"Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2" may be the work that most directly expresses the charm of "Warhammer 40K"?

2024-08-14

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Intuitively express the charm of Warhammer 40K

Author: Forty-two

Recently, Focus, the publisher of "Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2" (hereinafter referred to as "Space Marine 2"), provided a new round of trial content. Based on the current trial version, we would like to share with you some impressive features.

In general, judging from the test DEMO, players have finally obtained a high-quality action shooting game based on the Warhammer 40K theme and featuring Space Marines as the protagonists - "Starfighter 2 has the potential to be the most intuitive expression of the charm of Warhammer 40,000 to date.As an action shooting game, it not only serves existing Warhammer 40K fans but also attracts new players who are interested in it, and can radiate to various player groups to the greatest extent possible.。

Disadvantages first

Although the frame rate is not catastrophic, the pressure caused by the Tyranids is obvious, because they are literally overwhelming:

The swarms of insects running like a tide on the ground can briefly reduce the frame rate by half for a dozen seconds. In most battle scenes, the swarms of insects covering the sky in the background surge like rain clouds driven by strong winds, coupled with the huge scenes of building destruction that appear from time to time, often bring heavy damage to the frame rate. Even a 4080 graphics card can't bear the burden.

Test version

This test provides a separate story chapter for players to try out, called Voidsong. According to the official reference information, "This mission is part of the main story and takes place roughly in the middle of the story." At the same time, the game also provides cooperative PVE content, and you can play two cooperative missions.

Therefore, this article contains some spoilers, please read it at your own discretion.

Localization and Translation

"Starfighter 2" provides full Chinese dubbing. The voice actors are very attentive in interpreting the various lines, and it feels like hearing the battlefield sounds of a classic war movie. However, some special atmospheres of the Warhammer 40K world, such as the strong religious fanaticism elements and the special expressions brought by the unique settings of the Warhammer worldview, are difficult to perfectly present in Chinese voice. Even so, for ordinary players, Chinese dubbing still significantly lowers the threshold for enjoying the game, allowing players to better engage in high-intensity battles.

In addition, many Warhammer fans may encounter situations where the Chinese translation is inconsistent with the words familiar to the public or even the official name. But at the same time, some of the translated words can also be seen as trying to maintain the flavor of Warhammer 40K. Although there are some regrets in the translated text in the DEMO, it is generally satisfactory.

Experience an excellent campaign

Unfortunately, according to the official testing guidelines, this article cannot release any screenshots of the campaign process in the DEMO. The pictures used are from the screenshots previously released by the official through various channels.

In the Voidsong campaign, the player takes on the role of the first-generation protagonist Titus, who leads a team to complete a simple message delivery mission. Accompanying him is a relatively inexperienced warrior who is dissatisfied with not being able to join the front line of the battle against the Tyranids.

The first thing that impresses me at the beginning of this campaign is the mature plot writing ability. Through the dialogue, the impact of the controversial incident that Titus encountered at the end of the previous game is brought out very naturally. In the brief debate between the warriors, it also establishes a connection with the previous game, simply shapes the character's personality, brings out the current combat objectives, and restrainedly shows the setting details of Warhammer 40K. For fans familiar with Warhammer 40K, they can read a lot of information, and for new players, there is also a lot of fun in experiencing the story.

There are a lot of details in the campaign, which can not only make Warhammer fans excited, but also let ordinary players feel the cruelty and grandeur of the war in the 40K universe. From the Hydra anti-aircraft tanks rushing to the front line and the Chimaera troop carriers that broke through the bunkers, to the weapons and equipment of the Astra Militarum soldiers, the loud roar of the political commissars, and the encouragement of the priests to the soldiers on the radio, players can feel that these details have "come alive" from the setting book.

Not to mention the tiny details on the Space Marine power armor, and the rich shapes of the Tyranids that are almost identical to the physical chess pieces. The intuitive feeling accumulated by the massive amount of details makes the world presented in "Space Marine 2" have amazing expressiveness.

During the campaign Titus even called upon Hammerfall, a type of field support bunker used by Space Marines.This model can be considered a relatively new batch in terms of design and launch time. The appearance of this type of unit in the game also shows the sincerity of this game in serving Warhammer fans.

There are some small level designs in the campaign that are eye-catching. Many encounter scenes are designed with roundabout tactical possibilities, and the enemy configurations of Tyranids and Tzeentch demons encourage players to actively choose this decapitation strategy to a certain extent. Although these processes and level designs are simple, the improvement of the gaming experience is very obvious, and they are often missing in many processes nowadays.

There are many simple and direct scenes in the campaign: swarms, bombings, collapse of giant buildings, etc. Very visually impactful.

As the main interactive objects, the two enemies that appear in the DEMO: Tyranids and Tzeentch Demons and Chaos Space Marines (Red Letter Warriors of the Thousand Sons) will provide different confrontation experiences, and each enemy has rich feedback when attacked by different weapons. The grenade gun will open bloody holes in the chitinous shell of the Zerg, and when the Red Letter Chaos Space Marine is executed, gorgeous Chaos Magic Flames will burst out from the hollow armor. All these make the battle extremely refreshing.

Combat system levels

Although it cannot cover all the weapons of Space Marines, the various weapons that appear in the DEMO can already provide a very layered and rich combat experience.

Different types of bolters, plasma weapons, and melta weapons provide different ranged combat rhythms; Chainswords, Power Swords, Storm Hammers, and Power Fists each have different combo lists, and the nature of their attacks is completely different: some are more conducive to slaughtering large numbers of small enemies, while others have excellent defense-breaking and armor-piercing properties in their combos. At low difficulty, they can provide a strong flavor, and it is conceivable that at high difficulty, the choice of "weapon toolbox" will also become the key fun of the research process.

