Killing Floor

Let's get one thing straight, Killing Floor is NOT a Left 4 Dead clone. With all the similar zombies and the fact that it's a co-op shooter, one can easily put it off as such, but Killing Floor does enough to separate it from Left 4 Dead.

Unlike Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor doesn't have a progressive campaign with a beginning and end. Each round starts players in an open-ended map similar to a traditional multiplayer map. From there, the players are tasked with fighting of a certain number of zombies in waves. So the game becomes more of finding a good spot to hunker down rather than keep moving forward.

This is where Killing Floor focus is, defense, something I like very much. You get some very basic tools (i.e. the welder) to direct the flow of zombies to, hopefully, one extremely hectic point to defend. While the hordes of zombies that come though that one point aren't as huge as Left 4 Dead's there are just as intense with multiply different zombies coming at you. While the game is relatively easy on Normal (with the exception being the final boss), on Hard and Suicidal everything is a threat. When you see the big, hulking Fleshpound coming towards you and you have no way out because the back door is welded shut, you just want cry lick a little girl.

Killing Floor has a system of Perks (there really just classes) that effect you in different ways. For instance, the Support Specialist (personal favorite) has an increase in Shotgun damage, increase shotgun penetration, and faster regeneration of the welder’s energy. You can level these perks up and the effects become more effective and you get new effects. They can get pretty ridicules from what I heard, like the shotgun having 100% penetration that can tear though groups of zombies, breaking the balance of the game. Whether that’s true, I do not know, but it’s cool to level up the perks and get those bonuses.

The weapons are pretty standard fair for a zombie shooter. You get a rifle, shotgun, assault rifle, and the likes. Even though there’re pretty generic, they all feel very good. The sound combine with the kick back and screen shack makes each weapon feel extremely powerful, though they might not be doing that much damage. The only exception is the melee weapons, which just do not have the same feel as the guns.

Being helped on and developed by Tripwire, there is definitely some influence from their other product that I love Red Orchestra. The iron sights show some similarity to Red Orchestra's and are simply amazing. Whether it is the default pistol or the 3D scope of the Crossbow, they simply look stunning and feel natural. While they are not like Red Orchestra's in term of realistic movement, they do share the same level of detail and quality that I love about them.

Also for a game running on an out-dated version of Unreal Engine, it looks quite good. The atmosphere of each map rivals that of many games running on much new engines. While the character animations show their age and the flashlights look like they were pulled straight out of Half Life 1, it does not detract that much from the overall visual quality of the game.

With all the positive things I have said, there are a number of complaints I have with the game. One being the server browser, there really should not be one. While I advocate the use of server browsers and dedicated servers for larger multiplayer games like Team Fortress 2, server browsers don't work very well when servers only hold a max of 6 players. It’s not that it’s too difficult to use the server browsers and get into a match, but it would just be more convenient to have some sort of matchmaking system in place. Also the game can get a tad repetitive in spots, especially when the map has the number of waves set to 10, it can drag on for quite a while.

So in conclusion, there is enough room for Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor to coexist. Killing Floor offers amazingly fun zombie shooter that while similar to, but not as good as Left 4 Dead, was worth the $15 I paid for it and I would definitely recommend it to you if your itching for some more zombie action.