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Warhammer 40K: Kill Team strikes PSN on Aug. 2
Since they're rarely invited to demure social gatherings on account of their bulky evening wear and intimidating label, the brave Kill Team must gauge your gratitude and support through their new downloadable game. Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is an omni-directional shooter that debuted on Xbox Live Arcade, and is now is set to launch through the North American PlayStation Network on August 2. The game retains its $10 asking price, along with a selection of Space Marine classes like Sternguard Veteran, Techmarine, Vanguard Veteran, Pain Engineer or Librarian. You can read our review to learn more and conclusively rule out that one class we just made up.
Warhammer 40K: Kill Team review: Needs more dakka
If "dakka" makes you instinctively reply "Dakka, Dakka, Dakka!" then you'll likely find Warhammer 40K: Kill Team to be an enjoyable, four-hour twin-stick distraction set in the popular sci-fi fantasy universe. However, if "dakka" means absolutely nothing to you, it'll be hard to see Kill Team as more than an impressive proof-of-concept. Developed by the shuttered THQ Warrington as a tie-in to upcoming third-person shooter Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, the downloadable game still needed more time to work out some glaring kinks. It feels like a glorified, extended demo for some new extension of the Warhammer 40K franchise, a license best known for its use in THQ's Dawn of War real-time strategy series. %Gallery-125171%
THQ UK studio officially shuttered, three new companies take its place
It's been exactly one month to the day since THQ announced plans to close both Kaos Studios (creator of Homefront) and its UK-based digital studio, THQ Warrington (creator of Red Faction Battlegrounds and Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team). And while the former studio has been closed since last month, the latter has just finished up its legally required "notification process." But enough with the upsetting stuff -- there's good news, too! Though the Warrington studio just closed, three companies have already sprung from its ashes: D3T, a "concept team" named Alien Apple Studios, and an unnamed studio helmed by former creative director Don Whiteford and former production director Richard Badger. Of the approximately 50 employees at THQ Warrington when it closed, 36 had their employment terminated "effective immediately," while another 10 are said to be seeing the studio through the PSN release of Warhammer 40K: Kill Team, set for some point later this summer. Additionally, THQ Warrington founder Colin Bell will be taking an extended break from game development, though he couldn't help but point out before leaving that the Juiced franchise (which his team developed) has moved "over 5 million" units in its lifetime, and that Kill Team "will be a great parting product for the studio." Sony UK and Motorstorm studio Evolution have apparently extended offers to some ex-THQ employees for consultancy work, and we have high hopes that the rest of the studio's affected devs will land on their feet.
THQ shutters Homefront dev Kaos Studios and THQ Digital Warrington
Manhattan-based Kaos Studios -- developers of Frontlines: Fuel of War and Homefront -- has been closed. THQ confirmed the closure to Joystiq this afternoon, noting that the company's UK-based studio, THQ Digital Warrington, has also been closed. The Warrington studio previously worked on Red Faction Battlegrounds and Warhammer 40K: Kill Team. A statement from THQ additionally explains that employees at each studio have been alerted. Beyond a cursory note about "strategic realignment within its internal studio structure," no other specifics are given as to the why the studios were closed, but its not as though the closure of Kaos Studios was unexpected. In the meantime, Homefront development has been transferred to the company's Montreal studio. THQ states that the laid off employees will be given a chance to interview at other internal studios, such as Montreal and Toronto. The full statement is available beyond the break. Update: Due to UK law requiring employers to give a 60 day warning before layoffs, THQ says that THQ Warrington employees' warning "starts today ... and it is longer than 30 days." Given that, it's "not an immediate closure," but "a notification process leading to closure" for the UK-based studio.
Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team preview: Dakka dakka dakka
Despite Warhammer 40K: Kill Team's dubious lot in life to be a digitally distributed tie-in for the upcoming Warhammer 40K: Space Marine release, the game actually stands on its own as a competent twin-stick shooter. It feels like a game that could be much more if THQ wanted it to be. My hands-on E3 demo of the game began by selecting my space marine and clan. The options included ranged fighters like the Sternguard Veteran and Techmarine, while the melee classes included the Vanguard Veteran and Librarian. You'll be able to swap out weapons and equip your soldier with classic 40K items of death like the chainsword and power sword -- speaking of which, to obtain the power sword in Space Marine, the game needs to see you've completed one level of Kill Team. %Gallery-125171%
Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team is a twin-stick shooter
Warhammer 40K: Kill Team, revealed by the Australian Classification Board earlier this week, has been officially announced by THQ. Developed by the publisher's Digital Studios UK, which made Red Faction: Battlegrounds, it appears that Kill Team is the same sort of digitally distributed tie-in for a major release. In the case of Battlegrounds it was for the launch of Red Faction: Armageddon; this one ties into Space Marine. Kill Team is a $10 (800 MSP) twin-stick shooter with two-player "same screen" co-op (we're currently following up with THQ if it's both online and couch co-op). Players will have the option of four classes (two range, two melee) and six chapters of the Space Marines to choose from. Completing the game will unlock the "Power Sword" in the upcoming Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. Kill Team will be available in July, and Space Marine drops in September 6. %Gallery-125171%
'Warhammer 40K: Kill Team' rated in Australia
Above: Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War II We haven't even made the acquaintance of the beefy battlers in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine yet and our friends in Australia are already getting a peek at the franchise's future. The Australian Classification Board just awarded a release called Warhammer 40K: Kill Team with an "M", presumably since it features a team that kills things. According to the 40K wiki, a kill-team is "a small group of Space Marines, usually no less than five Astartes but no more than a reinforced squad in size, that are tasked with carrying out a specific objective, such as the destruction of a particularly dangerous or strategically important individual, hence the name." The title's being developed by THQ Digital Studios UK, the same house behind Red Faction: Battlegrounds, which leads us to believe we're talking about some sort of downloadable title. We were about to say it also leads us to believe it won't be very good, but who knows? Maybe the studio was working so hard on Kill Team that it forgot to make Battlegrounds good? Today is a holiday after all, the least we can do is to be generous.
