Space Marine 2

In the grim darkness of the future, there is only war... and grinding?

Thanks to its three player co-op mode my brothers and I were playing this as a Friday game for awhile now, where playing as Space Marines you fight armies of Tyranid and Chaos forces in glorious and bloody combat which focuses on key press timing to excel in. While the graphics and game play are certainly fun, there are some HUGE negatives. Firstly is that it takes 5 minutes for me to start the game, 5 more to join the lobby and 5 more to enter the mission. If there was an award for longest load times, this would certainly be winning it.

Secondly, improving your marine and weaponry is a severe and lengthy grind. You'll only gain XP for the marine class and weaponry you use, unlocking abilities necessary to do well in the higher difficulties. Then once you max out, you get to pick one ultimate bonus and... drop back down to level 1 to do it all again (up to four times if you want to max out fully). There's a small selection of maps to play on, but the designers thought of this and included a PvP mode to make players the content to save them some work. No comment on that part since it holds no interest for us.

So yeah. Despite that we still were putting up with it because it's just so freaking cool, and despite now taking a break to try other co-op games we'll probably end up playing it again sometime in the future. Where there is only war... and grinding...

Fridays IN SPACE!

It's been a minute since I've talked about our Friday night game sessions and they all seem to be taking place in space at the moment! The early night staple is Helldivers 2 continues to be fun and crazy with all the updates in both terms of gear and story. The Illuminates are back on the map now and there's a black hole eating planets as it slowly makes its way to Super Earth. Lol.

We've also recently finished Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr that plays a little bit like Diablo, just in the Warhammer 40k universe with DL going full sword marine, Jim running a psyker, and myself the stock standard Space Marine specializing in bolt guns. It's quite funny that the warp gets angry if Jim uses too much power though, as it starts sending tornadoes and demons after him! Lol. The story is not bad, and there are loads of enemy types "add on" mechanics and game modes that could potentially keep you playing this for a long time after finishing the campaign but alas the game play is very repetitive and dull.

Now we've just started Space Marine 2 which is set in the same play space but this one has higher graphic demands with the over the shoulder camera while fighting swarms of tyranids. We definitely need to be more on our toes here for timed button presses mid combat and so far it's been really great - apart from that I can't see the cut scenes since it doesn't like my graphics card and the exorbitantly long loadings times. Not that it matters, the missions play well enough and give enough info as to what's going on. So far it's a very entertaining game.

Cthulhu: Death May Die - Know when to Fold em

Featuring the fickle Lady Luck.

A board game session from Cthulhu: Death May Die.

A Las Vegas casino sets the stage for the next ritual, and to break it Father Luke (Juris), the Kid (mom), John (DL), Arielle (wifey), and Mario (me) must win SIX times at the casino, requiring to pay an item per attempt and only able to gamble if the casino has no enemies.

This proves to be tremendously difficult as cultists and hounds of Tindalos regularly appear on the casino floor thanks to the poor odds at the table and while the team gets half the required wins they are out of time as a full powered and immortal Cthulhu appears, nearly killing Luke (who is saved by catatonia). 

The hounds would fit nicely in a Warhammer 40k Tyranid army.

John lures the elder one and everything else away but before they can kill him it triggers his dependency, returning him to the safety of the casino with no enemies in tow. At this point a miracle happens as the last three wins happen in quick succession, weakening Cthulhu once more and pulling him to the party who beat him up!

Fleeing from the room, John goes and lures him back into range (most of the team have ranged attacks) which totally wrecks the tentacled beast, and it is Father Luke who finishes it off with a blessed pool cue in close quarters. AMEN!

MISSION SUCCESS (unconvincing victory here as we almost lost multiple times with numerous people almost dying prior to breaking the ritual, and having the doom track two only steps away from the end)!

Insight: Ugh, I hated the gambling mechanic! We had to learn the hard way that you want to have stress to spend AND a lot of items when using the casino. Not doing so (like we did at the start) felt like wasted turns. I dunno, it just felt really swingy.

