Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team Review
By Rick Givens | July 18, 2011 | Reviews | No comments | Share
Sometimes we have bad days, maybe the boss was on your ass or that project you did at school bombed. Either way, sometimes days suck and you just need to unwind. Other days you just want to beat the living shit out of anything crossing your path, stand on top a pile of mayhem and laugh maniacally….Kill Team is for those days.
Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is a twin stick, top down shooter released last week on Xbox live for approximately $10 USD. The game is basically meant to tide us over until Space Marine hits the shelves in a few months, and it does a pretty decent job of keeping our bloodlust at bay for now. There are a few things I would like to see different, but hey, the game costs ten bucks and is meant to compliment a future release.
Story
Short and sweet, you and anyone else who may be gaming with you will take the part of members of an elite Kill Team of Space Marines deployed on a mission to intercept an Ork Kroozer inbound to an Imperial World. You crash-land on the vessel, and kill every damn thing you see. Along the way you blow shit up, and generally cause hate and discontent everywhere you go. You do get some general guidance as to the tasks you complete, but really it is all about the shooting and hack and slash. No intricate puzzles that leave your brain bleeding, just pure unadulterated violence.
Characters
Apart from the suicidal legions of baddies you face, the game features four playable classes. The Librarian and Vanguard Veteran are the melee specialists, using power swords and power axes to slice their way through levels, while the Sternguard Veteran and Techmarine carry the big boom sticks. Each class has the ability to unlock new and more powerful weapons as you progress in experience, as well as a variety of abilities. In addition, each class also has a special attack, which recharges over a short period of time that almost literally wipes the map clean.
The Game
Well, it is a terribly linear, but fairly straighforward shooter/hack and slash. Each character has particular strengths and weaknesses, and you will not really fully enjoy the game unless you have a partner join you in the up to two player on screen campaign. The full story will last you around four hours, but that is not bad considering the price. I noticed a few bugs, such as events not triggering properly at a few points. I was able to fix this by backing up, at which point the game would recognize the trigger and start in correctly.
The Graphics
Visual wise, the game is not intense, but certainly of a higher quality than I expected. The in game shots are not from my playthrough, but accurate to what I saw. True to the Warhammer universe, the characters all sport humongous weapons that look like they would give you a hernia. The Space Marines look menacing, with plodding power armor and fiercely designed helmets, you wonder how they can move at all. But that is the way of Warhammer. Huge guns, hulking brutes, and mayhem…oh yes, lots of mayhem.
A Special Treat
As a special incentive to buy the game, players who complete the first level are awarded the ability to unlock the Power Sword, for use in multiplayer in the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. Considering most deluxe editions of games charge that much more, and only give you some outfits or a weapon, this is well worth the price. After all, you get an entire game. Good job THQ, hope others learn from this.
The Final Word
OK, so this is not the big budget, AAA title that will shake the foundations of gaming. It has a few bugs, and is repetitive. But it is only 10 bucks! As a single player, the game is worth only one playthrough to get that sword and maybe score some points on the leaderboards. As co-op though, you and your buddy can hop in and frigging destroy everything, kick the bodies in the gonads and laugh as you catch them on fire. Kill Team is the kind of game that speaks to the caveman in all of us, and tells us blowing shit up is okay.
Score: 7/10 | Read our Scoring Policy |
