What wrath had Bizarre Creations wrought upon the game development world? Ever since their very first Xbox Live Arcade creation, the phenomenal Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved got declared the Xbox 360’s $5 killer app, several game studios wanted a piece of the genre, the twin-stick shooter. Never mind the fact that the twin-stick shooter existed for years in the arcades, with games like Robotron and Smash TV; it was Geometry Wars that solidified its place in the console world, and for good reason. I guess you can consider me a connoisseur of the genre, since I apparently play twin-stick shooters more than I previously realized, having picked up such games over the years as Gatling Gears, Geometry Wars 2, and basically almost anything else associated with the control scheme, but one other thing I’m quite fond of is the tabletop war game Warhammer 40,000. I know your next question – what the heck do those two things have in common? Well, that question has just been answered with Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team, a twin-stick shooter developed by THQ based in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Do these two disparate game ideas blend well together? After playing it, I would say they blend like bolter shell and Ork flesh into a delicious, bloody, and downright fun smoothie, although Kill Team could have done with more thought and polish.
A little background on the game – Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team was essentially created to be an appetizer to THQ’s upcoming third-person shooter, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, and there’s even a reward for completing a level of Kill Team, the ability to unlock a new weapon in Space Marine. One would think with such a mentality towards making Kill Team that the game would be little more than a glorified demo; thankfully, this is not the case, as THQ seems to have taken a page from Capcom’s Dead Rising 2 book and put enough content into Kill Team to make it a stand-alone experience, much like Case Zero and Case West were to Dead Rising 2. In Kill Team, you play a member of a – you guessed it – kill team of Space Marines sent to an Ork Kroozer (the Orks spell everything weird, the illiterate bastards) on a commando raid to cripple it before it gets a chance to deliver its contingent of Orks to its target world. Since you’re supposed to be a member of a team, what this means in this case is that you get to pick from one of four team members, each having their own strengths and weaknesses, mainly in the form of being specialized in either melee or ranged combat. A second player can join you if said player has a controller and is in the same room as you; sadly, there’s no option of Xbox Live play, which is a crying shame. So much for the “team” part of Kill Team…
Playing the game is similar to Geometry Wars, i.e. one stick moves your character while the other stick shoots in whichever direction you’re pointing it. There are a few twists, however, which make the game interesting and fun. One feature is the addition of melee combat, which can be either really satisfying or cumbersome depending on if your character is equipped for melee. Melee brings an interesting dynamic to the twin-stick shooting action, as you must be prepared for when enemies get close to you, and believe me, they will, considering their sheer numbers. Power-ups are also part of the action, and these do everything from increase the number of shots you fire, to make you invulnerable, to increasing your damage, and more. This adds another factor of complexity making the game more fun, as oftentimes completing the levels requires careful management of power-ups, in this case picking them up at the right time. Perhaps the biggest tweak Kill Team makes to the twin-stick shooter formula, though, is its bosses: intricate, multifaceted fights that test your ability to strategize as well as twitch. Be warned, though, the boss fights are quite brutal and sometimes frustrating, and one thing that doesn’t help this is the fact that if you die during a boss fight you have to start the boss fight all over again (though thankfully not the level itself). The presentation can best be described as utilitarian – not very polished or outstanding, but it does its job. The graphics carry the unique style of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, but they aren’t very high in quality, looking like the product of early Xbox 360 days.
There are plenty of effects that abound, but they look primitive by today’s standards. Sound is the same way – nothing really stands out, as the game has the usual bad guy grunts and groans, appropriately resonating weapons fire, and voice acting that while not atrocious is pretty much just phoned in. Thankfully, though, these don’t ruin the overall game experience, as again, they do their job in conveying the Warhammer 40,000 themes across, and they’re good enough not to distract you from playing the game. Overall, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is good for what it is – a chance to feel badass as one of the original Space Marines, and as a standalone game that doesn’t need the crutch of its big brother, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine to be worth it. At 800 MS points, it’s definitely appropriately priced; since it’s a different game style than Space Marine, it can stand on its own at this price. Any more, though, and it wouldn’t be a good value. Still, though, Warhammer 40,000 Kill Team is a good way to get a taste of things to come for the THQ vision of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and is definitely worth your time.
