Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef (PS4)

In Warhammer 40,000, interplanetary wars are waged by a range of human and alien factions. To win this war, most of them are willing to do terrible and sometimes cruel things to their enemies and themselves, their dogmatic fervor blinding them to how grim the universe they helped create is. But then you have the Orks. These burly green men treat war like a game, fighting because they find it fun. They’re definitely fearsome if you face them from the other side, but Orks treat war almost like a sport, hooting and hollering as they revel in violence for the sake of it. Rather goofy and limited in intelligence, they design their weaponry like overenthusiastic children, and while the broader sci-fi setting of Warhammer 40,000 can use them for serious moments, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef completely embraces the Ork reputation for treating battle as just a bloody good time, this platforming run and gun all about mixing its action-packed carnage with the comedic simplicity of an Ork’s approach to warfare.

 

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef utilizes a simplified cartoon art style that certainly suits its often silly tone, but it can also depict the more serious elements of the universe with decent accuracy so a giant tank or local architecture looks faithful until you notice the occasional background gag. While the backdrops can sometimes be intricate and can do some good work trying to represent the setting, this isn’t some hidden layer of seriousness as you’ll have things like an Ork metal concert or a sign reporting how many days since the last accident right next to a huge pile of explosive barrels. The story itself is ridiculous as well, the Orks deciding to invade a planet owned by the dogmatic Imperium of Man, but while you do find yourself fighting plenty of the brutal soldiers of this galactic empire, more important to the main character Gargaz is his missing hair. Ogruk Gutwrekka, the big Ork in charge, notices Gargaz wearing a nifty doodad on his head, and while Gargaz is happily raining down fire from an aircraft, Gutwrekka grabs the hair squig off his subordinate and kicks Gargaz out. The Ork survives and immediately cares more about getting his hair squig back than anything else, not only having to fight his way through the human forces below, but now turning on his Ork brethren in his pursuit of his trinket.

There is a fun divide between the Ork attitude and those of the humans you’re up against, the other side always taking itself rather seriously even when it’s doing something absurd that gives Gargaz something to poke at or make fun of. He’s not a clever sort, but his single-minded love for bloody mayhem is at least expressed in ways that are more amusing than merely being a dumb brute pushing through every obstacle in his path. He’s not too interested in a conversation either, so usually if he pipes up, it will be for a comedic moment or one that just helps nail in more how delightful the Orks find running rampant, and with heavy metal booming in the background to pump you up, it’s hard not to agree with their enthusiasm for the run and gun action. Funnily enough, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef is designed so its adventure is playable with up to four cooperating human players in total despite the story having a singular focus on Gargaz who may not even look much like your specific Ork thanks to some mild customization and hats you can buy, but getting tripped up on those kinds of details doesn’t feel like the Ork way.

 

It won’t be too hard to get into the Ork mindset either thanks to a well-executed approach to the bloodshed that isn’t too mindless. While the default controls and settings can be a bit of a rough fit, once you’ve tweaked them to set some weapon shortcuts and make more reasonable movement and weapon use controls, you can start to be a rather effective warrior. Shooting is handled by aiming with the right stick, the action involving packed areas with a lot of areas to jump to so you can find yourself fighting foes in every direction. When the adventure kicks off you’re given only a single gun, but over time you’ll be allowed to carry up to five at a time, each one fitting into a different class. Sluggas are simple and reliable pistols, but Shootas are faster to fire and Burnas give you a way to coat the area in fire. While there’s a default weapon for each like a pretty normal shotgun for the Boomstikks class, you can collect Teef, Ork teeth serving as currency to spend on new weapons within that class type. The broad function won’t change too much, a flamethrower is best for harming large groups of small enemies and the laser replacement serves a similar role, but there are definitely reasons to form preferences. Many weapons need to reload despite you having infinite ammo, but something like the plasma pistol instead overheats through use and starts burning you if you keep firing it after so you can utilize it with less delay. The bolter fires slower than other Shootas but also has an explosive shot, able to knock enemies around and deal higher damage per shot than the more typical automatics. Figuring out your preferred weapon loadout is a fun experimentation process and there’s usually going to be a reason to utilize every weapon class, Boomstikks great for heavy damage to bosses for example while Rokkit Launchas can often deal incredible sudden damage despite being slow to reload and possibly deadly to you if you’re too close. Your Ork of choice will even contribute with some unique skills or boons, one class able to do a more damaging dash for example while all classes have a unique grenade that can manifest as something simple like a firebomb or something more involved like a little critter that chases enemies and distracts them.

