Each level usually starts with the disembodied voice of your commander giving you instructions about what you have to take out next, and then come the swarms of Orks. You and your battle brother will lay down righteous fury upon them with the right-stick or A button to melee, and even augment your killing potential with the power-ups that are dropped throughout the missions, which can restore health, increase your rate of fire, or make you invincible for a limited amount of time. A player can only have one such power-up at any given time, but staying close to your co-op partner provides both players with its benefits. Should a marine fall during the course of his duties, the surviving marine may revive him, or, if the fallen marine cannot be reached, just wait a few seconds for him to be auto-revived.
While playing through the levels with a friend and slaying foes in the name of the Emperor is extremely satisfying, Kill Team is not without its flaws. From a strictly co-op perspective, the second player cannot earn any achievements, nor is their progress saved. Thus, if he or she wanted to hop on later and play solo to earn some of those achievements, he or she would have to start all over from the beginning. Additionally, the lack of an online co-op option limits much of the game’s replayability.
There is a survival mode, where players fend off hordes of Orks for as long as possible, but this is a game that feels like it’s meant to be played co-operatively and cutting out the potential to do so with a broader set of gamers is rather incredible. If you do play single player, be forewarned that picking one of the more melee heavy classes will make things more difficult. This is still a twin-stick shooter at heart and defeating many of the enemies/destroying the objectives means having to shoot them, a rather difficult task for one that places more emphasis on the sword than the gun.
At the $10 price point, Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is a good buy. The mechanics work well, the combat/gameplay is satisfying, and spending more time in the 40K universe is always a good thing. You will definitely have fun carving a path through the Ork horde with a friend, and unlocking new toys for you both to use. However, it is a game that also feels like it got pushed through a bit too quickly in order to capitalize on a bigger release yet to come.
Verdict
Co-Op Score
Overall
The Co-Op Experience: Team up against enemies with a friend. Choose from 4 classes: Sternguard Veteran ,Techmarine, Vanguard Veteran and Librarian
Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.