September 5, 2023 - Day 248 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 269

Game: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Sep 6, 2011
Library Date: May 29, 2015
Unplayed: 3021d (8y3m7d)
Playtime: 23m

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition was released in 2021 as a free update to Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, with all of the previously released DLCs and add-ons included.

The game is a third-person shooter-hack-and-slash combo.

A few minutes after starting the game I found myself thrown straight into combat as an Ultramarine Space Marine(?), with the game throwing multiple combinations of mouse button and key presses at me, as a barrage of Orks attacked me.

Such frantic combinations as "Press f then mouse button 5 then e". My dude, I have no idea which button on my mouse is mouse button 5. I can't even tell my left and right apart most of the time, let alone which of the other seven buttons on my mouse beyond 1 & 2 are which.

Even the G Hub software just calls them "Forward" and "Back". It took a torch and a minute of trying to find the right viewing angle and distance for my 49yo eyes to work out which button had "G5" stamped into the plastic ("Forward", for the record).

Trying to remember which of the buttons are which in the middle of a pitched battle was a lot, particularly when - on top of all this - the mouse view is bizarrely restricted, even with my mouse set to 3200 DPI.

I had to pick up my mouse, move it, and put it down again more than once just to do a 180 degree sweep. I don't think I've had to do that since mice were functionally male.

After surviving that mission, and slowly starting to mash the right buttons in the right order, I started to feel like the game was making sense.

I was slamming my way around the map, Orks getting splattered by my big gun, and my big knife making short work of any Orks who got too close.

Unfortunately, as with many other games that have a few years on the clock, there are games that have been released since that provide a similar gameplay experience with a better user interface and/or user experience.

In practice, if the Warhammer 40k branding were stripped away, the battle gameplay feels a lot like Outriders, but less refined; unfortunately for the game, I have no emotional bond to Warhammer or 40k, so there's not a lot to keep my interest.

If I'm in the mood for "big weapons make enemies go splorch", it's probably going to be Outriders or Gears of War before this.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Anniversary Edition is:

3: OK

August 18, 2023 - Day 230 - NewPlay Review
Total NewPlays: 250

Game: Darksiders Warmastered Edition

Platform: Steam
Release Date: Nov 30, 2016
Library Date: Dec 4, 2018
Unplayed: 1718d (4y8m14d)
Playtime: 27m

Darksiders Warmastered Edition is a remastered version of the original Darksiders released in 2010. It's a third-person hack-and-slash action-adventure.

The game opens with a explanation of the universe of the game; For eons, heaven and hell were at war, until "The Council" brought the war to a standstill. The Council had their own four-person army to take down anyone from either side who broke the law.

The army? The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

After a period of time, humans arose, and it was predicted that one day Heaven, Hell, and Humans would engage in a final battle when the seventh seal was broken (a lot of repurposed religious imagery here).

The game opens to a scene of world wide devastation, as meteor strikes across the planet turn out to be monster demons attacking humans, angels attack monsters, humans running around and dying a lot, and then you show up.

"You" being one of the Four Horsemen: War.

Angry looking dude with glowing eyes, long blond hair, and a huge sword. You take down demons and angels left and right, until you get smushed by a big demon in a boss battle.

Then you show up in front of the council, and they're kind of unhappy, and blaming you for the battle, as you weren't supposed to show up until the seventh seal was broken, and the seventh seal is intact.

Basically, War has been set up.

Playing with keyboard and mouse, the controls feel a little bit sloppy, and habitually going for the shift key to sprint doesn't work well when the shift key is set to focus fire.

With a little bit more playtime it might feel a little bit better, but I don't know if it's because it's a seven year old remaster of a thirteen year old game, or it's just overly bombastic, but it's not grabbing me and yelling "keep playing", but there's something interesting there.

Darksiders Warmastered Edition is:

3: OK