War Z will be familiar with this system.
Weapons can also level up the more you use them and unlock their own perks. The difference is that once you unlock one perk with a weapon, you are stuck with that perk.
My only issue with the leveling and progression system is that it requires a lot of EXP to level up. I went through three complete missions before I leveled up a weapon and two missions to level up once. Each class also has three loadouts that you can create with different weapons.
You also unlock various accessories and color pallets as you progress, allowing you to create your version of a Space Marine and color different armor pieces in multiple colors, changing emblem colors if you choose. It’s almost like you’re painting your own 40K figures. Most can be unlocked with progress, but some can be purchased with real money.
Glory For The Emperor
Visually, the game is stunning, with incredible vistas and thousands of dead Tyranids scattered across the landscapes. Saber truly brings the 40K universe to life, and it’s terrifying. The character models and animations are also top-notch, with plenty of violent executions and blood splattering all over your armor.
The sound design equally impressive. Titus and crew give an outstanding performance, with actor Clive Standen’s performance as Titus being particularly impressive. The performances are also helped by the fantastic writing, while the soundtrack manages to surprise with an epic score worthy of world-jumping battles taking place.
Though I didn’t run into any bugs or glitches, there are some glaring concerns. The game load times are substantial. Loading into the main title screen took almost an entire minute; at one point I thought the game had froze up. The load times from mission to mission are equally annoying, and they’re even longer in Operations mode.
You are waiting for your results to pop up and then load after seeing them. In Operations, you’re almost looking at a full five-minute wait from mission to mission.
Space Marine 2 does feature a full-on PVP mode, but as of this writing, I wasn’t able to find a player to jump into the game with. This could be because servers haven’t gone live yet. We will update this review once the PVP servers are live with a full breakdown of the PVP experience.
One Of The Best Warhammer 40K Titles To Date
Warhammer 40k Space Marine 2 is a fantastic addition to the Warhammer 40k franchise that won’t cost you hundreds of dollars to enjoy. Space Marine 2’s campaign is a fun ride that treks the same beats as its predecessor but is refined to a tee. Operations mode is an excellent time with buddies or alone if you can survive with two AI buddies.
Titus and crew deserve another shot at the spotlight, and Space Marine 2 provides one of the best Warhammer 40k experiences on the market. It’s just a shame there’s some annoying load times to put up with.
Warhammer 40K Space Marine 2 releases on September 9 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
Review code kindly provided by PR