Horde mentality
Could there be a more archetypal videogame image than that of a space marine standing firm as alien bodies crash against their armour, a lone bulwark holding back the swarm? It might equally describe Gears Of War or StarCraft or any number of titles holding the actual Aliens licence; even Space Invaders, when you strip away the specifics of the presentation. Because what really matters here isn’t the thematic dressing: the horde could equally be composed of giant ants or velociraptors or zombies or, arguably, the dirt that awaits a good powerwashing. Stripped back to its essential elements, it is simply an enemy that poses no real threat individually, and possesses no apparent cunning, but does have on its side the simple superpower of quantity.
Space Marine 2 might be the purest realisation of this concept we’ve ever seen. This sequel switches out the original game’s Ork foes (that other cornerstone of disposable, guilt-free cannon fodder) for Tyranids, and repurposes Saber Interactive’s Swarm Engine to throw them at the battlefield in breathtaking numbers, chittering and climbing over one another in the manner of Focus stablemate A Plague Tale’s swarming rats. Then, having made an awful mess of the place, the game hands you a boltgun and a chainsword – the 40K equivalent of a mop and bucket – and politely asks you to clean up.
Bullets prove an inefficient janitorial tool: even rank-and-file Hormagaunts can absorb a few shots, which, when they number in the hundreds, is a recipe for tedium. Grenades are handy, sending bodies wheeling into the air by the dozen, but strictly limited in number. The answer, then, is to get up close. Catch one of these Tyranids in the whirring teeth of your blade and they’ll go down almost instantly; parry an incoming attack and you might grab hold of its tail with a gauntleted fist, swinging to slam its face into the ground.
The game hands you a boltgun and a chainsword and politely asks you to clean up
As you wade into these crowds, blocking isn’t a conc
