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Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 ≼|℧T|≽ Xenos Saga 2

Cyberpunkd

Member
Heads up, the original game is on sale on Steam right now:

"On sale" after they increased the price.
Do not support this bullshit. The game was regularly on sale for 4.99€, probably less than that when buying a CD key. The fuckers delisted the old game and repackaged the AE with massive price hike after the SM2 reveal. Nothing has changed, price went up multiple times.
 
I played the first 2 acts of g5 at launch on pc maxed out and it was nowhere near sm2, i doubt that a graphic update made much of a difference tbh unless they completely rewritten the whole game (which i doubt) but i'm a bit biased, i never thought g5 looked that impressive even in the past gen, especially for being a small non-open world game.

Btw caved in and bought the game, first impression are ok i guess, for better or worse the game feel EXACTLY how i expected, kinda messy when you get attacked at the same time by small cunts, bigger cunts and green shooting cunts, it feels like losing health and armour is part of the game and not really avoidable and you just have to outdone the enemy damage output before they kill you, at least on veteran.

So, you also caved in ? 😂
The hype got to me and bought yesterday, 1st impressions :

This belongs to the "Games that give the BEST 1st impressions" category", everything is bombastic, hyperbolic, manly®, loud and bloody, amazing melee and movement feel thanks to the very well implemented vibration, good GFX (although a little bit blurry on PS5) and corny but very well delivered lines thanks to the good voice acting.
It's everything that I hoped for and I'm no WH nerd.

Yes, it appears to be a horde shooter most of the time and you can clearly see that it's made for co-op but...it's still tons of fun (I'm halfway through the 2nd mission).

Attention to detail is very good with lots of breakable and interactive stuff in the background/environment (foliage sways, chains move when passing under them, lots of breakable parts/crates etc, steps sound FX change depending on the surface you're walking/running etc).
It's a very nice looking and pleasing game which was made by people that love and respect the source material and it shows.

Now, unto the bad parts :

- Yeah, the framerate is not good on the PS5, 1st chapter/intro runs well but after that, every time there's a horde the game dips into the 30s, it's a friggin' shame since it can detract from the whole experience, here's hoping for an improvement patch, although, who are we kidding, the "performance patch" is going to be the PS5 Pro, still, something tells me that it's a bug/optimization thing and not necessarily a power difference one (much like DD2) - shit is just too weird for there to be such a framerate difference, and yes, I know that it's a CPU heavy game.
if I had an Xbox I'd get it for that personally.

- Battle flow is kind of weird, there's shit shooting at you from miles away while at the same time you're button mashing through the hordes, just like Gymwoolf said, there's no way apparently to survive a battle unscathed, maybe that's part of the game or maybe, it's "me"/skill issue.

- Sound : Goddamn, the sound mixing is AWFUL, everything sounds muffled (but not tinny as I've read online), meaning, as soon as there's A) music, B) speech and C) shooting/explosions at the same time it turns into a bloody cacophony where you can't distinguish neither the music track playing in the background nor the weapons firing and/or explosions nor the dialogue, everything just sort of melts together and it's just not good...tried different sound profiles but it's still shit, apparently this is a general problem with the game since there's many people crying about it no matter the platform of choice.

All in all, and always talking about the PS5 version, what could have EASILY been a 8.5 - 9/10 game is brought down by the various technical problems and in the end it's an (almost) 7 out of 10 (for the time being), this game obviously needed some more time in the oven.
I should have waited until they fixed it 😬
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Battle flow is kind of weird, there's shit shooting at you from miles away while at the same time you're button mashing through the horses, just like Gymwoolf said, there's no way apparently to survive a battle unscathed,maybe that's part of the game or.maybe it's "me" skill issue.
Definetly not a way to go unscathed, at least while playing solo.

My advice is to be very, very aggressive while focusing on doing as many parries and executions as possible to stay alive.
Don't be afraid to throw yourself into an horde either, you'll heal yourself just by killing the minor enemies.
 

GymWolf

Member
Definetly not a way to go unscathed, at least while playing solo.

My advice is to be very, very aggressive while focusing on doing as many parries and executions as possible to stay alive.
Don't be afraid to throw yourself into an horde either, you'll heal yourself just by killing the minor enemies.
It feels a bit too arcadey and messy to me for now, i prefer a much more precise type of combat over this absolute chaos, everytime i survive i feel like i'm being lucky and not because i'm playing well (even if it is not the case), it's hard to explain.
 

