Some incredible preview footage for Space Marine II has gone live, finally displaying the gameplay we can come to expect – away from any curated or carefully edited footage. Just raw, bug-stomping action – and it is ticking all the boxes that would excite a Space Marine 1 alumnus.
The gameplay is taken from the second mission of Space Marine II’s story – showing the towering vessel of the Emperor’s wrath, Titus, dispatching teeming hordes of smaller Hormagaunts and much bulkier Tyranid Warriors with both firearm and gnashing chainsword.
The landscape is a nightmarish warzone, covered with the skittering bugs and the desperate few that are trying to fend off the near-endless horde. And it looks so damn good.
In the preview footage, we see that the perspective and control scheme are brilliantly similar to the first game – with the same emphasis being made for seamlessly swapping between your ranged and melee options. Peppering the carpet of living nightmares from range with your Boltgun is a great way to soften them up; before they crash upon you like a wave breaking on a rockface. This is where you draw your blade and get stuck in – with the preview revealing that the melee system has a little more finesse to it.
In Space Marine 1, you would essentially carve through the horde of greenskins – stopping occasionally to perhaps perform a glorious execution and restore some of your fortitude. In Space Marine II, you may need to consider parrying occasionally or even outright dodging something that is entirely unblockable.
Given the small pool of enemies to draw from in the preview, I can safely say that the option for melee will likely change dramatically as the campaign continues. The Tyranid arsenal of chittering baddies ramps up quite spectacularly – and some of the more popular buglies are packing scything limbs that could easily cleave through a reasonably priced car, let alone a humanoid.
Overall, the preview has demonstrated that the folks at Saber Interactive understand what made the first game so appreciable – delivering a format that captured the essence of being an 8ft tall walking tank. The real question that remains at this point is whether the core gameplay loop can expand and diversify over it’s narrative campaign.
Bring on the release, I am dying to know more.
Are you excited for some grim dark action? Let us know in the comments or on social media.
Known throughout the interwebs simply as M0D3Rn, Ash is bad at video games. An old guard gamer who suffers from being generally opinionated, it comes as no surprise that he is both brutally loyal and yet, fiercely whimsical about all things electronic. On occasion will make a youtube video that actually gets views. Follow him on YouTube @Bad at Video Games
