In Space Marine 2, there is no greater joy than throwing yourself head-first into a seething mass of Tyranids. When you're fighting in melee range, the game does an incredible job at making you feel like you're surviving through sheer skill and power. Whether it's barely breaking your stride to catch a leaping Hormagaunt by the tail and slamming them into paste, or parrying a Tyranid Warrior's swords until an opening lets you plunge your own revving Chainsword into its midriff, there's a fluidity to combat unlike anything I've played before. It's a flow that's complemented by the fact there aren't too many opportunities to use your guns – a quick gap in might let you thin out the crowd with a spray of Bolter rounds, or take out some distant snipers, but it's typically more effective to fight up-close.
Unfortunately, when Space Marine 2 moves away from Tyranids in lieu of Chaos in the final act, this combat loses some of its appeal. Chaos takes a quality over quantity approach, reducing the amount of horde fodder in lieu of fielding elite units like Scarab Occult Terminators and Chaos Space Marines. These units tend to have more longer-ranged weapons, which means the balance of fighting skews toward having to use guns more.
