Space Hulk AscensionReviewed by Philip Cole
Format Reviewed on; PC |
Publisher: Full Control
Developer: In-house Formats: Mac, PC Out: Now |
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One of the joys of working here at Backwards Compatible is that I get to relive moments of my childhood through the wonders of video games. If you’ve read my Warhammer Quest review you’ll know that was my first foray into the world of Games Workshop, but the true plastic crack that was Warhammer 40,000 was introduced to me by one game – Space Hulk. And it’s that board game which Full Control Studios emulated in their digital version and his improved upon for this sequel.
Now, I’ll start off by stating that this game is hard. Mentally hard. Your terminators, despite rocking some of the best armour the Imperium of Man can muster, are but tins of beans to the tin-openers that are Genestealers. If those bad boys get in close then you are, or shortly will be, toast. Covered in Beans. (That sounds delicious… maybe I should start a new army…), which means your only solace is tactics, and a smidge of luck. |
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There are several campaigns on offer, each based on a famous example of a Space Hulk found in the Warhammer 40,000 lore, and several different chapters are on offer that provide different bonuses, strengths and weaknesses depending on the chapter – You have the classic Blood Angels, and the new addition of Ultramarines, with the Space Wolves, Imperial Fists and Salamanders available as DLC – Stalwart first founding chapters. This is great for a lore geek like me and, combined with the fantastically 40k styled presentation of the UI and menus immediately tells you that Full Control have taken this world seriously.
Before jumping into a campaign I loaded up the tutorial, which is relatively quick to do but nicely covers all the pertinent gameplay requirements – No beginning levels that ease you into the game for us! The basic gameplay is the same as the board game. Each of your terminators have an amount of Action Points which are regenerated each turn, and allow you to perform actions like moving, shooting, punching and going into Overwatch. |
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This last one proves insanely important, as it readies your terminator to shoot anything that comes into their, extremely limited by the scenary, view. As most of the corridors are very narrow and you cannot shoot past your companions, you swiftly learn that stacking the terminators up in a conga line is one of the worst things you can do, as not only does it prevent other troopers from firing but also means a single genestealer can sometimes tear through the whole squad before they even fire a shot.
To top things off their weapons need reloading and cooling off, again for Action Points, and these are all things which need carefully consideration and balancing. There are also heavy weapon marines who can bathe areas in fire and (later on) use an assault cannon to mince the foes of the Emperor, and librarians who have psychic powers.
There is even a fairly simple levelling mechanic that means that keeping your terminators alive is much more valuable than treating them as disposable cannon fodder as they accrue experience to not only gain stats (which allow them to see further, shoot more accurately or do more in a turn) but also unlock weapons (woo combi weapons). This means that you can certainly grow attached to your squad, though you don’t crave level ups as you would in say, X-COM, as the results are marginally less interesting.
To top things off their weapons need reloading and cooling off, again for Action Points, and these are all things which need carefully consideration and balancing. There are also heavy weapon marines who can bathe areas in fire and (later on) use an assault cannon to mince the foes of the Emperor, and librarians who have psychic powers.
There is even a fairly simple levelling mechanic that means that keeping your terminators alive is much more valuable than treating them as disposable cannon fodder as they accrue experience to not only gain stats (which allow them to see further, shoot more accurately or do more in a turn) but also unlock weapons (woo combi weapons). This means that you can certainly grow attached to your squad, though you don’t crave level ups as you would in say, X-COM, as the results are marginally less interesting.
So I thought I’d be classic and go for Blood Angels and the ill-fated Sin of Damnation Hulk, the very event on which the Space Hulk board game is based. As the first level loaded I was met with the humming and throbbing innards of the Hulk, bathed in meagre lighting that highlight a few walls and my initial teleport entry points. Immediately you begin to feel the oppressive and claustrophobic atmosphere, reminiscent of something like Alien: Isolation, but the effect is even more impressive as you’re playing from an isometric perspective (What wizardry is this?!). As I started to move my terminators around the Hulk I noticed that when selecting a marine you get a little First person camera style Box out in the upper right, which shows you what your marines are seeing. This is a great little touch which further brings you into the creepy atmosphere of the Hulk and is something more games of this type would benefit from. Thumping (as there is no other word for the sound a terminator makes when it walks) my troops around the hulk in an attempt to achieve the objectives feels very real, and scary. These objectives can vary from taking an ancient scanner through the hulk or retrieving some equipment to closing bulkhead doors to prevent further genestealer reinforcements arriving, though I often found that many missions had a secondary objective of “kill all the gribblies” which meant that on occasion I was able to complete missions but forming a defensive ring in a room and overwatching over and over again, which does slightly kill the mood…
So as I said at the top of the review this game is very hard, unless you choose the “easy” objective, but this isn’t a bad thing. The original board game was tough as nails and you were more often likely to die a gruesome death than win when playing as the Space Marines, and the game goes a long way to replicate this. It’s a very faithful recreation but this does come with one major downside
Time.
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It can take a loooong time to finish even a single level of the game due to the limited movement the terminators have. A simple objective across the map can take 20 or 30 minutes to get to just because of how cautious you must be of the organic tin openers, covering all the angles and entry points and making sure no team member is left exposed. It can be fairly draining over a level, especially when a marine is ambushed and dies despite your best efforts (and once they’re dead, they’re gone!). Now this is fine when you’re playing a one off board game with some friends, but sat alone taking an hour to finish a mission only to be presented with another does mean it can wear you down and I found myself having to take breaks inbetween sessions in order to relax myself from the atmosphere the game creates (much to its credit!).
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Wrap Up
All in all, the game is a great turn based strategy game that has faithfully recreated a classic board game and doesn’t require you to know the ins and outs of the Warhammer universe to play. I think it could function very much as the board game did and be a gateway to further 40k adventures, but even if not it’s something that I definitely recommend. Just take your time and cover those hallways!