PanzerCute

Member
It feels a bit too arcadey and messy to me for now, i prefer a much more precise type of combat over this absolute chaos, everytime i survive i feel like i'm being lucky and not because i'm playing well (even if it is not the case), it's hard to explain.
It does feel like that when you start the game, but the combat is very precise in the end: there are ennemies to prioritize (long range and flying ones), waves to contain, elite mobs to fight in cqc, dodges and parries to master and finish moves to keep your armor up.

In the end, and especially after you start playing operations, you will understand more the gameplay loop and notice that you are able to not lose any health if you play well. That's the purpose of their armor system, and I think their goal was to make you always on the edge to keep maximum pressure at you. Which to me is the definition of a good action game.

Enjoy!
 

GymWolf

Member
It does feel like that when you start the game, but the combat is very precise in the end: there are ennemies to prioritize (long range and flying ones), waves to contain, elite mobs to fight in cqc, dodges and parries to master and finish moves to keep your armor up.

In the end, and especially after you start playing operations, you will understand more the gameplay loop and notice that you are able to not lose any health if you play well. That's the purpose of their armor system, and I think their goal was to make you always on the edge to keep maximum pressure at you. Which to me is the definition of a good action game.

Enjoy!
Yeah i'm sure it's gonna feel better after a while but when i said losing health i was speaking about armour aswell, i consider that just additional health bars and i don't think there is a way to completely avoid damage even if you play like a god i think, too many enemies on screen to not get touched at all, something always chips away your armour/health, it's not like enemies stop attacking while you prioritize ranged enemies or when you deal with bigger enemies.

But sure i understand what the devs are trying to achieve.
 
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thatJohann

Member
One thing I don't like about this game are the missions where you have to protect things like generators or escort characters or protect characters or capture the flag etc. I HATE those missions in all games and more on this one since there have been multiple instances already and I'm about 50% thru with the campaign.

Playing on Speed mode, not as bothered with the drops. TBH, not as bad as people have made them out to be or i just am no longer bothered by them but haven't thought about the drops a single time in my playthru.
 

Chuck Berry

Gold Member
I definitely am going to play this sooner than later (I know nothing about Warhammer)

But Id prefer to run through the first game which Im seeing is not only hard to find for consoles, but its pretty fucking pricey to boot

Prices on Amazon are $100+ and on eBay you're looking at over $50 just for the disc.
 

GymWolf

Member
I definitely am going to play this sooner than later (I know nothing about Warhammer)

But Id prefer to run through the first game which Im seeing is not only hard to find for consoles, but its pretty fucking pricey to boot

Prices on Amazon are $100+ and on eBay you're looking at over $50 just for the disc.
It is like 4 euros on pc...
 
One thing I don't like about this game are the missions where you have to protect things like generators or escort characters or protect characters or capture the flag etc. I HATE those missions in all games and more on this one since there have been multiple instances already and I'm about 50% thru with the campaign.

Playing on Speed mode, not as bothered with the drops. TBH, not as bad as people have made them out to be or i just am no longer bothered by them but haven't thought about the drops a single time in my playthru.

Don't know man, I just finished the 2nd mission (protect the antennas) and...I should have waited for a patch, it feels like playing in slow-mo, but most importantly, it messes up with the gameplay since the input lag skyrockets...
It really, REALLY detracts from the whole experience and frankly, it's inexcusable for a 70 eurodollars product, either tone shit down, optimize it better or, I don't know, don't release it in such state ? How my opinion has changed in such a short time...

PSA : To anyone who's sensitive/gets annoyed by framerate drops, DO NOT GET IT for the PS5, it runs very, very bad, 70 Euros for a game in this state is inexcusable, I'll take the FSR ghosting-athon and pixel crawling of Wukong anytime over this.

To the back catalog this goes, Fucking Sony really is going to make me buy a Pro, isn't it ?
 
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Chuck Berry

Gold Member
Never asked about your bowel movements, but i can't even imagine how a non-politically correct shit looks like tbh, is it still brown and smelly?

bored kanye west GIF
 

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
I played the first 2 acts of g5 at launch on pc maxed out and it was nowhere near sm2, i doubt that a graphic update made much of a difference tbh unless they completely rewritten the whole game (which i doubt) but i'm a bit biased, i never thought g5 looked that impressive even in the past gen, especially for being a small non-open world game.





