Phenixx Gaming

Much like America’s war in the Middle East, Romanian studio KillHouse Games’ Door Kickers 2: Task Force North felt somewhat like it was in early access for longer than time itself. Finally out in its 1.0 release, the fully updated sequel to 2014’s Door Kickers puts you in charge of a squad of US Rangers in a made-up destabilized Middle Eastern state, Nowhereaki. Commanding the team is the easy part, but planning, executing, and doing so quickly, efficiently, and safely is the key to Door Kickers 2. Similar to Ready or Not, SWAT 4, Black One, and other tactical shooters, but top-down and with an active pause.

Now with a number of campaigns, new maps, new random map generation, workshop support for more than just maps, and even that Doctrine thing we’ve seen a whole lot about but knew little about. There is plenty new or giving the game we’ve been playing for years now a fresh lick of paint. Though I will point out in the advanced build we were privy to this last week, the entire save of several hundred hours, multiple old mods being used, and so on, yeah, that was wiped. Go in knowing this is a possibility, but also acknowledge the fact you were already looking to play for several hundred more hours anyway.

The new map generation is probably the biggest change, as it pertains to the early portion of the larger change in the update, the campaign(s). Split into two separate campaign types, these are broken down into several further defined campaigns telling stories (duh), almost like Black One: Blood Brothers but not in that stupid/weird way.

Starting with a Tour of Duty either of “Northern Belt” or “Shrine District,” these are randomly generated hits on HVTs or nabbing hostages from difficult places. Typical stuff you’d do as a Spec Ops unit when on a deployment. Rangers are still Spec Ops, but not the group you think of when you hear it. Later “Operation” campaigns are focused, with “Operation Subjugator” being pulled from the quick mission option to become an entire section of the campaign. Too bad I’m awful at “Phase III: Secure,” mostly any bomb disposal but particularly that one.

I don’t hate the newer maps or the new map generation, but I will say that it does feel a little wider in scope. Being a bit more open allows the generation engine (or whatever it is called) to build the maps more from the ground up, which can make some of the maps feel less defined. Less perfectly built to make it appear as if a human or humans lived there. The details and constructed nature that make the established maps we’ve three-starred already and the bits that make these places feel lived in, they aren’t always there.

This is the problem with a larger random generation mode and placing such emphasis on it, it isn’t terrible as it mixes with the older models too, but neither is it inspiring a want to play those new missions again. At least not as much as you might with the “Deck of Cards” set of missions. Including the new “Jack of Clubs,” a penthouse mission that employs the new elite Spec Ops SSI unit on the opposing side. Aside from “Hard Choices” or “The Intervention,” a large portion of the new properly designed maps are aimed in that “All The Way” larger focus.

That’s not a bad thing, but it does mean you also lose a bit of that detail you get with the “Tiny Troubles” series of missions, personally my favorite. Followed only by “Extreme Rescues” and “Deck of Cards.” The variety and thought of how to attack the breaches and “outsmart” any insurgents or even the designers, that’s what tickles my want to play just another level before I go to bed or go do more work. It’s that Spelunky “One more run” thing, but with a lot more explosive breaches and sounds of shotguns turning a man’s intestines to Pâté.

Speaking of weapons and tools, there is also a change to how you unlock those. As was the case throughout the early access period, stars for completing the missions will get your squads their equipment, but now it is only some of those weapons and tools.

Tying back into the campaign: For each Tour of Duty campaign you complete you have several options. You can keep going and extend the tour, if you’ve been lucky enough to find intel on site of a hit you can use that to take a week off; or you can retire from that tour, gaining you incrementally larger amounts of Battle Honors the longer the tour. It should also be said that intel obtained from certain levels will also be required to do certain missions. While some weapons in the equipment menus are locked behind these battle honors instead of stars. With wiped progress, this might be annoying.

I don’t hate it, it feeds into a larger system that promotes playing more without completely wasting time, but I can see it not entirely being loved by everyone. Again, this can go back to the random mission generation. It only offers select numbers of exciting and engaging maps which are few and far between. I get it, a tour of duty in the real sense is supposed to be monotonous sometimes, but tying progression to that can be a double-edged sword.

