If you, like me, are anxiously waiting for August 26th for the release of Gears of War: Reloaded and are jonesing to get your Gears fix, let me introduce you to a game that could help tide you over until then—Space Marine. Specifically, the recently released Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition, which is a remaster of the original 2011 Xbox 360 game. 

Space Marine 2 was one of my favourite games from last year. The third-person action gameplay reminded me so much of the Gears franchise, from how your tank-like character moved to the way the guns felt. I loved it so much that I finished the campaign three times, once solo and twice with friends in co-op. Even as someone who had no prior experience with the Warhammer 40K universe, the story, world, and characters were accessible for a new audience and were incredibly intriguing, to the extent that I even went ahead and read through one of the trilogies of books within this universe after completing the game.  

So, as you might imagine, when a remaster of the original Space Marine was announced, I had to jump on it. I’d never played the original, so I was excited to see how Captain Titus’ story began. A few hours in, and I’m having an absolute blast. Sure, the graphics aren’t anywhere near as good as Space Marine 2 since this is a simple remaster and not a full remake, which also means some of the gameplay polish that can be found in the sequel is also not here. Still, I was surprised at how well it played. The movement doesn’t feel all that far from SM2, and the guns each have an “oomph” that makes firing them incredibly satisfying to both the eyes and ears. 

There’s also a fairly active multiplayer, from PvE modes that pit your party of four against wave after wave of increasingly tough orcs, to standard PvP affairs. Matchmaking can be a hit or miss at times, but if you have a couple of friends to bring along, I can’t imagine not having a great time in here.  

The game isn’t being particularly well received by fans of the series, unfortunately. Many players find the $40 price-tag a “blatant cash grab” given the minimal differences between this and previous editions of the game. Though I can understand that and agree that such a price-point is a tad too high for what you’re getting here, as someone who’s playing the title for the first time via Game Pass, this is exactly what I was hoping for. Also, it’s interesting that a company like Nintendo can get away with egregious practices like this (sometimes even worse as they often charge full price) and aren’t nearly as condemned for it. Nevertheless, if you love old-school Gears and want to tear through hordes of orcs with super fun weapons, Space Marine: Master Crafted Edition will more than scratch that itch until you can get back into the boots of Marcus Fenix, especially if you’re a Game Pass subscriber.