As you can see, the main difference is in proper SSAO, contact shadows as well as other features which are blending all objects in the environment, as well as there's far more objects that cast shadows and on characters as well. SM2 lacks a lot of these features cuz they're very GPU hungry and I believe they removed all that from the game to improve performance - a year ago it was very bad. I made these screens from the prologue, but even here you can clearly see a huge difference and just how packed the environments are in the game and just how much objects and stuff are there. These are just a few screens, I haven't played more after the update. Proper SSAO and contact shadows make a huge difference in any game and completely removing flat appearance of the whole image and there's a lot of flat looking objects in SM2 as well as almost complete lack of contact shadows not only in the environment, but also on characters and Titus for that matter.

I mean, the game looks effin' awesome even the way it is, but I just can't help but notice these imperfections which shouldn't even be there on PC at least to make the game future proof and make all the art look as best as possible.
 
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thatJohann

Member
Don't know man, I just finished the 2nd mission (protect the antennas) and...I should have waited for a patch, it feels like playing in slow-mo, but most importantly, it messes up with the gameplay since the input lag skyrockets...
It really, REALLY detracts from the whole experience and frankly, it's inexcusable for a 70 eurodollars product, either tone shit down, optimize it better or, I don't know, don't release it in such state ? How my opinion has changed in such a short time...

PSA : To anyone who's sensitive/gets annoyed by framerate drops, DO NOT GET IT for the PS5, it runs very, very bad, 70 Euros for a game in this state is inexcusable, I'll take the FSR ghosting-athon and pixel crawling of Wukong anytime over this.

To the back catalog this goes, Fucking Sony really is going to make me buy a Pro, isn't it ?
Interesting, well I guess as I get older I don't mind the frame drops as much, it has not hindered my experience at all. But I get we're all more sensitive to drops than others.
 

GymWolf

Member





As you can see, the main difference is in proper SSAO, contact shadows as well as other features which are blending all objects in the environment, as well as there's far more objects that cast shadows and on characters as well. SM2 lacks a lot of these features cuz they're very GPU hungry and I believe they removed all that from the game to improve performance - a year ago it was very bad. I made these screens from the prologue, but even here you can clearly see a huge difference and just how packed the environments are in the game and just how much objects and stuff are there. These are just a few screens, I haven't played more after the update. Proper SSAO and contact shadows make a huge difference in any game and completely removing flat appearance of the whole image and there's a lot of flat looking object in SM2 as well as almost complete lack of contact shadows not only in the environment, but also on characters and Titus for that matter.

I mean, the game looks effin' awesome even the way it is, but I just can't help but notice these imperfections which shouldn't even be there on PC at least to make the game future proof and make all the art look as best as possible.

Ok i get it, i usually don't give a fuck about shadows or lights so to me sm2 just look better because the texture and assets are better (art design is also more striking), i don't even notice all the lacking shadows or ao or whatever.

To sm2 look far better than your pics but it probably focus on other things compared to g5.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member


this is a great review and covers it all pretty much. He really gets why this is such a great package and value for money compared to what we players are used to in the modern era.

the bit where he writes off the PvP and then admits that he's completely invested even though there's no reward outside of enjoying the PvP.... yes BECAUSE ITS GOOD!!!
 

GymWolf

Member
this is a great review and covers it all pretty much. He really gets why this is such a great package and value for money compared to what we players are used to in the modern era.

the bit where he writes off the PvP and then admits that he's completely invested even though there's no reward outside of enjoying the PvP.... yes BECAUSE ITS GOOD!!!
Did they solved all the problems related to the multyplayer part? I remember the launch being pretty rough.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
this is a great review and covers it all pretty much. He really gets why this is such a great package and value for money compared to what we players are used to in the modern era.

the bit where he writes off the PvP and then admits that he's completely invested even though there's no reward outside of enjoying the PvP.... yes BECAUSE ITS GOOD!!!
PvP is fantastic, I haven't played a purely competitive MP this much since Doom16.
 

STARSBarry

Gold Member
Did they solved all the problems related to the multyplayer part? I remember the launch being pretty rough.

