Door Kickers: Action Squad

KillHouse Games’ Door Kickers: Action Squad is a side-scrolling action shooter where you take on the role of various team members of the Action Squad as they wipe out the bad guys across Nowhere City. Played in a Mission-based format, there’s not much story to speak of, just short, tactical arcade style levels that you can play alone or with a friend (either locally, or online) for some quick and deadly combat.

Each mission has you either rescuing hostages, taking down specific targets or disarming bombs, which seems straightforward enough - but DK:AS lulls you into a false sense of security before surprising you with just how difficult some of the levels can be. Taking a second to learn the layout as well as scoping out enemies and making sure to time your attacks all make a big difference in your chances of survival. Bursting down a door with a blade-wielding enemy facing you is a bad idea, and running in guns blazing when there are hostages will effectively turn them into meat shields and prevent you from nabbing the coveted 3-Stars for each level.

Throughout the different modes: Classic Mode, Zombie Invasion Mode (same as classic, but with Zombies), and Infinity Tower which is a randomly generated option, there’s tonnes of entertainment to be had - and whilst it occasionally feels repetitive, the sharp difficulty spikes help to negate this by forcing you to plan your course of attack and try out other methods. Utilising Ultimate moves whenever the meter is full can drastically change the outcome of a mission, so be sure to make full use of these, too.

With different classes of characters: Assaulter, Breacher, Shield, Agent Fergie, Recon and Off-duty Guy; each having their own difficulty level, as well as their own specific upgrades, abilities, and skills that increase the more you play with them. Additional weapons and gear can be unlocked as you play using stars earned throughout your missions, and these prove to be a big help at giving you the upper hand.

Whilst the game works well as a Single Player title, in our opinion playing two player feels best, as you can work out tactics of how to approach a room effectively and make the most of attacking from both sides. You can also mix things up by playing co-op as different squad types, having one person for the up close and personal attacks and one with a bit of range. A nice bonus for playing co-op is that you can use Points to upgrade either yourself or your team, giving a boost to both players.

Presented in a simple but effective pixel-art style with cutaway views of the building interiors, with everything right down to the furniture and each of the individual rooms being filled with plenty of detail. The character designs are well done and stand out well from each other, with different enemy-types having distinct appearances. The soundtrack is very 80s feeling, giving a cop-show/action movie vibe that works perfectly within the setting, and even upon death adds another layer with a very clinical hospital theme.

Priced at £12.49 on the Xbox Store, you get a good 10+ hours of content across the six different ‘episodes’ (the areas in which each batch of missions are set); including the five original ones plus the newest entry: King of the Slums, as well as Challenges and secret items to find throughout the missions. Leaderboards are also available to encourage you to power through and rise up through the ranks - although this will definitely require some effort with how high some of those scores are! And with friends or family to play along with making it even more fun to play, we’d definitely recommend you check this one out.

In the end, we decided to give Door Kickers: Action Squad the Collecting Asylum rating of 8.5/10.

Have you played Door Kickers: Action Squad yet? What did you think of it?
Let us know in the comments below!

- V x

Thank you to KillHouse Games for the Door Kickers: Action Squad Xbox review code!