Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef – Review

We might not play Games Workshop’s eponymous Warhammer 40,000 tabletop game, but that doesn’t mean we’re not fans of the grimdark universe that it is set in. We’re probably not alone in this regard, as over the past few years, we’ve seen the setting expand into action figures, Funko POPS and even a proprietary streaming service. Of course, the backbone of Warhammer 40,000 licensing has always been video games, and this year alone we’ve seen no less than four new licensed Warhammer 40,000 games. Today, we’re looking at the most recent of those games, a game with the very descriptive title Shootas, Blood & Teef. Can this relatively low-profile run-and-gun title stand out in the massive sea of Warhammer 40.000 content? 

Story

With a three-decade history to draw from, there is a wealth of source material to draw from to present players with a dark and epic Warhammer 40,000 story. Shootas, Blood & Teef throws that idea out the window though, and presents players with a straightforward and simple premise. Given that the featured Warhammer 40,000 faction, the Orks, is fairly one-note, this makes sense, and it allows players to enter the universe without having to read up on characters like Roboute Guilliman, Ibram Gaunt or Be’lakor. Shootas, Blood & Teef’s opening cutscene explains how Ork warboss Gutrekka has set his sights on planet Luteus Prime (or Loot-eus, get it?). This planet is rich in resources but it’s also occupied by the Imperium of Man. Given the war-hungry nature of the Orks, this is all the more reason to launch a full-scale attack on the planet. In the heat of battle, Gutrekka notices that one of his minions, Gargaz, is wearing a fancy top knot, so he decides to steal it and kick Gargaz out of his warplane. Of course, Gargaz can’t let Gutrekka’s actions go unpunished. Deciding to get revenge on his former warboss, Gargaz gathers an army of his own around him. The war for the fancy hairpiece has begun!

Graphics

Given that Shootas, Blood & Teef offers a rather unconventional take on the Warhammer 40,000 universe, it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the game’s visual style also feels very different from other incarnations of that same universe. The characters depicted here are cartoonish, hand-drawn versions of Games Workshop’s iconic designs. The art design is similar to GW’s in-house parody webcomics like Spannerz or Neverchosen and the way the characters are animated feels very reminiscent of old-school Newgrounds-styled Flash animations. Despite the simplistic art style though, it seems like the game wasn’t optimized for the Switch. While we can’t comment on Shootas, Blood & Teef’s performance on other platforms, we noticed that the version we played struggled to keep a consistent frame rate, especially when there was a lot of action going on.

Sound

With deliberately hammy and over-the-top voice performances and a fantastic heavy metal soundtrack, which even features a theme song, Shootas, Blood & Teef’s soundscape is simply outstanding. A good deal of the game’s humor is derived from the Orkish language, and many of the puns work a lot better if you can hear them rather than read them, so it’s fantastic to hear that the voice actors are clearly having fun with their performances rather than phone it in. The on-screen action is also accompanied by a barrage of sound effects which further help set Shootas, Blood & Teef’s audio apart as one of the best soundscapes we’ve heard this year.

Gameplay

Over the years, the Warhammer 40,000 universe has lent itself to a wide variety of game genres, from Space Hulk’s classic turn-based strategy gameplay to the epic ARPG Inquisitor. Games set in the universe typically combine the rich lore with deep strategy, inspired by Games Workshop’s tabletop games. This time around, however, we’re getting a tight and streamlined experience that ultimately lacks depth but offers straight, clean fun. Shootas, Blood & Teef is essentially a 2D run-and-gun game in the same vein as classics like Metal Slug and Contra. In true Ork fashion, the action is turned up to eleven, and you’ll find yourself facing a veritable onslaught of enemies, from legions of puny ‘umies to massive warmachines and even other Orks. Despite offering up a decent amount of challenge, mostly in the form of boss fights, Shootas, Blood & Teef is a short game that could technically be completed in around two to three hours, but there are plenty of incentives to return to Luteus Prime after you’ve reunited Gargaz with his beloved hairpiece.

Taking on the different levels with each Ork type is one of those incentives. There are four distinct flavors of Orks to choose from included here. The most straightforward of these is the Flash Git, who’s just about shooting things and throwing Molotov cocktails. If his style of gameplay doesn’t tickle your fancy, then you could opt to play as a Stormboy, who uses a dash attack and a cluster bomb, or a Beast Snagga Boy, who fights with an explosive spear and his pet squig by his side. Or if you’re feeling particularly destructive, there’s the Weirdboy, who is able to harness the power of lightning with his melee attacks. Each of these Orks can further be customized by equipping them with ridiculously over-the-top weapons, with evocative names like Zzapstikk or Deffbeam. You’ll need these if you want to prevail, as there is still some level of strategy involved here.

Not every weapon is suited for every enemy, and you’ll need to figure out and exploit weaknesses, especially against bosses. Thankfully, the game is very generous with checkpoints, and every checkpoint allows you to spend more Teef on new toys. There’s a wide range of hats to collect, for example, and you can tackle the different levels in a variety of ways, collecting more Teef to buy those hats, or those aforementioned better guns if you prefer that. Given that the game serves up a wide variety of bosses, drawn from all corners of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, you’ll need to figure out the best strategy based on which weapons are available to you. When you’re struggling to beat a boss, a simple weapon swap might just do the trick but of course, the difficult part is figuring out what is the most efficient option.

The replayability factor counters the game’s biggest weakness, namely how woefully short it is, even if it doesn’t break the bank at its €19.99 asking price. There are a handful of other issues with Shootas, Blood & Teef, although these are only minor blips, all things considered. We already mentioned how the game struggled with keeping up a consistent frame rate on the Switch, but this might be something that’s limited to just that platform. A bit more egregious are the game’s seemingly random load screens. There are a lot of these, and they tend to pop up at unexpected moments, even mid-level. While Shootas, Blood & Teef’s mid-level load times aren’t bad by themselves, the frequency with which the gameplay flow was broken up felt irksome, and pre-level load times do tend to be excessively long given the game’s simplicity. Finally, getting used to the game’s awkward control scheme also took some time but once everything clicked, this became less of an issue.

We should reiterate that these are minor issues in the grand scheme of things, as Shootas, Blood & Teef still offers a very fun time. If you’re a fan of either run-and-gun gameplay or simply enjoy the Warhammer 40,000 setting, this is a title worth checking out, if only for the fantastically satirical take on the universe, which is typically portrayed in a gloomy, grimdark manner. The best way to tackle the game is probably in co-op, where you can team up with up to three of your friends to shoot your way through the waves of enemies that await you. If anything, it should provide you with a fun afternoon, although the shoddy visual performance on the Switch might hamper your co-op experience.

Conclusion

A delightfully light-hearted take on Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 setting, Shootas, Blood & Teef offers a surprisingly fun time, but not a perfect one. While the most glaring issue is how short the game is, this is somewhat compensated by the high replayability factor and the relatively low price. Shoddy visual performance on the Switch and inopportune loading screens prevent the game from reaching true greatness, but the sheer fun that is present here still outweighs the bad.

SebastiaanRaats

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