Dawn of War II

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.

Now here's a fantastic squad based tactics game I replayed (despite saying I wouldn't), set in the Warhammer 40K universe and one that is very user-friendly as you lead the Space Marines into battle against a multitude of alien scum.

It is simplified to controlling the squad commanders, leveling and gearing them up, and making use of cover and special abilities. The extra nameless squad mates do help out but are just "tied" to their captain, vastly removing micro management.

Look out behind you!

There are also no structures to build, and though there are optional sites you can capture per mission that will give you boons moving forward in the campaign. The graphics, voice acting, music and story are all great too. Indeed the only fault I can give this is its penchant to reuse maps.

This one is an absolute blast to play, and for me superior to all the Command and Conquer titles I've previously reviewed. Highly recommended, even for non RTS folk. I give this 4.5 melta bombs out of 5.

Space Hulk (2013)

The Emperor has dictated your weaponry.

The third video game based off the two player board game (as in - an exact copy), this once again sees space marine terminators boarding derelict space ships (aka "Space Hulks") to eradicate them of dangerous DNA eating aliens called genestealers within the dark and claustrophobic passages in turn based combat. It's almost impossible to have everyone survive every mission.

Certain doom.

Having played the very first video game (1993) I can safely say this one is better in all respects except perhaps for the intro. The easiest way to describe the gameplay would be XCOM light. You (and your opponent if you are doing a two player game) get action points each round to do various things. For terminators they get 4 AP to spend on walking, shooting, turning, etc. For genestealers all actions are just 1 point and with 6 AP each they can move a lot faster than the humans. You do not get to name, arm, or dress up your squad - just have to live with what is given to you.

Each round the marine player does get to roll for "bonus" AP though, earning 1-6 more points for the entire squad so there is that element of dice rolling randomness to take into account. I've had peoples guns jam three times in a row (within a single turn) as well as had one terminator bash up over 10 genestealers in close quarters so it goes both ways.

Unfortunately there are only 15 missions and not much of a finale, but it is a pretty solid game regardless and I recommend it to people that either like the Warhammer 40k universe or like XCOM like turn based action. I give this iteration of Space Hulk three storm bolters out of five. If you have played the board game though, there's probably nothing new for you here apart from tweak-able difficulties so you can probably skip it.

Warframe: Mad Cephalon

[My seventh post of the Blaugust Challenge!]

And now to another game with ninjas and guns, Warframe has had some major updates while I wasn't looking. Honestly I don't know what the "Mad Cephalon" is, but boy did a lot of work go into this game while I wasn't looking. There is a new tutorial for starters (optional for existing players) and everyone gets their own little spaceship which they can upgrade. The melee side of things have also gotten an upgrade with players now able to block incoming weapons fire and use various stances to better kill all your enemies with.

A bunch of baddies have also gotten upgrades and some are just totally new, just to make things even. This is on top of the new weapons, maps, and missions that are regularly added anyway. You can certainly get your Spacehulk fix by doing Invasion missions where you assist the Grineer or Corpus against Infested forces.

Furthermore there is a quest system now, and while there's not yet a lot in there I can see how it can grow easily. The one I'm currently working on is to create an incubator to hatch my own pet Kubrow (dog thing) - which again is a new addition to the companion section. Whatever they're doing, the makers of Warframe are certainly going well and they've made it better than ever to try out being a ninja in space! Not bad for a free to play game.

Now with ninja dogs!

Blaugust Bonus: I used to play Warhammer 40k and Necromunda with a bunch of school friends. Since the Space Marines, Orks, Imperials and Tyranids were already taken I decided to make my own army, complete with their own codex and lore. I made sure obviously made sure that everyone else was happy with them though before playing. Became a pretty balanced force in the end I think, and much like everyone else I was winning as much as I was losing. Those were good times. Expensive, but good.