Review: Killing Floor

[headshotcatcher]

Okay, let's cut to the chase. Guns, zombies, flamethrowers, gibbing. What more do you need? This was all featured in a mod for UT2004 and Tripwire Studios decided to convert it into a whole game, which I have played and will now review for you

The basic plot of the game is that a biotech company conducted research on mass cloning and mutation for military purposes fucked up and the specimens became aggressive and are now on a rampage through Great Britain. You are part of a task force consisting of SAS troops, military troops and Special Branch cops trying to rid England of the specimen plague.

Gameplay is actually very simple in this game, you join a server with up to 5 other people and you go and blast zombies. You can do a lot of things to help guarantee your survival and you will quickly notice that doors can even be welded shut to create a temporary obstruction for the zombies. Zombies become progressively harder in this game, in the first wave you only get attacked by regular zombies and the Killing Floor equivalent of the Left 4 Dead Boomer, whereas in the third wave you already get pounded by powerful hulks. In this picture you see the boomer equivalent and a regular zombie.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/folmerveeman/KillingFloor2009-05-1709-49-46-44.png

You are not too heavily equipped in the beginning. But as you progress and kill lots of zombies you gain money which in turn you can spend on weapons and equipment in the shop, like you can see in this picture.
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f145/folmerveeman/KillingFloor2009-05-1709-50-16-38.png

Probably one of the most unique features is ZED time. Sometimes when you make a particularly gruesome kill (like blasting a head off from up close with the shotgun) you will trigger ZEDtime. The time will slow down for a bit (for everyone in the server) which gives you more time to aim and more time to enjoy the gorefest. In contrary to what you may think this actually isn't annoying and it helps gameplay a lot sometimes.

One game you might associate it with is Left 4 Dead, the essence is the same, shoot lots of zombies, but when you play it you will not be able to compare them. The main difference is that you just have to kill lots of zombies, whereas in Left 4 Dead you need to escape too. The Bloat is basically the Boomer though, but that's the only really obvious copy.


In general this is a game for the people who are looking for a killfest, it won't get boring as quickly as you'd think and the perk system is alright. It is pretty shallow gameplay though, but the tactical aspects make up for it. For only 20 bucks it's very much worth the buy, it's most fun with 5 friends but 5 random people can be alright (give or take a few who don't want to do teamwork.

Recommendation: Buy it

Spoiler: disclaimer :)

I am aware that this review is kind of sucky but I hope it's still helpful.

 

[headshotcatcher]

Why should army troopers buy fucking guns? shouldn't the army equip them with the optimal equipment? and why do I have the feeling the more expensive guns are "stronger" inspite of real life.

Anyways, nice review.

Because Brit government is so cheap

And theres no real favour for the more expensive guns, each fits a different playing style.

For example, the shotgun doesn't fare well at long distances but you will find the crossbow to suck in close combat as well. The only actually overpowered gun is the dual handcannon, its dual desert eagles while one or two shots is enough for most zombies

 

[Crash486]

Ugh my friend suckered me into buying killing floor. I personally didn't like it at all. First of all there is the ethical dillemma of repackaging a free game that's been available for free download for the past 4 years and re-releasing as a stand alone game for 20$. That's pretty shady business practice (and one of the reasons steam is still my enemy) but even if you can get over that... It's just not that good.

The game plays and feels like someone mixed L4D suvival mode with counter strike to make some kind of unnatural and unwanted bastard game. (yes I know it came out before L4D, note that it was also free at the time). The best part of the game is the ironsite aiming, as tripwire is known for in their mods. The game mechanics themselves get boring fast (as fast as l4d survival mode). And don't get me started on the horrible and obnoxious British voice acting. The shop keeper sounds like some sort of weird man-woman.

The perks are laughable, they don't even seem to have too much of an effect on the game (other than the fact that they discount certain weapons for you). My conclusion was the game was alright for a weekend romp (possibly a lan party) but its not worth 20$, not in the least. This was actually the first time I looked up Steam's refund policy. Guess what it is. That's right, no refunds.

Don't buy it until the price drops... significantly.

 

[oliveira8]

Ugh my friend suckered me into buying killing floor. I personally didn't like it at all. First of all there is the ethical dillemma of repackaging a free game that's been available for free download for the past 4 years and re-releasing as a stand alone game for 20$. That's pretty shady business practice (and one of the reasons steam is still my enemy) but even if you can get over that... It's just not that good.

You mean the Counter-Strike strategy?

 

[Kranoes]

i will only say this Killing floor = L4D

 

[Crash486]

Ugh my friend suckered me into buying killing floor. I personally didn't like it at all. First of all there is the ethical dillemma of repackaging a free game that's been available for free download for the past 4 years and re-releasing as a stand alone game for 20$. That's pretty shady business practice (and one of the reasons steam is still my enemy) but even if you can get over that... It's just not that good.

You mean the Counter-Strike strategy?

Valve actually sold CS in a bundle with the original halflife in either game of the year edition or platinum bundle. But back then, as long as you had a working copy of half-life you could still download CS from their website for free.
Yes exactly, only I think Valve dug their claws into CS well before they re-released it on steam in v1.6

 

[IactoSophos]

Don't you mean Killing floor < L4D?

