The world of Warhammer 40,000 (or Warhammer 40K) comes to life on Xbox 360 in this fast-paced 3rd-person action shooter. Thrusting the player (and optionally a co-op partner) directly into the heart of battle as one of the Emperor’s Elite Space Marines on a vital mission to assault a gigantic Ork Kroozer headed for an Imperial Forge World, Kill Team is unequivocally geared towards the action fans out there.

Kill Team offers plenty of murderous action straight from the moment the game loads up and from that point onwards the only periods of calm you’ll enjoy are in the menus, or when you’re dead. Any admirers of the rich world of Warhammer 40K will be in for a memorable double treat because they’ll not only be playing through the game as a legendary Space Marine, but they’ll be getting their own private tour of duty through the insides of a cavernous Ork Kroozer as they pursue a one-way mission to exterminate the Ork Warboss.

It’s time for Waaaaaaaaaaagh!

There are four Space Marine classes available in Kill Team which vary from ranged specialist classes (the Sternguard Veteran and Techmarine) to the more melee focused classes (the Vanguard Veteran and Librarian). Each class carries their own selection of primary weapons and special power-ups with more weapons being unlocked through the progression of the campaign. Significantly, each class will prove more useful than others in certain circumstances and the diversity in each class’s weapons will encourage players to want to try out each class at least once through the campaign.

Kill Team is essentially a swarm-style game and is completely unapologetic in the manner in which it hurls thousands of unfortunate Orks into the firing line. Kill Team is best played with a co-op partner and although it’s only six chapters in length, the levels are intricately and thoughtfully designed making for an appealing and action-packed adventure against hordes of Orks and a few other nasty surprises. The sheer enormity of the Ork Kroozer ensures that each chapter presents a unique but thoroughly engrossing challenge with each level requiring a different goal to be achieved in order to progress to the next chapter.

Shooting Orks in space never grows old…

Apart from the occasional sections of defence against multiple waves of enemies, or escaping an area within a time limit or navigating through precarious mazes, action is almost exclusively focused on shooting (or melee’ing) everything that moves towards you. There will be a few boss battles to contend with which also ensure that the pace of the game is kept lively and this, coupled with the unique level designs, ensures that the game never becomes repetitive.

I suspect that if the game was much longer than the six chapters it offers that the game may have started to feel a bit repetitive and it’s to the developers’ credit that by the time you reach the final boss battle the timing of the finale feels just right. Having said that, however, the game itself is rather short-lived, despite its decent pacing. There are survival levels that can be played as an alternative to the campaign which allows for even more mindless killing action with the emphasis now being on surviving increasingly difficult waves of enemies and competing with online leaderboards for the best performance.

Kill Team is a convincing foray into Warhammer 40,000 for both fans of the world as well as any newcomers, and provided you have an affinity for action then Kill Team will be a worthwhile purchase. At 800 Microsoft Points and with a noteworthy local co-op experience this game is worth the price. I can’t say that there is too much value in replayability besides the odd revisit to the survival mode but even a once-off playthrough is satisfying.

The only disappointments with Kill Team are that the second player can’t earn achievements, the weapon assortment within each class is fairly limited, and the game could be considered to be relatively brief for the price. Kill Team has the added incentive of unlocking the exclusive Power Sword weapon to use in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine so if you plan to play Space Marine you should definitely give Kill Team a go. This game has a lot more going for it than against it and I would most certainly recommend it.

The Good:

- Levels are intricately designed
- Good variety in Space Marine classes and weapons
- Graphics are good
- Co-op is fun

The Bad:

- Some may argue the game is too short
- Badly timed camera sweeps can lead to confusion

Purchase: