Warhammer 40K: Shoots, Blood and Teef on PC
Warhammer 40k: Shootas, Blood and Teef is an old-school blow-em-up shooter in the franchise we all love for one reason or another: Warhammer. It is an outrageously absurd fictional world, and that’s what makes it great. No different is the latest game released this year, by Rogueside, as the gameplay and the linear story will bring you right back to great memories with Castle Crashers, Alien Hominoid, or even Metal Slug.
The game is great fun with friends, but is it worth your time and money?
You’re a part of the never-ending quest for lootz, carnage, and WAAAAGGGHHH (as is every Ork we’re pretty sure). Along with that comes a little infighting, typical of one of the fantasy’s most memorable races. During your invasion on Luteus Alpha, a material-rich planet, your own warboss steals your most valuable possession –a hair squig. Not to mention, he also tries to kill you.
Thus begins your new quest of championing an ork invasion, ravaging cities, and hunting your old warboss to satisfy your personal vendetta. The storyline is incredibly simple, and for a game about running and gunning with an ork, it’s everything it needs to be.
The game hilariously has you chew through an army of endless Imperium soldiers to start. As you progress the enemies will switch between harder variants of Imperium units and even the Genestealer Cults.
Warhammer 40k: Shootas, Blood and Teef supports three standard difficulties: Easy, Medium, and Hard. If you play at the hardest difficulty, the game is still fairly easy; however, it’s honestly still a lot of fun. Games of this type don’t necessarily strive to be absurdly difficult, although I do wish some parts were more of a challenge. When you pop your WAAAAGGGHHH active, you won’t notice the difficulty anyway.
Fans of the franchise will find it odd the ease with which you can dispatch a Baneblade, one of the Imperium’s most powerful armored units –even on the hardest difficulty and alone. It is best to think of Warhammer 40k as a powerful and all-encompassing theme in this game; and not on which the gameplay, difficulty, and story, are deeply based.
The game has four classes the player(s) can choose from, though none of them are truly unique or remarkably different. It’s advisable to simply choose the class you think looks the best aesthetically, or would be the most fun.
The Snagga Boy is the most fun in our opinion, with his exploding squig and throwable spear, which also explodes.
If one absolutely had to recommend a class not to use, it would be the Flash Git as ammo is so abundant that his perk is irrelevant.
Aside from the described differences in the image above, the classes play identically as far as gunplay and upgrades.
Also, your clan and the hat you decide to choose are purely cosmetic.
The game is inherently linear, as most 2D games are. You move with your basic WASD system, with Shift to dash and Space to jump. This is how you navigate through the stages and opponents alike. The controls feel swift, responsive, and fluid: nothing to complain about here.
Everything action can be reassigned to a different key. If you don’t like WASD controls, change it; if you’re not fond of a specific ability, move it at your leisure. This is fundamental in good game design.
Furthermore, you will move through each stage blasting your way through all enemy units the game throws at you. These enemies will provide you with teeth which are used as the game’s currency.
Checkpoints will save your progress and double as the in-game store where you purchase upgrades.
There are five base weapon types with different variants, teeth are only really needed to purchase different weapons. While some of the weapons are better than others, each one will get the job done and it is clear the design is to keep the gunplay fresh as you progress.
This leads to the pacing of the game, which is short and sweet albeit with some odd, jarring transitions. Depending on your prowess, you’ll only most likely spend a few hours running through the game’s content, especially with friends.
Shootas, Blood and Teef also has plenty of abrupt transitions between stages:
While playing, don’t be surprised that immediately upon bringing the boss you’re fighting to zero health that the screen goes black, the music turns off, and everything ends at once. This isn’t anywhere near deal-breaking, but it could be more polished.
The game has fantastic artwork, with all of the mysterious, grand, and over-the-top designs that Warhammer games typically feature. You will progress through a variety of familiar territories whether it’s Imperium or Genestealer Cult cities, planets, etc. All the while throughout, the enemies will thematically resemble common units and monsters found within the lore.
Overall, the artwork and visual design leave little to complain about.
Typical sound effects (most being explosive) sound accurate and crisp, and the music ranges from heavy metal to even heavier metal. What really shines, although the music is fitting, is the voice acting. A lot of laughs to be had from certain cinematic moments and boss fights. Overall, both the visual design and sound design leave nothing left to be desired.
Warhammer 40k: Shootas, Blood and Teef is currently retailing for $20 on Steam, but is it worth the price?
The gameplay is fun, the atmosphere and design are great, and the difficulty is right where it needs to be –all in an enjoyable fantasy world that is well-known. However, the $20 price tag seems slightly too much for the amount of content you get. A $15 dollar price tag seems to be more reasonable for the amount of content the player receives.
Nonetheless, Warhammer 40k: Shootas, Blood and Teef is a very enjoyable game and worth playing. Time will fly running through the story with friends, which is definitely the recommended way to play the title. There are a lot of interesting events and cutscenes, loyal Warhammer 40k fans might find some encounters questionable, but it is advised to just have fun with it!
A solid 4/5, the game is worth a purchase if you’re a fan of the genre.
Pros
Cons
Falls a bit on the shorter side in terms of content.
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