Door Kickers: Action Squad

Review

So, I guess you’d like to know how your evaluation went? Well, all four experts were blown away by the determination and courage that you showed at every task you completed. They were extremely impressed with how you handled all types of weapons, and especially how you reacted in stressful situations. The door kicking will need to improve though, but I guess it will develop as you gain experience on the field. That’s right, Rookie, welcome to the Door kickers Action Squad.

Door kickers: Action Squad is side-scroller action game with great pixel artwork where you control one of several elite S.W.A.T team soldiers who is sent to various locations (mostly buildings) to eliminate villains, save hostages and defuse bombs. This game is playable on a single player, Local and online co-op mode.

The game features a few types of game play: The Classic Mode (which has 5 episodes, each with 12 missions with the variable objectives that I mentioned above), The Infinity Tower (a randomly-generated tower where you must move up as many floors as you can without dying), and the Zombie Invasion Mode (basically the classic mode with additional zombie enemies who appear from some sort of green portal).

At the start of each of the mission, you’ll be able to choose from one of the 5 available units. Depending on which character you select, the mission will be either easy, medium or hard in terms of difficulty. For example, it will be a lot easier for you as an assaulter (carrying an assault rifle) than it will if you play the agent, Fergie, who only uses a gun and has minimal armour. Each character will have a selection of primary weapons and gears to add to their equipment, but it will cost you a certain number of stars to unlock each of them. They also have a secondary weapon which they can use during the assault, but it will take a few seconds to recharge it each time you use it. And finally, they all have a few choices of ultimate weapons, but this option can only be activated if you fill in the fighting gauge during each mission. The more enemies you eliminate, or hostages you save, the more experience points you will add to your units.  Each time a unit reaches a new level of experience (17 is the maximum), it will receive two skill points, which you can then distribute to the team or to your unit’s class. If you successfully complete your mission without killing any hostages, you’ll receive 3 stars, which you can use to buy better weapons and gears before entering your next mission.

Here you go, in front of this building full of rooms. Some will have light coming from the front windows, which will enable you to see who and how many criminals or hostages are in these rooms. But some rooms will be totally black (like a fog of war) with firmly locked doors. If you play as a recon, you will be able to unlock the doors by picking the lock, which will also give you an element of surprise.  The other units will need to kick the door several times in order to open it, which will be noisy and will attract some of the enemies towards that door.  Make sure to time your last kick just right in order to throw the door open in the enemies’ faces and stun them for a few seconds. Depending on what additional gear your unit is carrying, you might be able to flashbang or smoke the room. Grenades are available too, but throwing a grenade in a room with hostages might not be greatest move, especially if you can’t see who’s in the room.

As you eliminate enemies and rescue hostages, you’ll fill up a gauge which has several icons spread throughout its length; each time you reach an icon, you can activate it to help you through the mission. The icons are armour, gear refill, medikit, respawn, extra life and the ultimate weapon.

I really like the enemy units, from the crazy running guy with a knife or explosive vest, to the sniper, to guys with semi-automatic rifles.  You need to be quick each time you open a room and it can be tricky if there are several criminals inside.  As you move up the episodes, enemies will come out from other doors within each room. The good news is that you’ll have unlimited ammunition for your primary and secondary weapons, and you can also hide behind canisters to avoid bullets.

Great pixel artwork and soundtrack, and the game runs beautifully. In terms of controls, you can play with your keyboard or with a gamepad. I must admit that I had a blast playing this game!