Each Tour of Duty campaign is supposed to take 7 in-game days to complete and you can only do one hit on a target a day. Building up and getting those Battle Honors from the campaign seems like more of a faff-on to actually complete the whole armory, especially if you download mods with additional weapons, sets of armor, general gear, and even the tools you use. Maybe I’m looking more at it from the perspective of a reviewer having a little under a week to see and do as much as possible, but it feels like a lot of work to do for something previously so simple.

The truth about Door Kickers 2: Task Force North’s 1.0 release is that it is a more complete version, but after several hundred hours of playing and replaying maps, it is still the same tactical gameplay. There are a few additions and changes: Gate doors can’t be explosive breached anymore, you need bolt cutters, which also get you through chain link fences. New voices, new voiced lines, and even being able to tell civilians to scram. It is the little things that have changed, but the overall gameplay stays the same.

I’d have enjoyed the campaign having some smaller, more focused missions to break up the larger warehouse hostage rescues that repeated in quick succession early on. There is variety and versatility to some missions, but to say they’re all vastly different, refreshing, and more importantly interesting might be a stretch.

I’ve also neglected to say too much about bugs thus far because as I said, some mods I’ve played hundreds of hours with were broken with this update. So in a vain attempt to get back some equipment I typically use, I also did a bit of jiggery-pokery to force a mod that was incompatible into working. I think as a result even missions without the secure suspicion areas were showing the red no-go areas regardless of the mission type. I honestly don’t know if that’s why or if it is due to the early release build itself.

However, what made me mention this in the first place is that I saw a few error codes and such suggesting a Tour of Duty would only offer Clear Hostile missions. As it turns out, the Tour of Duty continued to feed out abductions, hostage rescues, and such. It was the same sort of error you get with mods that don’t really work or when there is a conflicting file. This could be as a result of the pre-release build or it could be a small conflict with mods. It could be something completely different that no one else will ever see, knowing my luck.

The point here is, despite a few technical hiccups and I’ve maybe broken the whole suspicion thing, there isn’t a lot to complain about in terms of performance or technical aspects. The load times are even quicker, and generally from top to bottom Door Kickers 2 feels smooth to play. I think the new civilian command thing is a touch slow, especially as you push toward a threat and a unit is just standing there over an old man. Though that’s more game design than bug-related.

If I had to say something that doesn’t feel as impressive or important as it maybe was hyped up to be, the campaign felt somewhat lacking. Especially the Tour of Duty campaigns. Being randomly generated the story is more about how you’re able to endure as the squad takes damage and could possibly die while on tour, but also the general idea of this type of war or operation never really going out of style. You could argue there is more story being told in the Operations, specifically built missions with more defined targets.

However, the stories for the Operations are told through the briefings and occasionally the environment, the briefings are often a bit more detailed about what you’ll face while the environments do just enough to visually stand out. These campaigns aren’t great plots, and of course, the briefings aren’t some of the novels you get with Workshop downloaded maps. Design-wise, they are fine, the ideas aren’t too refreshing, but it does the job. That’s probably the “issue” with the campaign, it does the job but doesn’t stand out too much.

The update itself isn’t a revolution that sets Nowhereaki on that path to American democracy, one McDonalds at a time. It brings a few good additions with the Doctrines offering squads to be more specialized now, particularly for those long barricaded shots through rooms. However, KillHouse Games and Door Kickers 2 are doing just enough with Workshop support and quality-of-life refinements that make an already great “one more run” game just that bit more fun, full, and exciting to play. Ultimately, Door Kickers 2: Task Force North is still great with the possibility that modded campaigns eventually outshine the game’s plot.

Access to the pre-release PC build of Door Kickers 2: Task Force North was provided by KillHouse Games for this review.

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Door Kickers 2: Task Force North

$24.99

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Still the same great gameplay without bogging itself down.
• Workshop support for more than just maps.
• A number of QoL fixes and updates with 1.0.

Cons

• The campaign could certainly have been more enticing.