Space Marine 1 was a perfectly serviceable shooter. I don't mean that in a negative way, or in a positive way, so much as... well, a neutral one. It's showing it's age in many ways - clunky keyboard controls (Though, full keyboard mapping (even if questionable) unlike some contemporary titles such as Dark souls), Unremarkable story and strangely variable balance - but ultimately, does pretty well in it's SP campaign and doesn't outstay it's welcome. Unfortunately, the story of this game doesn't end there, due to the incredibly frustrating MP completion requirements.
Let me preface all this by saying that, in and of itself, the Campaign of Space Marine 1 is ultimately solid, decently paced, and while it has some balance issues when it comes to things like explosives or laser beams, it's a good time and something that I thought was not a bad experience. It was decent fun, and while I probably won't play it again, I had enough of a good time to say that if you don't care about completing games, this is a great choice for a session or two as you finish up the campaign and have some cool moments. If, however, you do care about completing games, or you want good value for money, then you should *not* get this title under any circumstances.
About 40% of the game's completion rewards are geared towards a completely dead MP scene. Why Warhammer games seem to have this unhealthy fascination with multiplayer is beyond me, but just about every single Warhammer game i've ever looked at has some kind of parasitic MP mode tacked on with several achievements related to it. I can't even say it's a product of the times, because they're still doing it today. Grinding dead MP lobbies with recruited allies to grind out a bunch of dumb achievements that haven't been earned in the spirit that they were intended to be in likely a decade at this point is something I've grown used to, but is certainly something I do not enjoy. Listen, Games Workshop, I do not have five friends I can reliably summon at a moment's notice to play these old titles with me, to check off the "spend hours killing each other for internet points" box. Even if I did, I would be loath to ask them, because it's not fun, entertaining, or a good use of time. Stop doing this. Stop trying to shoehorn in MP into all your titles. The combat in this game is not notable, interesting or varied enough to warrant anyone wanting to play this at length in MP, especially not nowadays when Space Marine 2 is out.
Space Marine 1 is a decent third person shooter that proves completely tedious to completionists. If the campaign was remarkable, remarkable enough that I think it alone would be worth the sale price, this would be positive. However, given as it's only considered to be about 60% of the game, or about 20% of the playtime, It's absolutely not worth it. I really hope that one day, I can play a Warhammer game that *doesn't* have this problem in it.
