A Space Marine Is You: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

A form of [[Cliché Storm]] for video games.

* The endgame consists of the player going into [[Storming the Castle|the core of the enemy base]] to kill the [[Load-Bearing Boss]].

* After the boss fight there will usually be some kind of [[Timed Mission|timed escape]] run to get away from a time bomb or self destruct sequence activated by killing the [[Load-Bearing Boss]].

** [[The Faceless|And that's if you ever even see his face.]]

* Your character wears [[Powered Armor]].

* Your primary weapon will be some form of assault rifle. You will probably have a nearly useless pistol in case the rifle runs out of ammunition. Over the course of the game, you will have access to [[Standard FPS Guns|a heavier machine gun, a shotgun, a grenade launcher, a rocket launcher, and a sniper rifle]]. You will probably also have access to some sort of advanced energy weapon (with a high chance of being BFG), and a powered melee weapon, such as a [[Chainsaw Good]] or "vibro" sword.

 

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' 2 features a squad of Space Marines landing on the planet Aether who are quickly slaughtered by the local indigenous extradimensional bug monsters. Reading the dead troopers' logs reveal that they conformed as closely to the stereotype as they possibly could. Did we mention that ''[[Aliens]]'' was a huge influence on the Metroid series?

* The ''[[Doom]]'' series, the [[Trope Maker]]. You play as a silent Space Marine who was deployed with his squad to a space base over Mars which was attacked in orbit. Everyone else in said squad dies before the game even starts, which [[All There in the Manual|(according to the manual)]] you hear over your radio. And your enemies are demons who appeared out of nowhere in a space base. That's seven of the tropes right there. It also established the chainsaw, high-energy weapon, shotgun, and rocket launcher as standard Space Marine armaments. The similarities to ''[[Aliens]]'' are to be expected, because [[What Could Have Been|the game was originally supposed to be based on]] ''Aliens'' until id Software gave up on the idea because of 20th Century Fox's strict licensing demands, and the game was re-imagined as a mix between ''[[Aliens]]'' and ''[[Evil Dead]]''.

* The ''[[Halo]]'' series. While the Chief speaks ([[Silent Protagonist|occasionally]]) during cutscenes, is technically a Naval NCO (Master Chief Petty Officer, to be precise), and has short hair ([[All in The Manual|according to the novels]]), the games hit most of other aspects of this trope, with the most notable exceptions being the general lack of a [[Final Boss]] and the fact that most players prefer to discard their assault rifle and use the pistols and semiautomatic rifles as their primary weapons instead (despite what the cutscenes and advertising would have you believe).

** You play as 5 different characters in ''[[Halo 3: ODST]]'', but they're relatively well-characterized (Bungie certainly wasn't going to waste the voice talents of [[Nathan Fillion]], Alan Tudyk, [[Adam Baldwin]], and [[Nolan North]], after all), with only the Rookie remaining a blank slate, mostly due to the fact that he never takes off his helmet and has zero lines of dialogue. Also, unlike most examples of the genre, {{spoiler|the entire squad survives}}.

** ''[[Halo: Reach]]'' plays it mostly straight, but protagonist Noble Six is a Naval Lieutenant.

** The Arbiter from ''[[Halo 2]]'' is a disgraced [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Elite]] [[Asskicking Equals Authority|Supreme Commander]], who in the first game and ''Reach'' was the guy commanding the very same aliens attempting to kill you.

* ''[[Quake]]'' 2 and 4. Both games hit every single bullet point above with a straight face. (bar a loaded boss for Quake 4)

* ''[[Haze]]'' was an attempt at a [[Deconstruction]] of this trope.

* ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' fits the bill fairly well (technically, the player takes the role of a security officer rather then a marine, but he's often called "The Marine" by fans anyway.)

* ''[[Gunman Chronicles]]'' flirts with this trope, but ultimately manages to have its own style by having all the characters dress like 19th century Civil War soldiers.

** ''[[Unreal Tournament 2004|Unreal Tournament 2003]]'' also took some flak for for generic-looking Space Marine character designs.

* The 2008 reboot of ''[[Turok (series)|Turok]]'', to such a degree that ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' spent the entire review ripping the game for it.

** Also, ''Armorines'' another comic-licensed Acclaim FPS using the engine.

 

== [[Real Time Strategy]] ==

** Of course, it doesn't precisely mean the same thing as this trope. Here, the term 'Space Marine' means '[[Church Militant|Jihading Space Nazi]] [[Super Soldier]]'.

** None of the [[Dawn of War]] games are this trope at all, as this is a trope which encompasses (in part) a gameplay style. Nor do all the thematic elements fit. In none of these games are you a grunt or new meat, or a [[Silent Protagonist]], etc. Just being an RTS with a [[Space Marine]] faction in it doesn't cut it. Additionally, all but two of the games allow you to have the Space Marines as ''enemies.''

* The entire point of ''[[Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard]]'' is becoming the [[Deconstructor Fleet]] for such games, the main character being a parody of shooter protagonists.

* ''[[Gears of War]]'' and ''[[Gears of War|Gears of War 2]]'': you are veteran marine Marcus Fenix, a guy with little personality and no emotions. He wears trademark bulky armor, isn't afraid of anything, and most of his lines consist of less than five words. [[Cluster F-Bomb|Those words are usually swears.]]. Parodied in [[Awesome Series]].

** Though male Shepard does have a five-o'-clock shadow in the default face.

* The Silencer from the ''[[Crusader: No Remorse|Crusader]]'' series of games is a textbook example, right down to the zero personality. However, in the intro for the original ''Crusader: No Remorse'', we see the two other members of The Silencer's original squad - right before they're [[Sole Survivor|gunned down]] by their [[Bad Boss]] - and they've definitely got personality, arguing loudly about the morality of their recent refusal to gun down unarmed civilians on orders. The Silencer, however, didn't participate in the argument, remaining voiceless even then, so his bland personality might well be a [[The Stoic|character trait]].

** {{spoiler|Ironically, a group of [[Space Marines]] ''do'' show up late in the game, but are almost immediately all utterly pwnt by the Necromorphs, possibly due to their "Rambo-ing out" mentality. [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|Or because the plot says so]].}}

* ''[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine]]'' puts it [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|right there in the title]].

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]

[[Category:A Troper Is You]]