Heads-up: Space Marine 2 has a photo mode and it rules

GamesActionWarhammer 40000: Space Marine 2Heads-up: Space Marine 2 has a photo mode and it rulesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Focus)

A very happy Ultramarine

I’ve been playingSpace Marine 2during its early unlock period, and while it’s a shame the campaign is balanced for co-op—expect a lot of objectives you have to complete while under attack and with AI allies who suck at keeping enemies off your back—it’s still a blast getting stuck into hordes of tyranids. There are so many waves of them it’s like a full degustation, and the finishing moves make it look like you’re cracking open the shells of ornery lobsters.

One good thing about playing Space Marine 2 solo is that I can spend as much time faffing about in the photo mode as I like. Bring up the menu and press F to access it and you’ll find the usual set of tools for lining up your own dioramas, including the option to change the marines' facial expressions. Now, in every screenshot I take, Titus and his squad are gurning like pros.

(Image credit: Focus)

Titus grins

It also gives me an opportunity to capture the scale of the setpieces. You’ll frequently step out of a building onto a battlefield where a battalion of soldiers is dying in the mud, tanks are bombarding an incoming swarm, and the air is thick with lasfire. They look like games of Warhammer 40,000 in progress, seen from table level, and I pause the action to hop into photo mode each time.

Space Marine 2 is also great at capturing the scale of the individuals involved. Where the original game’s firstborn marines towered over ordinary troopers, the sequel features primaris marines who’ve been transhumanized further, becoming even bigger and beefier boys. The serfs, the tech-priests, and the lasgun-toting Astra Militarum all look like children standing near them.

It’s also nice to be able to zoom in and look at the little details, like the glowing green text on datapads or the scrolls and candles that make the computer terminals look a bit more gothic. To hell with RGB, my desktop tower should have some big dribbly candles melting down the side of it. And either a servo-skull or a cherub with a face like a Terminator flying around above it.

(Image credit: Focus)

A charging marine and a tank face a swarm of gargoyles

(Image credit: Focus)

Soldiers fire lasguns at blue beastmen

(Image credit: Focus)

An army of tyranids clashes with the Astra Militarum

(Image credit: Focus)

Tyranids are hit by a barrage

(Image credit: Focus)

A space marine chainswords a tyranid in half

(Image credit: Focus)

A trooper with a flamethrower burns corpses

(Image credit: Focus)

A servo-skull covered in candles

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