Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Review – Co-op Thrills and Triple-A Action
Space Marine 2’s campaign is a thrilling ride, but it’s the cooperative Operations mode that truly shines. I’m always skeptical when people say a game is better with friends, but in this case, it’s genuinely true. I mean, cleaning the sink is more fun with pals, tossing each other extra sponge-scourers and reviving us when we faint from the horrors we’ve uncovered.
Developer: Saber Interactive
Publisher: Focus Entertainment
Platform: Played on PC
Availability: Out September 9th on PC (Steam, Epic), PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Space Marine 2 is actually better in co-op, and it’s not just because your mate Dan keeps making jokes about ‘Krak grenades’ being the result of eating too many beans. The campaign is elevated with the presence of player companions, but its real heart lies in what comes after the story finishes – its chaotic, class-based Operations mode.
None of which is to say Space Marine 2 is a bad time in single-player. Saber Interactive’s campaign does a fantastic job of following up Relic’s quintessential 7/10. The story revolves around the Ultramarine Titus, who’s been demoted to a Lieutenant after accusations of heresy in the original. The introductory mission sets the tone for the rest of the game, and Titus leads a new squad of marines in a large-scale operation to rid a trio of Imperial planets from a Tyranid infestation.
And when I say “large-scale”, Space Marine 2 knows how to put on a show. The linear campaign takes you through gigantic gothic Hive Cities being pummeled by Tyranid spores, vast battlefields crisscrossed by lasgun fire, and sprawling Imperial fortresses housing cathedral-sized artillery guns. It’s a gloriously extravagant depiction of the 40k universe, and also a game that feels genuinely next-generation in its presentation.
The standout trick, however, is Space Marine 2’s vast, boiling Tyranid swarms. The game loves to show you them flooding toward you out of the backdrop, or pouring from a spore-missile that landed smack in the middle of the battlefield. These Xenomorph-ish aliens are your primary foe in Space Marine 2, and you’ll spend much of the campaign mastering how to combat their writhing hordes.
Operations mode offers six individual, campaign-like missions with a couple of twists. First, you play as a specific class of Space Marine with distinctive abilities. Assault marines are equipped with a jetpack and Thunder Hammer for maximum smashing, while Bulwark marines carry a shield and can deploy a standard that creates an armor regenerating field. I’m particularly fond of the Vanguard marine, who wields a combat knife and uses a grappling hook to dropkick enemies from a distance – it’s tremendous.
The other key difference is that its Tyranid swarms are more dynamic, controlled by a Left 4 Dead-style AI director that moderates the frequency and intensity of attacks, and lets larger enemies call in reinforcements. This combination results in a greater emphasis on teamwork, while also facilitating some proper gnarly scrapes.
Where the campaign offers the most spectacular set-pieces, Operations is where the mechanical side of Space Marine 2 is allowed to fully breathe. It’s worth noting the Operations missions are similar in size and scale to those of the campaign. The first of them, Inferno, is directly tied to an early campaign mission, with you playing as a secondary marine team tasked with stemming the flow of Tyranids from around a Mechanicus facility by setting off a massive Prometheum bomb.
Each Operation takes about an hour to complete, with more coming post-launch. Combined with a PvP multiplayer mode that’s also no slouch (albeit a less natural fit for the systems), Space Marine 2 might just have some post-launch legs. Some might see this as a sad indictment of where AAA gaming is at, that you can’t just make a linear, single-player action game anymore without it having some kind of live-service element. Thing is, that was the case thirteen years ago. The original Space Marine launched with a multiplayer mode that was obligatory in the post Call of Duty era. With Space Marine 2, none of this feels tacked on, or like an afterthought.
I do have one complaint about Space Marine 2’s multiplayer functionality – the lack of an external menu for those modes. To get to Operations or Eternal War, you have to load into your campaign, then switch to your chosen mode, then invite your friends (or vice-versa), and then alter your abilities and equipment if you need to do that. It’s slow, fiddly, and annoying, and no replacement for a menu that lets you do all of those things on one screen.
Nonetheless, in an industry that is currently so fraught and volatile, Space Marine 2 is a smart and effective tactical strike. It at once sparks fond memories of the pre-Souls era of third-person action games, while also being cunningly adapted to survive in the modern gaming scene. It also looks mint and lets you smash aliens with a big hammer, which makes it difficult to dislike. It’s the KFC party bucket of video games, delightfully messy, almost certainly bad for you, and best shared with friends.
A copy of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was provided for review by Focus Interactive.
