Door Kickers: Action Squad Review

Kicking Doors and Taking Names

KillHouse Games has taken its Door Kickers real-time strategy game and given it an action spin-off. Door Kickers: Action Squad is a side-scrolling action game where you play as SWAT members rescuing hostages and kicking some bad guy butt. If strategy games are not your style and you are more inclined to fun action games, this may be up your alley. If you are a parent buying it for your child think about it beforehand as simulated violence and hostage situations are a part of the game. With that said, let’s kick down the door to your brain and bring some action into your world. This is our Door Kickers: Action Squad review.

Kicking the Door Down

It is in the title: We kick doors and we kick them hard. There are six different characters players can use to kick a door; Assaulter, Breacher, Shield, Agent Fergie, Recon, and Off-duty Guy. You don’t have to do it alone either. I had a great time and it was super fun being able to co-op with another person either in couch co-op in the same room or online. Co-op allows you and your partner to be tactical with your infiltration or hazardous. It really depends on which character you choose to play. That said, I’m not going to sugarcoat it: The game can be tough even with two people. 

Door Kickers: Action Squad 1

Door Kickers: Action Squad surprised with how much it has under the surface of the gameplay. Each character specializes in a certain area as their name portrays. It also means each uses different weapons, has specialized gear, and their own unique ultimates. All classes were fun to use but my favorites to play were Recon and Breacher. One requires you to be sneaky with it and one just opens up a can of…you know.

The characters also level up and gain skill points to distribute into different skill trees. I was a bit confused at first by the skill trees. There is a team skill tree and a class skill tree. Whenever a class leveled up it was tough being faced with the choice of whether to improve the class or improve the team. Both have their merits but sometimes you just have to make a choice. Luckily there are six characters to play with so it gives the game some replayability. 

Door Kickers: Action Squad 2

Game Modes

Door Kickers: Action Squad has three game modes which are all equally fun with one being pretty tough for me. Classic mode and Zombie Invasion Mode share the same episodes. Each has seven episodes in total with twelve stages in each of those. You can play with any class throughout, though some classes are better suited for some stages than others. I have found this to hold true for me.

Within the seven episodes of Classic and Zombie Invasion mode is a Challenge episode, “Challenge Vol.1.” The missions in Challenge do provide just that, especially in Zombie Invasion mode. The missions have certain objectives. For instance, some will say you have to beat it in under three minutes. Zombie portals were popping up everywhere and turning enemies into zombies making it so tough, truly tough. It was so hard, in fact, that I I will level my characters up and give it another crack eventually.

Door Kickers: Action Squad 3

The last game mode is Infinity Tower. It is supposed to be randomly generated mayhem. Infinity Tower has been the toughest for me yet. I have died repeatedly at the start and second floor of the level. What makes it harder than the other modes is that you don’t fill your ultimate bar from killing enemies. It is definitely a challenge and I recommend everyone trying it and seeing how far you can make it up the tower.

Final Thoughts

Door Kickers: Action Squad has been a fun game to play. I love the challenge it offers and often found myself losing track of time playing. Being able to customize your loadout and your skills adds a nice layer of tactical gameplay and even strategy to the game. Like an actual SWAT team, you can’t just rush in and be unprepared. Where it might cause some people to hesitate is the game’s gore and violence. But gore can be turned off. I love the music. It takes me back to childhood days playing my Sega. Door Kickers: Action Squad feels so retro in all the right ways from music, graphics, and the gameplay. Door Kickers: Action Squad has good potential to be a game for speedrunners with the challenge missions. With a price point of 13.99, it is worth it. 

Our copy of Door Kickers: Action Squad was provided by PR for the purpose of an early preview.

Summary
Door Kickers: Action Squad has been a fun action side scroller to play. It is very reminiscent of the retro games I used to play on my Sega Genesis. From the graphics down to music, it has been hella fun.
Good
  • Fun Gameplay
  • Great Retro Music
  • Challenging
Bad
  • Splitting skill points between team and class
9
Amazing
Written by
I'm an animator, illustrator, gamer, and writer. Most notably I love anime, manga, life and learning about things I don't know. Can never stop learning.

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