When it comes to sci-fi franchises, few are as criminally under-appreciated by mainstream nerd-type culture as the Warhammer franchise. After years of Relic Entertainment's excellent Dawn of War RTS games on PC garnering only decent (but not amazing) success and the disappointment that EA/Mythic's...

Darkness crowds the world. Countless foes, alien and human alike, threaten the might of the Imperium of Man. The Emperor, once the last shining beacon of all that humanity strives to be...

+ Visceral; engaging gameplay; + Lots of fan service for 40k devotees; + Great art direction and set pieces; + Incredible customization feature

Some occasional visual glitches; Not much variety in mission structure; Thin story for the uninitiated; Multiplayer is too derivative

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is an action-RPG title that will put you in control of individual units throughout a narrative-driven story campaign and in wide-scale online battles.

"In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war" is the strap-line that describes life in the 41st millennium. Humanity, having expanded across the galaxy, faces destruction not only from within, but also against nightmarish and brutal aliens.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine Tested and reviewed based on the Xbox 360 version. Review by Ben Nacca (Follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/BenNacca ) XBL GT: Darkeyes2k7 PSN ID: Darkeyes2k11 For those of you who have played Dawn of War series, a real time strategy (RTS) game on the PC, Space...

Great cutscenes | Fantastic sound | Immersive campaign

Lots of cutscenes break up the gameplay | Multiplayer could be a flop

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine will undoubtedly hold the most appeal for players of Games Workshop's miniatures wargame of the same name. The action game is steeped in its parent game's mythology, and features many of the units and weapons that fans have spent hours lovingly painting.

" Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine " is a fantastic piece of fan service that offers an amazing action game in its own right with beautiful art and audio design. The blend of guns and melee is executed better here than in any other game I can think of, and the rich fiction is boiled down well to...

Strategy is well matched with the Warhammer tabletop game, but being a fast paced third-person action game, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine requires much less in the way of thought and, consequently, will be unfamiliar to many fans of the source material.

Space marines have become a bit of an industry cliché. You know the ones - blokes in big power suits armed with guns the size of an armchair, often slightly balding and they always speak in gruff, serious voices while scowling.

Space Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 universe are awesome. They're stronger than normal humans, better armed and more armored than regular soldiers. They also border on immortal since they age far slower than normal humans and are far harder to kill.

simple controls; story is pretty good; gorgeous visuals; solid RPG-style multiplayer; high level of customization in the multiplayer

Hit detection can go weird; Chaos really just seems kind of tacked on in the story; very linear and ultramarines again