Warhammer 40000 Kill Team Review

Get some.

In anticipation of the upcoming Warhammer 40000: Space Marine, THQ has released an XBLA title to tide you over. Warhammer 40000: Kill Team isn’t the deepest experience you will ever play but it is a lot of fun. If you just can’t wait for Space Marine to come out, to kill some Orks, or you’re simply looking for an arcade style kill-fest, you will have some fun with here.

Single Player

Warhammer 40000 Kill Team is a stick shooter that plays from a 3/4 top down view. Left stick moves your character, right stick fires your gun, you’ve seen this formula before. Kill Team follows the setting and story of Warhammer 40k, but the story here is simple. A space marine or two crash their shuttle into an Ork space cruiser and proceed to systematically take the ship out. Players move through the interior of the ship completing objectives and killing hordes of enemies in the process. There are a number of different classes to choose from, each with their own special abilities and weapons.

Including chainsaw swords. Standard issue.

Your character will come across power-ups throughout the levels which grant you bonuses like rapid fire or double shot. Grenades are also one of the powerups and are great for getting out of a tight spot. This isn’t a complex game but the main point is high scores. As you play, you gain points toward unlocking perks and new weapons for each character. The idea being to unlock upgrades to get yourself a sweet load-out and go back to each level to get a high score to post on the leaderboards. Warhammer 40000: Kill Team is a fast paced game, and is a lot of fun even if it feels like you’ve done this before. The levels consist of more than just arena after arena with X number of enemies to kill.

In addition to the Campaign mode you can jump into a game of Survival, which is actually quite fun. In a different spin on the typical survival/firefight type games, you get one life. Die and you’re done. It lends more of a frantic pace to the mode.

Multiplayer

So, Warhammer 40000 Kill Team does have 2 player co-op, but for some crazy reason it is only local. This is exactly the type of game that needs online co-op and the fact that it’s missing just feels like laziness.

The other player has to be in the room? What is this 1988?

Achievements

Most of the achievements will come with playing the game for a long period, kills, levels, etc. I did find Honour In My Shield particularly challenging as it is unlocked for completing a level without dying. No small feat, trust me.

Closing Comments

As far as arcade shooters go, Warhammer 40000 Kill Team is a good game. Had THQ taken a few minutes to add in online co-op, it could have easily been a great game.

Final Score: 7/10