Surprisingly enjoyable!
Killing Floor doesn’t innovate in any specific way, considering that its not only a First-Person Shooter but also has Co-Op with Survival Horror theme built into it. All these features have been in games in the past and some are straight up better than Killing Floor. But even with its price of $20 its surprisingly not a bad of a game as it might sound.
The story of the game doesn’t necessarily go too deep nor did I really care much for it as well. Apparently you and five other people in your squad are sent in to kill off wave after wave of genetically altered humans that want to devour your flesh however, DON'T CONFUSE THEM WITH ZOMBIES! As you kill them off soon the big cheese of the whole mess aka the Patriarch, who is behind all of this, comes in and will hunt you down. The story really serves as the basis for all the different types of enemies you encounter along the way.
The game play in Killing Floor is where the game shines the most. It doesn’t do anything too innovative but is still sharp as hell. The controls in the game are really smooth and don’t feel very janky. Shooting is this game is actually pretty satisfying in game; there are no crosshairs in the game and so you have to use your iron sights. Frankly I don’t miss those crosshairs because the guns are very accurate as you switch to Iron Sights that if you invest enough time, you can
rack up headshots left and right which is very satisfying. The variety of guns you get are pretty cool that range from your standard shotguns to assault rifles to really wicked weapons such as the Grenade Launcher and a Chainsaw. You can even dual wield two pistols and they are actually pretty accurate for once (I'm looking at you Counter-Strike!). All the guns you use are a real blast to shoot and provide enough interesting weapons that the shooting never gets dull. This is nice because the types of enemies that you encounter are very vicious.
Another great thing about the game is that the varieties of enemies that your squad encounters are very different from each other that make the game much more intense and so you have to keep on guard constantly. Even the basic enemies such as the Clot are dangerous in groups because once they grab you, you’re stuck and can’t move until you kill them and its gets nearly impossible to break free if you encounter hordes of them. The most dangerous of the bunch are the Gorefasts which run up to you and slash the living hell out of you and the Flesh Pound which if you shoot if enough, it will go into a pissed off state and charge toward you with a good chance of death of happening. With that said running all by yourself in the game is really dangerous because they like to spawn in random places and they could easily hunt you down especially in the latter waves. Luckily you aren’t going to be fighting these things alone!
Killing Floor is a co-op based game so its you and five other teammates killing these things in waves. After the last wave you have to fight the Patriarch. The co-op really isn’t too heavy which is actually quite nice because while it is vital to stick with others if someone dies there isn’t a super heavy penalty on you. The real element of the co-op components is that
you can drop money that you get when you kill the enemies and the healing item that you can use on yourself is more effective if you heal someone else. Frankly six players is actually a perfect number for this kind of game, its not too small to where its overwhelming but not too big to where you can hardly rack up any kills. Six players is the perfect number for this kind of game. As you and your team kill more and more occasionally your whole team will get a slo-mo moment called ZED-time when one of the players gets an impressive kill which slows down the game for three seconds then shifts back to normal. Surprisingly enough it really isn’t as annoying as it sounds because most of the games I’ve played really helped kill more of these things with much more ease and seeing a headshot in slow motion is very satisfying.
The game actually has a built in perks system which is a great addition which helps give you that edge you need when fighting them. There are seven perks such as the Field Medic, Beserker (Melee focused), Commando, Sharpshooter, Support Specialist, Firebug, and Demolitions which is my favorite out the seven. But instead of leveling up as a character, you level up the perk up to level five by meeting requirements such as racking up enough headshots with enough weapons or doing a certain amount of damage with a weapon. The benefits range from giving you discounts on specific weapons tailored to the class, and/or increased damage on a specific weapon. The great thing about it is that you can meet the requirements of any class even if you’re not using that perk. So I can use the Commando perk, use a bolt lever rifle and get enough headshots to level up the Sharpshooter perk. While it can feel like a bit of a grind at times
and may take forever, the rewards in the end are very helpful.
As for the graphics they’re pretty standard for the game, nothing too technically impressive, but they don’t look too bland or boring. The levels and colors in the maps are varied enough to not look bland. Sure its dated, but still not bad looking. Then again the gore in this game isn’t too gratuitous compared to Ninja Gaiden II but you can still turn your enemies into giblets which still satisfies that blood drunk savage in you. The sounds of the guns and the ambience of are actually pretty impressive with the sounds of guns they feel very real and hearing the splatters of a headshot are really cool. I’m not going to lie but the voice acting is pretty lame with its sad attempt with its british voices but in another they are pretty entertaining. It makes me laugh a little when they say “Money Money Money!” or “Stand still I’m not trying to shag you.” In the end they don’t bother me all that much but that could be because I have a lot of patience.
Final Verdict
In the end I’m actually very satisfied by Killing Floor! Even though the presentation of the game isn’t very strong, the gameplay mechanics of Killing Floor is what really kept me coming (that and the Steam achievements :P). And quite frankly for twenty dollars, I got a lot bang for my buck. And you buy this game either online on Steam or buy the retail product but you still require a steam account. I highly recommend you check it out.
