Warhammer: Spacemarine

Hey Everyone

Hope you all have been doing well and thanks once again for coming down to our blog! I have been busy for awhile getting settled back in the US and I am ready to rock and roll with new posts! JQ and I have taken a number of new shots of new minis during the summer, and we look forward in sharing with you all soon.

Spacemarines: Bred to kick serious butt for mankind.

Warhammer fans out there...I guess you must have heard that Warhammer: Spacemarine has finally come out! Some fans have gone so far to state that it marks a threshold moment for sci-fi gaming: the big granddaddy of the Space Marine genre is back in the scene of shooters. Warhammer fans can point out that WFB (Warhammer Fantasy Battle) and W40k (Warhammer 40k) heavily influenced related works, such as Blizzard's wildly successful Starcraft and Warcraft universes, but has a comparatively less successful penetration of the computer gaming market and remains somewhat obscure from the mainstream.

Starship Troopers: Spacemarines ala 1950.

But history has shown us that nothing is created out of a vacuum and W40k cannot claim to be the "definitive space marine maker". Interestingly, space marine as a concept first came out in the 1930s, being featured in the space opera novel Lensman by Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith, who wrote that their ranks were bolstered by inhabitants of a high-gravity planet colonized by the Dutch. I would be stating the obvious that Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers has had a massive influence on the space marine concept, such as the typical tough-guy marine attitude, orbital drops, flying into unknown threats...and of course: BUGS (or massive hoards of enemies). In fact, Starship Troopers became required reading for actors of colonial marines in the perennial classic Aliens.

Anyway, back to topic...

Relic is a gaming studio that has had much experience with the Warhammer franchise for quite some time, particularly coming out with the critically acclaimed Dawn of War series. I guess they're pretty well known to implement innovative approaches to computer game genres...such as Dawn of War focusing more on unit management than the "canon" resource gathering component.

I've played through the demo for the game, and I can say it did take me awhile to get used to the game mechanics. Even on medium I got my butt kicked a few times until I learned how to kill orks and stay healthy.

One thing I just don't get yet is: why do the orks have strong British accents???

WE SPELL COLOUR WITH A "U"!!! WWWWAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

It is comical for me to hear burly orks going "More spacemarines to kill!" or "Kill that spacemarine" in perfect good ol' Queen's English...which gave me a few good laughs. I always thought orks just said "WAAAARGGGGHHHH" and their usual compliment of mono-syllable grunts and other organic noises.

Redefining Death-From-Above...

The part I liked the most about the game is the jump-pack section, which is completely different from any previous experiences I had with computer games. You fly around in short bursts and land with a massive shockwave...either killing or stunning any foes who are too near to you. In all, Spacemarine is not a typical first person shooter and what makes it great is that it forces to to adapt to a new playing style. No longer can you hide behind cover like in CoD or even Gears of War...because Space Marines are real men and don't hide from danger heh.

Unfortunately I have a massive backlog of computer games and I might have to sit this puppy out for awhile :( If any of you have played the demo or the game do let me know! There are times when I wish I had the time to sit and game without worrying about life goals and work...part and parcel of growing up I guess :/

And let me end this post with a really funny picture of orks I spotted on the internet:

From towerofzenopus.blogspot.com