 

[headshotcatcher]

i will only say this Killing floor = L4D

It is most certainly not. Gameplay is worlds apart..

Snippity

I am aware that this game has been around as mod for a while, but as you might have noticed in interviews and stuff is that Tripwire is currently developing DLC and working on single player thing.

As I said it doesn't feel like Left 4 Dead at all, sure there are zombies and you need to shoot them but the same is the case in Resident Evil. Now you are not gonna tell my you think Resident Evil is the same as Left 4 Dead I hope. Apart from the shooting zombies part and it being coop it doesn't feel like left 4 dead at all..

Perks are meant not to have too much impact on the game, it wouldn't be fun if the hardcore long time players were massively overpowered in comparison to the newbies now would it?

And lastly yes I do very much agree on the fact that steam sucks for not giving refunds, I bought Red Orchestra as well and I hated it more than any game I have hated before. After a brief aggression I found out that Steam has this laughable refund policy and I hope they will change it soon!

(By the way, you probably are not really into this sort of game, just as I'm not much into Red Orchestra. Don't feel offended by ANYTHING I say please )

 

[Crash486]

*double post edited.*

 

[Crash486]

i will only say this Killing floor = L4D

It is most certainly not. Gameplay is worlds apart..

Snippity

I am aware that this game has been around as mod for a while, but as you might have noticed in interviews and stuff is that Tripwire is currently developing DLC and working on single player thing.

As I said it doesn't feel like Left 4 Dead at all, sure there are zombies and you need to shoot them but the same is the case in Resident Evil. Now you are not gonna tell my you think Resident Evil is the same as Left 4 Dead I hope. Apart from the shooting zombies part and it being coop it doesn't feel like left 4 dead at all..

Perks are meant not to have too much impact on the game, it wouldn't be fun if the hardcore long time players were massively overpowered in comparison to the newbies now would it?

And lastly yes I do very much agree on the fact that steam sucks for not giving refunds, I bought Red Orchestra as well and I hated it more than any game I have hated before. After a brief aggression I found out that Steam has this laughable refund policy and I hope they will change it soon!

(By the way, you probably are not really into this sort of game, just as I'm not much into Red Orchestra. Don't feel offended by ANYTHING I say please )

comparing the game to left 4 dead really isn't fair considering it was out some 3 years before L4D, didn't have anywhere near the budget, and was on a completely different engine (the unreal 2 engine). Left 4 dead was an official Valve mod therefore it carried the benefit of the valve budget, hence the high production value of L4D.

That being said however, this game is deffinately nowhere near par with L4D and not worth 20$. I'm fine with these kinds of games, and in principal its very much like L4D in that it's shooting zombies in a maze with your friends. The biggest difference is L4D had a much higher production valuse and therefore their "mazes" don't feel like mazes at all, they're well rounded campaigns.

You're right though, I'm not really into bland, team based, fps, and I don't really take offense. I'd say the game is worth maybe 5-10$ tops (only worth 10 because popcap can apparently get away with charging that much for their old arcade remake games). 20$ for a repackaged free game is ridiculous, especially when left 4 dead is down to like 29.99 now. Just buy that instead.

Or if you really want to try it, and you have a copy of UT2k4, see if you can get the original build of the mod for free from MODDB http://www.moddb.com/mods/killing-floor

 

[Utarefson]

It's definitivly one of the best multiplayer coop games without a story i've played so far and i've already played a hell lot.
And you left out a lot of important features&gameplay aspects in your review.

 

[headshotcatcher]

It's definitivly one of the best multiplayer coop games without a story i've played so far and i've already played a hell lot.
And you left out a lot of important features&gameplay aspects in your review.

Please elaborate? I included all that I deemed neccesary without it just being a sum of what I know about the game. (seeing as that's what went wrong in my previous review..)

 

[Thyunda]

Nice review - The zombies in this do look a little creepier. More like the cancer zombies from I Am Legend.
I noticed you mentioned this in my L4D review, so I figured it was only fair to come see what you wrote.

 

[Hazy]

I'm with the OP on this: BUY IT!

 

[Archon_Original]

Yes if you like FPS coop's buy it! Its great fun! the perks do make a difference as they can increase your speed, double your firepower and other abilities! someone said they make no difference but i dont see why they thought that!? unless they were expecting an awful mmorpg?!

this game does have a totally different feel to L4D! To start with i preffered it to L4D as the tactics you have to use mean you have to keep on the move and always try to keep an escape route clear, as opposed to L4D's lets all hide in a cupboard!! but thankfully less people are hiding in cupboards as more people realise its a boring, although i do admit useful, way to play it! now i happily switch between both games!

tripwire have just realised a large expansion for free! great stuff! although i will put out the question as to why the hell it didnt include a fix for whatever the problem is with the server connecting issues!? it seems that on 2 nights out of 3 the game jjust wont connect to any servers!!! its bloody infuriating!!! anyone else got this problem? know why its going on? or can even suggest a fix for it!? any help greatly appreciated!