Take two staple ingredients of fantasy and science fiction, namely orks and space respectively, mix in a ten foot super soldier named Titus and some bone-crushing, brutally satisfying combat with both melee weapons and guns, and you have Warhammer 40 000: Space Marine.

The game begins with a rather simple premise – the Ultramarines are tasked with quelling an Ork invasion against Graia, an Imperium Forge World, and preventing the Orks from taking control of the world’s weaponry. Even though the story is on the sparse side, this is enough to set the stage for an excuse to confront and battle numerous Orks in increasingly vicious ways.

Built to blast

When we first heard that Space Marine would mix up melee combat with guns, it brought the disappointing Too Human to mind, which implemented both in a way that felt clumsy and counter-intuitive. Thankfully, this is not the case in Space Marine. Shooting is capable, satisfying and at times the best way to handle Orks, while Melee combat is always visceral and immensely satisfying.

The game’s appeal is heightened by the fact that a new weapon or piece of gear always seems to be around the next corner. Although you start the game with the Bolt Pistol, you quickly discover the Bolter, or equivalent of an assault rifle, the Stalker Bolter, which is a long range sniper rifle and the Vengeance launcher, which shoots fusion charges that stick to walls or enemies. You also come across the jump pack, a jet pack of sorts which enables you to rain fire down on your foes, reach high areas as well as pound down onto unfortunate enemies.

Unlike the other weapons though, which are mapped to the D-pad and easy to switch between mid-combat, the jump pack only makes brief appearances.

Equally worth mentioning are the melee weapons, most particularly the gory but highly effective Chainsword (think lovechild between a sword and a chainsaw) and the bone-crushing Thunder hammer. And then of course, the ultimate weapon is Titus himself, who can sprint into enemies, barrelling through them if not stunning them and leaving them vulnerable to other attacks.