Space Hulk Ascension - Dark Angels
The Defence
The Prosecution
AMD equivalent
AMD Radeon HD 5850
The Case
Repent! For Tomorrow You Die! The Unforgiving have arrived and they shall have no mercy!
The Trial
Clad in near impervious armour, a small squad of super engineered soldiers march through a derelict wreck their steps echoing down the corridor. Brother Castus, leading the squad was all too aware that the foe was near, stalking them, waiting for the moment to strike. Reaching a crossroad of corridors, a fateful choice awaited him. The Xenos were ready; he knew that, but which way was best? The probes having failed to map the Space Hulk completely during their initial scans, he had to go by instinct. ‘Brother Samuel, cover the left corridor.’ ‘Yes, Captain.’ came the reply as Samuel moved into position, ponderous but sure, scanning down the hallway stormbolter in hand.
Suddenly Castus noticed movement; it was the faintest of shapes that had momentarily covered one of the lights that the Machine God sustained even hundreds of years after the vessel had been lost. ‘Brother Rhamiel, up front. Be ready to flame the beasts.’ ‘With pleasure, Captain.’ Rhamiel readied his weapon, a small flame lighting up the surrounding. The beasts knew that they had been spotted and the noise of their claws on metal could be heard as they came full on. ‘Rhamiel, Castus, you hold them here. Brothers, down right, advance. Let’s drive these Xenos back’. The remained of the squad advanced. Behind them they heard the steady bursts of gunfire and shrieks as explosive rounds ripped apart flesh. ‘Burn you vile creatures’ came the voice of Rhamiel over the vox and the squad made out a jet of flame and light from where they had come.
Advancing further, the armoury came in sight. The objective was close. Suddenly, movement. The roar of a Bolter answered it, with rounds smacking off the walls and ceiling. The Xenos ran off, unscathed and unharmed. ‘Brother Rashiel, do not waste what the Emperor has given. Additional bouts for you in the shooting pit’ ‘Yes, Brother Castus’. Why is it that some of the best franchise often produce the worst games? With all the passion and fluff out there, you'd think the overall basis of each game is set from day one. Sadly, Warhammer has been pure hit and miss. Hardly a game ever got to the point where we'd call it 'ok-ish'. They were atrocious or pure gold. I loved Space Hulk Ascension but did have two gripes. First, no Dark Angels. I mean really? The finest of chapters, the one with an actual 'human' backstory, omitted? The second, a lack of diversity between the existing chapters. Now, with the Dark Angels DLC, both problems have kind of disappeared. I got to admit, I love the title completely now. Sure enough, the game still plays the same but the chapter plays like something quite different. Sure, the initial impression feels like more of the same old but start unlocking some of the more special abilities and weapons and you got yourself an all new experience. The plasma cannon certainly is good at blowing up genestealers and the Apothecary adds an exclusive squad leader capable not only of acting as a glorious leader but also buffing up your terminators abilities when needed. That being said, overall – and this might be pure by the fact that I played quite a lot of Space Hulk – the game feels a bit easier than previous installments. Truly the only issue I have with the DLC is somewhat of a pet peeve. Even though the Dark Angels add to the longevity of the title, the game needs to progress overall. Take Audio design. Especially the responses of your squad get old fast and personalized comms would greatly benefit the appeal of each DLC in itself. Having played three of the chapters, I can tell you that it’s rather tedious always hearing the same voices and responses. That being said, this is probably not going to happen as the developers have gone out of business. Sure enough, DLC production seems to continue but I doubt we shall see specific improvements to the present core experience. The question is, is it worth the money? That's were things get kind of sketchy. With each DLC costing €7.99 to a €27.99 base game, you probably have to be somewhat of a fan of each chapter to actually pick it up. The replay value does come with each purchase but once you've got the guys you want (for me that’s the Dark Angels), would I ever bother to pick up another one? Probably not. Dark Angels adds exactly what I wanted to Space Hulk Ascension. I am bias that way, that's my full disclosure. I loved replaying this game with my favourite chapter and if you are a Warhammer 40K Dark Angels fan too and loved Ascension thus far, so will you.
The Verdict
Case Review
- Dark Angles: Need I say more?
- Chapter Personalization: New gear and characters.
- Space Hulk Ascension: The same gameplay remains .
- Multiplayer: None, sadly, but we know it won't happen.
- DLC: DLCs keep coming but loose value each time.
Appeal
Return to the Space Hulk and feel the sorrow of the Dark Angels, the Emperor wills it! Not the sorrow Dark Angels themselves are feeling though, no, don’t get me wrong. The sorrow of the Xeno filth will as you blast them in the face with your brand spanking new plasma cannon. Yeah, ‘bout time we had them in our loadout aye? And yes, they’re as awesome as ever. I mean, how can they not be? They’re plasma cannons for crying out loud!
The Angels themselves, honestly, do very little to distinguish themselves from the other chapters, in game, aside from this however. Functionally, they all play pretty much the same to begin with, but the Angels’ lack of bonus traits (+10 ranged, -5 melee for example) leaves them feeling a bit...middle of the road-y. But still, plasma cannons. Not something to be scoffed at, no siry. They also have a decent amount of aesthetic customisation options, allowing you, for once, to have a full complement of ten marines that all have different heads, adornments and accessories.
They also come with a new campaign which includes close on two dozen new missions. Which are more of the same, granted, but it gives you more time to rove the galaxy, stomping Xenos in the face with your chosen squad of ultimate badasses. Something which is appreciated considering the persisting lack of an online or flashpoint style system. All in all, it’s more of the same, and if you like that, you’ll like this. There’s a fair whack of content, including some Psi powers (but who cares? Plasma cannons!) offering a decent incentive to add this to your Hulking.
Appeal
Space Hulk Ascension has been at the very least interesting. Based on Warhammer 40,000 lore, Ascension pits Space Marines against skeleton aliens called “Genestealers”. But that’s the basics, we’re here to talk about the Dark Angels DLC.
At its basic level Dark Angels adds several additions to the game, a new playable group, a weapon, Class, new spells, and the Sorrow Campaign complete with 20 story missions and 20 flash missions. The campaign adds a couple hours and the Chapter of Dark Angels adds much more customizability to your squad. I will always make a point of mentioning this; this game does not support multi-monitor play. You can do it, but there’s nothing to gain. HUD is scattered to the outer edge, and fog of war makes it completely pointless anyways. No points lost for lack of support.
I personally didn’t have too much fun with this game or the DLC. It was enjoyable to an extent, but repetition made it quickly unenjoyable. Audio queues were outlandishly unbalanced, creating both extreme quiets as well as piercing screams with almost no warning. Even on normal, I feel some of missions would have been balanced for the “Hard” difficulty.
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