7th August 2011 - So another Summer of arcade release, this time with Warhammer 40k: Kill Team! Will this game hit a home run for Warhammer 40k fans or will it be a flop on Relic Studios' record? Read on to find out!
GAMEPLAY
As Warhammer 40k fans can expect this game takes a hold of playing as a Space Marine, for those who don't play the game a Space Marine is basically a Super Soldier of the very distant future comparable to the Master Chief from the Halo series but vastly superior to the Chief. The game sees you take on the role of a Space Marine from the Blood Ravens army in a 3rd Person Eagle Eye View shooter similar to that of GTA1 or 2 as an example. You are sent on a mission to stop the Ork Kroozer (Cruiser) from invading a Forge World planet, a Forge World is basically a planet in the Warhammer 40k world designed for building munitions, weaponry, vehicles etc, which are very important to the Space Marines. The player will face many Orks and other creatures the Orks have in store for them.
The player controls 1 of 4 different Space Marine characters, Librarian, Sternguard Veteran, Techmarine or Vanguard Veteran. Each character has different specialities and is designed for either Close Combat or Long Range or both in the case of the Techmarine. The Librarian is designed for Close Combat and he is adept as taking out hordes of enemies in close combat with use of psychic powers and powerful melee weapons. The Sternguard Veteran is a Long Range expert he is adept at taking out hordes of enemies from a distance with various long range equipment ranging from the Heavy Bolter (Large Machine Gun) to a Missile Launcher; he is able to use his ability Focus Fire to increase his firing speed. The Techmarine is both a close combat fighter and a mid to long range expert, using his Power Claw he can easily take on enemies that get in close proximity to him, he also uses the power of construction to build turrets to assist him. The Vanguard Veteran is a close range expert and close to mid range expert using his Plasma Pistol to damage enemies just before destroying them in close range, he has a Jetpack to assist him and it allows him to take out a vast amount of enemies within seconds.
The player will gain different perks and unlock weaponry as the game progresses by completing various challenges which basically involve killing as many enemies as possible, kind of like a score chain style shooter in which you are rewarded for getting big score chains. This makes the game very easy to pickup and people will enjoy just killing enemies just for rewards and different perk abilities.
There are 2 different modes of gameplay for the player to choose from, Campaign and Survival mode. Campaign is the story mode and Survival Mode pits you up against waves of enemies to compete on a Leader board similar to that of Horde Mode in Gears of War 2.
MULTIPLAYER
There is no real multiplayer as such but you are able to do Split Screen Coop in both the Survival Mode and on Campaign up to 2 players.
GRAPHICS
The graphics are really good for an Arcade game, with the odd glitch here and there. I would compare the games graphics similar to that of Dawn Of War 2 on PC, if you haven't heard of that I suggest you check it out! I'm pretty sure the game is basically a port of Dawn of War 2, so the graphics Engine is pretty much the same. The port works really well because it doesn't dull down the graphics and doesn't diminish the gameplay at all.
SOUND
The music score on this game seems to be only noticeable when you are in the main menu; I honestly didn't notice any music playing the game itself and the main menu seems to be the only time you do take note of the score. With that said I believe not having the music in the game doesn't overly affect the overall gameplay.
The voiceover acting was a tad bit disappointing, the voiceover actor sounds like he has a cold and it gets annoying when he can't pronounce words properly. But for an arcade game you aren't exactly expecting Johnny Depp style voiceovers so it doesn't diminish the game too much especially when the main objective is pretty much to destroy as many Orks as possible.
The gunplay is on par for the most part of futuristic weaponry, the gun sounds are really fitting for imaginary weapons and hearing constant gunfire basically hits home to anyone who enjoys shooting games in general.
VALUE
I would say this game is definitely worth it for 800 Microsoft Points as it hits home to any Warhammer 40k fan and anyone interested in the upcoming Warhammer 40k: Space Marine title coming out later this year. It's definitely something that is more enjoyable playing with other people more so then by yourself so if you have a friend over you'll enjoy plenty of hours of playing Coop with each other.
OVERALL
I actually thoroughly enjoyed this game, it was a great change in pace from most shooting games and Relic have done a really good job in bringing the Warhammer 40k world to us. I having played Dawn Of War 2 this game really appealed to me and with similar gameplay aspects it worked really well to its advantage. There were only a few letdowns for me namely the lack of online multiplayer, but it also encourages people to have friends over to play Split Screen Coop kind of like the Halo CE days. The achievements are also very easy to obtain and the total gameplay time would take you around 6-7 hours to complete which I would say is very good value for an 800 MSP's game.
AAG SCORE: 7.5/10
Pros:
+ Enjoyable gameplay
+ Easy to unlock Abilities and new weaponry
+ Different abilities on different characters make you want to keep trying different styles of gameplay
+ Easy 200/200 achievement score for Xbox Live players
Cons:
- Lack of online multiplayer
- Poor voiceover acting
- Lack of noticeable Music Score in game
Reviewed and Written By James Gott