You still get some weird glitch where you search and just can't find any matches for some reason. But as long as your staying in your games and not leaving and joining matches it works fine 90% of the time
 

GymWolf

Member
You still get some weird glitch where you search and just can't find any matches for some reason. But as long as your staying in your games and not leaving and joining matches it works fine 90% of the time
Wait, so i have to play as host to not have problems? I usually always join other people because i don't wanna wait other 3 people to join me.

That doesn't sound fixed at all.
 
Wait, so i have to play as host to not have problems? I usually always join other people because i don't wanna wait other 3 people to join me.

That doesn't sound fixed at all.

I think they mean once you’re in a lobby, as long as you stay, you’re good. You don’t get disconnected from matches or lobbies, but initially getting into a match can be a problem. That’s my experience on Xbox anyway.

this is a great review and covers it all pretty much. He really gets why this is such a great package and value for money compared to what we players are used to in the modern era.

the bit where he writes off the PvP and then admits that he's completely invested even though there's no reward outside of enjoying the PvP.... yes BECAUSE ITS GOOD!!!

Yep. A shame that people need a constant flow of unlocks and XP to stay engaged instead of good gameplay.
 
Wrapped up the campaign this evening. I played a bunch of PVP already so I think it took around 9 hours. It's definitely not the second coming some made it out to be, but it's a fine game and I would like to see more games present a 10 hour campaign with multiplayer.

It really picked up for me on the second planet and I really had a good time fighting some of those enemies. I also enjoyed the boss fights. I played on normal, but no way am I putting myself through hard as a solo player.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
So how do the guns feel in this? Chunky? Heavy? Heavy chunky?
The basic automatic weapon is the Boltgun, a weapon bigger than you that shoots explosive kinetic rounds. Sounds loud, packs a punch and will tear the xenos to pieces.

Does it feel good to kill things is what Im asking
It feels great. Tons of gore and more than a few execution animations, like 3 or so per enemy type. Overall very good feedback when killing stuff, although imo the sound design could be better since the sawblade could sound louder.
 
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Alex11

Member
Decided to give it another try, getting used to the parry stuff, it's better, but there are still some weird stuff.
I still think the range fuckers shouldn't have that good aim or tone down how often they shoot, with the horde and the parry xenos, it's a bit too messy at times.

And why did they have to change the jump pack by making it on cooldown? And also with the hover and the hold button to slam the ground, unnecessary changes, it isn't fun, it's a big step down from the 1st one.
 

Mossybrew

Gold Member
So how do the guns feel in this? Chunky? Heavy? Heavy chunky?

Does it feel good to kill things is what Im asking

Aside from the melter/megamelter and maybe the snipers and charged plasma shots they feel like they are shooting bb pellets, though the gunfeel and sound is pretty good. You're gonna have to get up close and do melee work for most of your kills. I do appreciate how Skillup points out the over-emphasis on executions in the gameplay loop.
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
Is it possible to complete those Operations missions solo or are they really made for co op?

You can... but it is incredibly diffcult compared to campaign. As they are designed to be around 3 people who use the strengths of their class. Effectively you will be bringing two perkless team mates with unupgraded guns, meaning the harder levels unless you take a broken meta build like the tactical grenade launcher makes them almost impossible.

Just play with randoms, it's a much better experience.
 

gatti-man

Member
I literally asked in this topic and the answer was that you have to deal with constant hordes and trash mobs for 90% of the campaign, even when you fight bigger enemies, trash mobs are almost always there to annoy you.

The couple of reviews i saw said pretty much the same thing and all the footage i saw always has these small xenomorph around you all the fucking time except when you fight the spacemarine that explode into purple stuff.

And he\we are talking about the campaign, not the operations, i know those are different, but for me the campaign is the major selling point.
Yes there are enemies in the game. You do kill stuff that outnumbers you….. not sure what you expected from an SP about space marines. By your description halo gears basically any non platforming action game is horde mode.
 

