The Mess Hall

yorkshirepudding wrote:also did you know there is an ultramarines movie

At this point just about every shooter coming out has some form of "survive as long as possible" cooperative mode. Space Marine joins the crowd with a mode called Exterminatus; a four-player survival mode that pits your few marines against an untold multitude of orks. Far from breaking the mold, this uninventive mode is nonetheless still fun, and should give day-one purchasers something to look forward to when it releases some 30 days after Space Marine's launch.



Like many features in the third-person action/shooter hybrid Space Marine, Exterminatus is easily compared to Gears of War's Horde Mode. You and three of your friends jump into an arena and face off against waves of enemies until you either finish the mission by completing all the waves or die trying. Subtle differences, however, ensure that Space Marine's cooperative mode isn't entirely familiar.

The biggest and most obvious difference between Space Marine and other shooters comes down to its universe. Compared to Marcus Fenix and his ilk, Space Marines might as well be gods. You won't find Space Marines taking cover or blind firing; instead they rely on overwhelming force. Since all the players get to pick their load out before jumping into each arena, teams have to make sure they have a well-rounded squad. You might have two heavy weapons specialists laying down suppressing fire, while two assault marines fly through the air and chop orks into pieces with ultra-powerful melee weapons. Each arena has different waves, so sometimes the key is jumping in and failing so you have a better understanding of what classes would work best for the next go.

Exterminatus only has two missions to play, but each is comprised of multiple arenas, which in turn break down into several waves. To get through each mission you have to survive long enough to activate a key part of each arena, triggering a sequence that grants you access to the next. For instance in one mission our team had to survive long enough in the first arena to activate auto-turrets. Once the defenses were active, our team was assigned to defend another area. Though the objectives basically boil down to "kill everything in sight" or "hold this ground for X minutes while you kill everything," it's nice that Relic attempts to make you feel like you have a reason to be killing hordes of foes. The only real way to fail is to lose all of your lives (shared by the team), which are earned periodically for reaching score milestones.

Additional mission objectives appear randomly as well, giving you on-the-fly bonuses if completed. For instance you might be challenged to kill 10 orks in 10 seconds, with an extra life up for grabs if you succeed. Failure doesn't result in a penalty, but often the mere challenge is enough to change how you play. It wasn't uncommon when a secondary objective popped for my team to drop what they were doing and go for it. Sometimes this resulted in a score bonus or an extra life, but other times it made us lose focus on the immediate threat, making a bad situation worse. The additional objectives work as a nice carrots-on-a-stick, keeping your team on their toes so they never get entirely comfortable or feel like they should hole up in a defensive position.



The biggest let down about Space Marine's cooperative is that it's just an additional mode. Built on a proven formula, these survival missions feel like the easy way out for Relic. A few variables exist to keep it from feeling exactly like the same mode in every other shooter, but it's hard not to feel disappointed about the lack of campaign cooperative play. Here's to hoping Space Marine sells well enough with its first outing that a sequel will get a campaign co-op experience.