In the grim darkness of the far future, there is nothing but war. But in the nicely decorated Aion eternity of Relic in downtown

Vancouver, there is nothing but love. Love for Warhammer. Plastic and lead space marine miniatures are carefully arranged on

almost every desk, monitor and cubical divider; there are entire rooms set aside for lunchtime Plaync aion of 40k; and the lobby's

home not only to a giant Blood Raven space marine whose sawblade we all diligently pose our necks against for photos, but a

nine-foot statue tribute to the god-emperor of mankind.
So while it's something of a surprise to discover that the largely PC-focused studio is developing a Warhammer 40,000 console

action RPG in a similar vein to God of War, it's really no surprise at all.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is a third-person, over-the-shoulder action game with RPG elements. In the grim Kianh grinding of

the far future, Relic's writing a new story, in which a space ork army has taken over one of the Imperium's Forge worlds -

where it manufactures everything that makes up the imperial war machine - and it's up to you, playing as a single space

marine in a squad from an as-yet unidentified chapter, to go in and take it back. This you do by taking a blade or a bullet

to everything that's Aion beta key with a pulse.
During the in-game scenes shown at Relic's offices, space marines from the Ultramarine chapter (placeholders for now) chomp

through masses and masses of orks, using jetpacks to propel themselves into the thick of them and spread them out by crashing

down with a splash damage attack, before wading in with sawblades and hammers. Up against larger Nobs and Warbosses, they

grind their blades against limb armour, or crash them into midriffs. From distance, they rely on their guns, emphasising

their Kinah for sale, and Relic explains that the control scheme (although, again, just a placeholder) currently spreads melee

attacks over face buttons and ranged ones onto the shoulders. Using Relic's new Phoenix engine - custom-built for the game -

the enemy numbers, model quality and scale are every bit in-keeping with the 40k image that Games Workshop so valiantly

asserts.
One genuine surprise though is the vantage point. Flying out to the studio with scant information to go on, I expected

something closer to Diablo III, diverting off the route taken by Dawn of War II's single-player Aion forums in Blizzard's

direction. On the contrary, producer Chad McFarlane almost bristles at the suggestion, and THQ's Sean Dunn emphasises the

discretion. Dawn of War II and Space Marine are not seen as two sides of the same coin. "Diablo III is all abstracting

combat," he says. "You click your mouse on a guy and your character goes and does his combat moves. Whereas this is a console

action Aion release where you're controlling every swing of the sword."
One thing Space Marine will have in common with DOWII though is the latter's newfound love of wargear, and that's where the

RPG elements come in. "Definitely we're going to have progression and customisation be a big part of the game," says

McFarlane. "So you're going to be able to upgrade your armour and weapons and Aion dead can dance powerful abilities."