I’ve been enjoying the hell out of Space Marine’s multiplayer mode, probably more than I’ve enjoyed an online game in some time. It’s pretty thin on maps and classes, but in a way that allows for some very fine tuning. It’s like a really well-cooked steak with nothing on it and no side dishes.
I’ve been looking online for some guides to playing the game, but it’s starting to look like the multiplayer community may be deserted in favor of the big games coming out in the next few weeks. Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 are both waiting in the wings to snap up fans of high-caliber online violence, and Batman: Arkham City just ate all of the nerd gamers. Still, they say that if you can’t find what you need, build it, so here are some thought on playing the easiest class in the game and thus the one I feel most confident in holding forth regarding: the Assault Marine/Chaos Raptor (ASM).
General Combat
• Run. If you’re not jumping, keep sprinting. There’s no reason to walk.
• If you just tap the Jump button you’ll do a little hop-charge forward. This is great for keeping up with roll-happy Tac marines, and will get you through a lot of one-on-one matchups against enemies who try to back away and shoot.
• Remember to throw a stun attack into each combo; try to strike as many times as you can, but use the stun before the enemy gets to strike back. You know when an ASM hits you and you can’t shoot him or strike him? That’s the stun move. Use it.
• Against other ASM, stun as fast as you can.
• If you throw a grenade or two as you are at the top of your jump, you’ll land as they go off. If you throw a grenade or two at the start of your jump, you’ll land right after they go off. One of these outcomes is better than the other.
• Dying with grenades in your pocket sucks. Throw both of them. You can get more grenades off the ground if you live.
• Stay out of places with low ceilings. Obvious, but there it is.
• You can jump farther than you think you can. The trick is to run right off an edge and fall forward for a moment before firing your jump pack. This can often be the difference between landing on top of the next ledge or landing on the floor in front of it.
• You don’t always need to jump to attack someone. The jump pack is bright and noisy; if you’re already behind an enemy, run up and start swinging and you can kill them before they know what’s going on.
• When dive-bombing an enemy, the best position to land is 1) Behind the enemy, facing his back. Next best is 2) Behind the enemy, but not facing him yet. DO NOT land 3) In front of an enemy.
• Keep the numbers on your side. Find a buddy to team up with, and try not to jump into groups of enemies unless you know disrupting them is worth it, e.g. if you have friends a second behind you to take advantage.
• Use your Bolt Pistol in these situations: 1) You are jumping around and you’re out of grenades, and you see an enemy that you can’t reach with a ground pound. 2) You are jumping away from a fight you can’t win, and you’re out of grenades. 3) You are capping a point and can’t leave to attack the enemy. 4) You’re a better shot then me and can rack up headshot kills. 5) You see a blob of enemies that you can’t take out in close combat, but want to disrupt.
Seize Ground Strategy
• I play with the following priorities: 1) Take and maintain control of the point closes to my base 2) Take a point in the middle of the map 3) Kill Devastators 4) Kill lone enemy Tac marines 5) Decap the point closest to the enemy base. I’m running through this list constantly, and I do the first thing on the list that needs attention. If my base’s point is being lost, I drop everything and get there.
• That said, do like they do in football and play on the other side of the ball. If the other team is putting pressure on the middle flag or your base, try and slip into their backfield to cause some problems. If you can slow the flow of enemies out of their base, your team can push them back. If you can get behind the Devastators holding the middle of the field, you can kill them or distract them long enough for someone else to kill them, and then your team is taking the momentum back.
• The player with 0 kills, 10 deaths, and 8 point captures is the team MVP.
I’ll be back later with another post on what to do in each of the particular maps in the game.
-ssr
Okay, I don’t even remotely want to play this game and I read this whole thing (understanding most of it). “One of these outcomes is better than the other”. Shouldn’t that be on a Darwin statue somewhere? =]