GymWolf

Member
Yes there are enemies in the game. You do kill stuff that outnumbers you….. not sure what you expected from an SP about space marines. By your description halo gears basically any non platforming action game is horde mode.
I mean we are discussing semantics, but Halo and gears play completely different from space marine and not every fps or tps is horde mode, unless you think that something like tlou2 play also like space marine during the action moments, different games are differently paced and not everyone has the same chaos level of space marine where you can't avoid constant damage no matter how good you are and it's a run in outdamaging the enemies, in halo you can retreat, you can snipe, you can use veichles etc., gears is more direct but you are never inside a group of 20 small enemies constantly fucking your HP, 80% of the time you shot from behind a cover, and there is way less emphasis on melee.
The closest thing to space marine 2 is doom eternal and even in that case you can notice some differences here and there.
Hell even games that have hordes play completely different because you don't fight a 500 zombie horde in days gone the way you fight an horde in space marine.
I've seen a, mediocre, streamer complete all operations with 1 friend and 1 bot, so it should be possible solo.
One friend make all the difference in the world when bots are uncapable of following objectives and are only good for shooting enemies and stealing finishers.

Of course it's doable solo, it's just annoying more than fun because you have to take care of the antennas (and it's not like you clear by shooting for 1-2 sec, it's way longer because sometimes you have to move in another place to clear the other side), the horde of small enemies, the bigger enemies, the ranged enemies and the floating brains that both shot at you and create a distortion of the screen, 2 humans can just adopt a strategy where one clear the antennas and one take care of the enemies on the ground with more efficency than the bots.

The game clearly feel balanced for coop on the highest difficulties (during these moments at least) even if you can power through alone, it's like killing a monster in MH with hp for 4 players, it's doable but annoying.
 
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GymWolf

Member
Throw a grenade at it and you'll clear 90% of the enemies.
I tried but the granade doesn't explode on impact, it falls down in the void and only kill a bunch of them (sorry for the english i don't know else to describe what happen).

I'm gonna try again tonight, maybe i have to aim better.
 
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Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
Jesus this defend the antenna mission is so shit in solo...


For a game that challenge modernity, this thing has some suicide squad gaas tier missions design alright...
Its hard as hell in solo, took me hours to beat it. (on veteran)

The game really hits its stride after that mission.

I have since dropped the difficulty to Normal, and am having more fun with the game. I want to feel like a fucking 10 foot tall killing machine.
 

GymWolf

Member
Its hard as hell in solo, took me hours to beat it. (on veteran)

The game really hits its stride after that mission.

I have since dropped the difficulty to Normal, and am having more fun with the game. I want to feel like a fucking 10 foot tall killing machine.
I think i'm gonna stay on vetaran, i heard that normal is way too easy and i need some challenge, especially in a game with a short campaign, maybe i can turn 6 hours into 10 or 12, i'm not against dying a lot.
 
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Represent.

Represent(ative) of bad opinions
I think i'm gonna stay on vetaran, i heard that normal is way too easy and i need some challenge, especially in a game with a short campaign, maybe i can turn 6 hours to 10 or 12, i'm not against dying a lot.
I agree there feels like there should be a difficulty between normal and veteran.

But I decided if I wanna get my ass kicked every 2 minutes, I will play Wukong. In Space Marine 2 I wanna be the fucking bad guy

As for the Antenna mission... Sprinting.. Bolt Rifle WITH GRENADE LAUNCHER. And keep re-filling your frags.

Later in the game you get sticky grenades which wouldve been nice there.
 

Alex11

Member
I mean we are discussing semantics, but Halo and gears play completely different from space marine and not every fps or tps is horde mode, unless you think that something like tlou2 play also like space marine during the action moments, different games are differently paced and not everyone has the same chaos level of space marine where you can't avoid constant damage no matter how good you are and it's a run in outdamaging the enemies, in halo you can retreat, you can snipe, you can use veichles etc., gears is more direct but you are never inside a group of 20 small enemies constantly fucking your HP, 80% of the time you shot from behind a cover, and there is way less emphasis on melee.
The closest thing to space marine 2 is doom eternal and even in that case you can notice some differences here and there.
Hell even games that have hordes play completely different because you don't fight a 500 zombie horde in days gone the way you fight an horde in space marine.
I thought I was the only one to not see any similarities with Gears, other than yeah, it's a gritty world.

That's the thing with this game, at least on solo campaign, (as this is the only thing I'm interested in) you have to view the health bar differently and ignore how you like to play.
It's a game where you constantly chase the big xenos for parry and life, it's a game where you play exactly how the devs want you to play.
It's fun, but it could be much, much more fun.
 
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