The Librarian

Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is an Arcade game for the XBLA as well as the PSN that can quite obviously been seen as something to hold off the fans waiting for Warhamer 40,000: Space Marine or simply to help transition fans into the different genre of game the series is heading to. The past Warhammer games are all mostly RTS style games while Space Marine will be a third-person shooter. Kill Team is not exactly a third-person shooter but more of an over the top joystick shooter while you also have your sword or melee to take out enemies up close. I am sure you are familiar with this type of game style where aiming the right stick will shoot your gun in whatever direction you are pointing it in and the left stick is how you move through out the level as well as dodge enemy projectiles. The addition of your sword or melee depending on what class you are sets the game apart from other games of this style. Not to mention all the upgrades, perks and more that should please any Warhammer fan, unless you just can’t break free from the franchises original genre.

The game is also two player co-op, but unfortunately it is local co-op only. This is something that is not just a bummer, this is something that would have made this game so much better! With games today, we see co-op more and more but rarely hear that saying thinking local only. We always instinctively think online co-op and maybe local as well. The game is even made for two people, just the playing the game makes you feel like this could be a 2 player or maybe even 4 player co-operative game. So with no online co-op… major thumbs down. On a lighter note the game itself is actually quite fun indeed and offers a lot of aspects to it. Especially when you do have some one to play couch co-op with the game really takes off with each play balancing out the gameplay as different classes. Another cool little addition is that if you play one level in the game, you will automatically unlock the “exclusive powersword” in Warhammer 40k: Space Marine when it comes out later this year for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC as a full third-person shooter.

Fast paced action

There are only five levels in Kill Team but they have their length especially if you are playing alone, and I must add as short as the game may be with two people playing it is much more fun. As you progress through the levels you will unlock new weapons, perks, survival levels and codex pages. The weapons you unlock are all not necessarily for the class you are playing as either and the perks are universal with the game letting you equip two at a time. You will unlock +10 Health, +15 Ranged and so on as the numbers increase the more you progress. Every time you come across a new enemy it becomes index as a codex files that you can view from the main menu. You can choose between four different classes, each of them having their own unique special ability they can use once charged, as well as each class going from the Librarian who is best at melee to the class that wield the most powerful guns and everything in between. There are also 10 collectables on each level which don’t seem to do much but suite the completion addicts.

You mainly will kill huge armies of enemies at once while occasionally coming across a boss that is no walk in the park to take down with out using a special ability or one of the power-ups that pop up across the level, like shields, rapid fire, invulnerability, frag grenades or health. Aside the the main game you can view leaderboards and then there is also Survival Mode. In survival mode, which you can also play in local co-op, you battle waves of enemies while you’re timed. The goal is not only to survive, but to try to completely wipe out all the enemies as fast as possible posting a good time to be posted on the leaderboards. You unlock Survival maps as you complete campaign levels. All in all Kill Team is pretty fun game and I would say worth the 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00), as long as you are willing to get your money’s worth. Not only do you get an achievement for beating the game with two separate classes it also tracks each level you have completed with what character or in co-op. Any Warhammer fan should definitely purchase this especially if you want your “exclusive powersword” in Warhammer 40k: Space Hammer.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.