Door Kickers: Action Squad
Killhouse
PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, PC
2D Scroller/Action
October 24, 2019
Door Kickers: Action Squad is a fun and wild old school-style side scroller action game. In Door Kickers, you are put in the role of a SWAT trooper and you are sent to deal with the bad guys in Nowhere City, USA as you kick ass, take names, save hostages and of course… kick some doors. It originally released on PC in 2018 selling over 30K copies to date and has now made its way to PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.
The game contains three modes; Infinity Tower, a mode where you just go through continuous scenarios, Classic Mode, which contains 84 missions with various objectives (like hostage rescue, eliminate the hostiles, arrest warrant and more) and lastly, the Zombie Invasion Mode, which is just like Classic but with Zombies to spice things up. The game can also be played in online co-op or couch co-op, so grab your squad and gear up.
As you go through the game you are able to unlock different classes which include Breacher, Shield, Recon, Agent Fergie and Off-Duty Guy. Each class comes with their own set of skills and can be used for a tactical advantage for missions (so choose wisely). You will start the game as Assaulter with minimal gear but it is definitely enough to get going and to get through the mission. Your first mission throws you into what is to be expected in the game. You are outside of your enemies’ base with multiple hostages being held inside. At this time, you are adapting to the controls and your gun’s aim and recoil. Soon as that door is kicked open (or opened by other means), your enemies have now spotted you and it is GO TIME. Your health is shown on the screen along with your ammo and buffs. Once your health drops, the mission is over so plan each move right.
Now that I felt that I got a good grip of the controls and learned a bit about the buffs, which are something that can definitely make your time easier. With buffs, you are able to re-up your health with a med kit or even increase your defenses. Leveling through missions also reward you with stars that you can use toward the purchase of new gear.
The game overall doesn’t have much of a story or path, but it does challenge you as a gamer to strategize and rethink your past decisions. Mission failures happened to me more times than I like to admit, however, running the same mission again and rethinking the strategy was a fun challenge and rewarding.
Summary
Fun strategy game to play solo or with friends, however, it does get a bit repetitive with missions.