The combat system of Starfighter 2 is built around the following parts:Fierce long-range firepower, continuous melee attacks, execution moves after reducing the enemy's health, blocks, and firearm executions after blocks.

This system will bring a very refreshing combat flow experience. Once entering the battle, the player will enter a high-intensity confrontation, constantly swinging the weapon and pulling the trigger, while clearing out small monsters and reducing the health of medium-sized enemies, and then seizing every opportunity to execute the enemy to restore the inevitable loss of the shield. At this time, the execution will bring a small peak in the experience; then when a block or precise dodge is successfully performed, an indication that the monster can be executed by firearms will appear on the monster's head. The player only needs to face the sign and press the long-range attack button to display a close-up firearm execution animation, and then take out his or her secondary weapon (bolt pistol or plasma pistol) to perform a fierce execution.

Therefore, the combat experience of Starfighter 2 can be said to be completely "extreme": from the moment you enter the battle, it has reached a very high level, and there are dense "higher peaks", that is, executions and firearms executions. The rich, bloody, and violent execution animations make the excitement of the battle reach a new height.

In the campaign provided by the DEMO, there are two boss battles, one is a battle with the Tyranids behemoth, and the other is a battle with a Tzeentchian Ambition Wizard. In terms of the current level of boss battles in action shooting games, these two battles are of extremely high quality.

From the perspective of performance, the ferocity of the behemoths and the cunning of the Tzeentch wizards can be clearly felt by players during the BOSS battle; in terms of the specific gameplay and the interactive experience with the BOSS, there are also many noteworthy aspects: the giant Tyranid Zerg has a fierce continuous collision attack (the high-correction repeated dragon car we are familiar with), and will use biological toxins to restrict the player's movement and dodge; the battle of the Tzeentch wizard has many designs that deceive and induce players, using seemingly high returns (such as additional firearms executions brought by loose blocking) to induce players to take high-damage control skills. These designs are amazing.

In addition, even in boss battles (and other medium-sized boss battles), the game does not relax its pursuit of flavor. As an action game with Space Marines as the theme, "Space Marines 2" does not significantly weaken the performance of the characters for the sake of gameplay. The player's characters in the game have both huge power and swift tactical actions and high damage from weapons, making the boss battle present a fierce style of strong against stronger. Even if players may often taste failure at high difficulty, it will not interfere with the recognition of the powerful combat power of the Space Marines themselves.

Co-op Missions

The cooperative mission experience is also amazing. In the cooperative mission, players play the role of Space Marines on other fronts, rather than simply forming a three-person team to play the same campaign process again. The cooperative mission is a complement to the main process in a narrative sense.

In fact, judging from the plot of the DEMO, the players experience the main battlefield in the cooperative mission. The cooperative mission in the DEMO includes a special tactical mission (attracting the swarm and detonating the refinery to relieve the pressure on the front line) and a decapitation mission (killing the swarm tyrant). The former has a rich process, and the latter includes a refreshing final BOSS battle.

There is a significant difference in the cooperative mission experience: compared with the heroic protagonist in the main campaign (especially without a helmet), the player in the cooperative mission is indeed just one of many Space Marines fighting on the front line. The performance of these characters may not be as powerful as the protagonist Titus and his party, so they need to focus more on cooperation to complete the mission.

In cooperative missions, players can choose from 6 professions. These arms have unique tactical skills, unique weapon systems (with slight overlaps), and clear but not rigid division of labor in battle, making cooperative clearance very fun.

Some professions, such as "Vanguard Spacemarine" (VSM), have tactical grappling hook skills that can quickly decapitate node command units in the swarm. They will strengthen the small insects around them after completing the "casting". This "interruption function" can also be achieved in other ways. For example, "Assault Spacemarine" (ASM) uses a jet pack to break through the monster group and interrupt it in a more violent and forceful way, or lets snipers deal with it by sniping. This is one aspect of its "soft division of labor".

The cooperative mission provides a rich training system. Each type of soldier has its own specialty tree for players to unlock, and the same type of weapons has 4 different grades. They not only have more complex appearances, but also have real attribute increases.

There is a mechanism that will bring about a qualitative change in the gameplay after the accumulation of professional expertise. Players can expect rich strategies in high-difficulty and high-pressure battles, and can also see the thinking of this game in the training system:All accumulations are rigid numerical superpositions, and players are recommended to challenge high-difficulty battles only after the strength reaches the standard.There is no doubt that this design will have hidden dangers during the long-term operation of the game after it is officially launched, and it is still unknown whether the production team can effectively control this experience.

This is a very crude and direct design to increase the stickiness of repeated play, but for Warhammer 40K, it may be a direct and effective solution, because the miniature models of Space Marines have a rich variety of weapon shapes, not to mention the styles in the various exquisite illustrations in military books.

Similarly, the game provides a large number of warband paint jobs, and a variety of customized appearances split into different components. Covering a large number of styles from the classic founding warband to the popular sub-warbands in the later stories, it is very exciting for old Warhammer players, and it is also the best guiding mechanism for newcomers to gradually understand the Warhammer world. Curious about the story of the Blood Ravens? Go back and try "Dawn of War".

Final Thoughts

The DEMO test performance of "Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2" is quite amazing. It makes people look forward to the PVP mode, which has only released a few details, and more content in the cooperative mode. I hope that these high-quality contents can be continued and even carried forward in the official version, because players are looking forward to an unprecedented high-level Warhammer 40,000 game, and this time everyone is likely to get what they want.

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"Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2" may be the work that most directly expresses the charm of "Warhammer 40K"?

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