Space Hulk Review (PC)

good
key review info
  • Game: Space Hulk
  • Platform: PC
  • Show system requirements
  • Gamepad support: No
  • Reviewed on:
Space Marine glow

I don’t know how much more Space Hulk I can play through without switching to something a little sunnier and more optimistic, because the game that Full Control has created manages to capture the dark heart of the Warhammer 40,000 universe and pair it with a set of solid and unforgiving mechanics.

The story at the core of Space Hulk is simple: Space Marines, the Emperor’s finest fighting force, board one of the big derelict ships floating through space and are quickly locked in a close quarter battle with the Genestealers, the advanced guard of the Tyranid alien invaders.

The player needs to perform missions, each with clear objectives, in order to make sure that the Space Marines triumph and the biological threats are eliminated.

Space Hulk is turn based and, even more importantly, heavily influenced by terrain.

A player needs to first place his Space Marine Terminators on the map and then he can use their action point reserves to move, shoot, enter Guard or Overwatch and create strong tactical positions that can survive the alien attack.

There’s some variety of the weaponry that can be used (everyone will quickly learn to love the flamer) and to the types of Terminators included, but mostly good positioning and a solid reserve of Control Points to help with jams are needed to get through the Tyranid turn.

The ancient spaceship is mostly made up of narrow corridors and small staging areas, which means that Space Marines can rarely get by each other and only one can shoot down one corridor most of the time.

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We are LEGION
Brother Marcion, the usurper
This makes the game a highly complex movement puzzles at its core and planning ahead is a requirement for any successful leader.

That means players need to take their time, study the level, move cautiously, accept that some losses are inevitable and always keep track of their objectives rather than the number of aliens they kill.

There are times when luck, mostly seen in the number of times bolters are jammed in one turn, makes the entire experience feel unfair, especially when a valuable sergeant dies because he locked up his weapon three times in quick succession.

But mostly, defeat comes from tactical mistakes and it’s a pleasure to get overrun only to instantly start planning how else you can approach a level and reach your objective.

Space Hulk is not the greatest-looking game, but the graphics are perfectly serviceable as long as the player stays at a medium zoom and focuses on the tactical movement of his characters.

The game does itself a disservice by zooming in each time a Genestealer gets killed, because it gives players a chance to notice the rather limited animations and somewhat weird texturing on the aliens.

The Terminators themselves look much better and the overall interface is well designed and offers gamers all the information they need about the battles and the rolled dice.

The sound design is better because it drops music and focuses on ambient noises and on the weird sounds coming from the Tyranids, increasing the tension level in significant ways.

Multiplayer is also a possibility in Space Hulk, either with random enemies online or with friends.

The game asks players to create a profile of their own rather than use the one offered by Steam, which makes sense given its multiplatform launch, but can take a little bit of fiddling to set up.

Once a game is launched, it offers both the Space Marine and the Tyranid Genestealer player plenty of opportunities to set up traps, perform spectacular advancements and heroic rearguard operations.

The problem is that the multiplayer takes time to play because there's no time limit for a turn and I think that it would be best enjoyed by two friends who can coordinate to deliver their moves at specific intervals.

Space Hulk is a good tactics-driven game that at times can seem too hard and a little too dependent on luck.

But the monumental challenge of battling the infinite number of Genestealers with the limited powers of the Terminator Space Marines has quickly grabbed my attention and I’m likely to play through the entire campaign at least once, however long that might take.

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story 7
gameplay 8
concept 8
graphics 6
audio 8
multiplayer 7
final rating 7.5
Editor's review
good