Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)
Verdict: Alien invasion-and-on-and-on
The Space Marines of the Warhammer 40,000 universe are tooled-up, muscle-headed madmen.
They burst through walls in their tank-like armour. They brandish guns and terrifying chainswords. They take no prisoners. Boom! Crash! Argh!
And much the same could be written of Space Marine II, the sequel to the sorta-popular original from 2011.
This one is as brutal and bombastic as its namesakes. It’s here to punch you in the throat and leave you in the mud.
This much is clear from the off. You, as the returning Lieutenant Titus, have crash-landed on a planet that’s in the process of being overrun by the drooling alien menace known as the Tyranids.
Space Marine is as brutal and bombastic as its namesakes. It’s here to punch you in the throat and leave you in the mud.
In this game, you, as the returning Lieutenant Titus, have crash-landed on a planet that’s in the process of being overrun by the drooling alien menace known as the Tyranids
Although Space Marine II has a fairly refined combat system, it doesn’t take long for it to fell repetitive and unsatisfying
You have to wade through them, almost literally — punching, swinging, shooting — to ensure that some Doohickey of Doom doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.
The Tyranid swarms are as impressive a sight as I’ve ever seen in a game. They undulate in the sky and rush across muddy battlefields in their hundreds. It’s as much a technical accomplishment as a visual one.
But, in a way, the swarms are also the problem. Although Space Marine II has a fairly refined combat system, it doesn’t take long — in the face of so many disposable enemies — for it to feel repetitive and unsatisfying.
Even the inclusion of some bigger, smarter opponents doesn’t prevent the roughly ten-hour campaign from feeling like a bit of a slog.
Still, perhaps that’s where your fellow Space Marines come in. Playing this game with other real-life players on your team, rather than just solo, is probably its most enjoyable incarnation.
After all, whenever the swarms get too much, you can simply bark some pompous nonsense into your headset. To battle, brothers! For the Imperium!
Visions Of Mana (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)
Verdict: Soul food
It’s autumn. The leaves are browning, the evenings are darkening, the air is chilling off — and sometimes you just want to snuggle into a sofa with a blanket and a luxurious hot chocolate.
Or perhaps you could play Visions Of Mana instead? This revivification of a three-decade-old Japanese RPG series is a total warm hug of a game. Perfect for these pumpkin-spice months.
You’ll feel that all-enveloping warmth from its very first moments. A Saturday morning cartoon-esque opening sets the scene: here is a fantasy land in which a chosen few have to sacrifice their souls — in a happy-clappy, at-one-with-nature way — to the Mana Tree, so as to preserve the balance of all things.
The animation is super-colourful and winsome. Everything sparkles.
What follows is, on the surface of it, a simple quest. It’s your job, as the soul guard Val, to escort one of the happy sacrificees to the tree, meeting up with other characters and defeating cutesy monsters along the way.
Visions of Mana, a revivification of a three-decade-old Japanese RPG series, is a total warm hug of a game
You’ll feel that all-enveloping warmth from its very first moments when a Saturday morning cartoon-esque opening sets the scene
The combat is relatively straightforward which adds to the game’s massage-like qualities
The combat itself is relatively straightforward — tap to hit, tap to bounce away — which adds to the game’s massage-like qualities.
But this doesn’t mean that Visions Of Mana is entirely undemanding. The trick comes in setting up your individual characters and your overall party just right for each combat encounter.
When you do, things are easy-breezy — and it feels great.
When you don’t, you’ll find that Visions Of Mana has some sharper edges — and that feels great, too.
Now what will I do for the rest of autumn? Fire up this one again, I think, and have my soul cuddled to a gooey pulp.