The enemy variety in Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef feels like it sits at a good crossroads between making weapon switching consistently valuable but not so domineering that you can’t just go on a tear with your favorite weapon for a while. There are plenty of enemy troops that were probably put there just for the quick killing and they can even contribute to building up your WAAAGH! meter that allows for brief invincibility and constant automatic fire with whatever weapon you have equipped. There are often enough tougher foes to help shake things up, from enemies to have a chance to firing back to truly sturdy foes like the Intercessor Marines who are deadly to stand still around and can take quite a beating to the point you might fear them more than boss battles. Sewer gators, Genestealers, and walking mechs means you’re not just carving through humans, goblins, and Orks either, and boss battles often involve huge targets where you’ll need to make good use of available ground to leap around and get good angles on the target. Admittedly, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef can feel like it spends a few stretches just bringing out the same baddies again and again, and with the game not likely to hit five hours in length even if you take it slow, it’s surprising there are stretches where it feels like you’re not facing much new. They are at least often placed intelligently enough to keep you involved, the need to navigate around the vertical battlefields and use the right weapons not fading even during its less inspired moments. It is pretty likely you’ll take damage no matter how good you are at getting around these often chaotic fights, but the game also has a surprisingly good sense for how it doles out squigs, little creatures you can snag to get a quick heal. In fact, managing the available squigs can sometimes add an interesting strategy to the action. There is a clear sense that some carnage should be indulgent but to really keep it interesting you’ll need moments that push back hard enough against you that you need to be a bit smart to survive. That’s why some levels contain hidden Teef caches that require a bit of figuring out to reach too, the action broken up a bit by a touch of exploration so it doesn’t become exhausting.

 

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef already has you going up against other Orks on your warpath, so it’s perhaps not too surprising the multiplayer also features a Versus mode where you can let loose on each other. It’s clearly not designed as the focus for the type of controls on offer, but as something to mess around with friends in briefly, the versus mode is a fine addition and one likely to keep up the idea of doing things purely because they’re cool and violent. It’s no secret key to longevity and in the adventure the Teef are the only optional collectible to spend on weapons or hats, but that first run through is exciting because it is focused rather than lost in trying to wring more out of the game world.

THE VERDICT: The Orks of Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef aren’t wrong for finding the violence it features so thrilling, the run and gun platforming able to let you go on a rampage at times while others you’ll need to really move about and manage your range of weapons to win a fight. The comedic story sets the tone well but the enemy variety means you won’t settle into a rut in terms of how you approach the action. Not every fight will be special since sometimes levels keep trotting out familiar enemies without much alteration, but hidden Teef, big boss battles, and a gradual push into new battle situations helps you get swept up in the adrenaline-pumping action and indulge your inner Ork.

 

And so, I give Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef for PlayStation 4…

A GOOD rating. A few stumbles in the moment to moment action can’t kill the enthusiasm you’ll have for Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef once you realize how satisfying swapping between weapons to handle a room of diverse enemies can be. Not only will you be given room to find out your favorite set of five guns to carry, but they all pack a good punch while feeling distinct enough you’ll want to switch. Reloading is handled especially well, not too much of a nuisance in small skirmishes but in the big battles you’ll probably be cycling through your weaponry a lot to avoid down periods and then search for those moments where it’s safe to reload or grab a health squig. Having you limited to only one weapon of each class in hand does perhaps mean you might be hesitant to bring along something too situational if it requires replacing a broadly effective option, but when you add in the different Ork types also adding new tools to your arsenal, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef makes picking how you want to fight a layered decision and one with satisfying results. A bit more range in enemy types to pepper throughout those sometimes repetitive skirmishes could spice things up in a way that makes it easier to just revel in the bloodshed, but the comedic tone and the fun world view of the Orks prep you well for treating this all like some hyper-violent cartoon .

 

Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef could also have done with being a longer adventure, although that might have lead to a few more of those moments where you’re not being thrown into demanding enough scenarios to keep up the game’s high energy levels. For the most part Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef already fires well on all cylinders, the surface level chaos certainly satisfying because of visual effects and the delight the Orks get out of all of it, but the focus still being on good movement and weapon utilization means things aren’t mindless to the point they’d stop being thrilling. Even the Orkz have standards for what action gets their engines going, and while it might be hard to convince them to sit down with a game controller for even this game’s somewhat short adventure, I doubt they’d argue with the quality of the action. Involved but not overly cerebral, bloody and full of different ways to make things go boom, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef feeds the Orkish mindset wonderfully.