Cooperative gaming is a fad these days and last week Killing Floor arrived to help scratch the itch. Originally Killing Floor was a “total conversion” mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, a mod so professional and popular that it has been released as a stand-alone game, with help from the original modding team and distributed via Steam by Tripwire Interactive.

The game takes place in and around London, England, where experiments with cloning and genetic manipulation have gone horribly wrong. The government sends in teams of army soldiers and police to try and deal with the hordes of “specimens” ravaging the area and eating the civilians. When it comes down to it, who really cares about the plot? Killing Floor is a cooperative survival horror first-person shooter for up to six players where you fight wave upon wave of “specimens”. Parallels can immediatly be drawn to Left 4 Dead, but the two games are really quite different.

The levels in Killing Floor are non-linear and there is no final location you must reach, the only goal is to survive all the waves and the “boss specimen” at the end. You’re free to use any part of the map to make your stand. Killing specimens gives money, which between each wave can be spent at a trader. Throughout each wave you can see the distance and direction for where the trader will next open up shop. Players who die also respawn for the next wave, unless the team is whiped out, then it’s game over.

Players choose from one of six classes, each with its own special perks. Each class can be leveled up with use to improve perk effectivness and players are free to switch class between each wave. The perks system combined with a good selection of different weapons makes Killing Floor a rather strategic affair. Having a solid team with the right selection of weapons that are used in the right situations can make a lot of difference. Being able to weld doors shut, heal each other, give each other ammo and money all adds a layer of strategy as you try and funnel the specimens into a wall of lead while keeping everyone alive, which is not a simple task.

The feel in Killing Floor is something between Left 4 Dead and Resident Evil. The specimens are not rushing like the zombies in Left 4 Dead, but they are not as slow (and stupid) as the infected in Resident Evil. Instead they simply keep coming at a steady pace, moving a little faster or slower depending on their type, with the biggest ones going crazy as they get close. A unique feature called “ZEDtime” occasionally gives all players brief moment of slow-motion, the feature is useful as it gives you a few seconds of easy aiming, but can also feel annoying when it is triggered at the wrong times.

Killing Floor is a lot of fun, especially if you’ve got friends to play with and can really work as a team. Playing the game alone is  really not recommended, and just hitting up random servers is usually not something I do myself in co-op games. With a price tag of under $20 there really is nothing I can complain about. The game looks and sounds good enough and the action is frantic with solid gunplay. There are some bugs but post-release support with fixes, new features and maps has been promised. The game did recieve its first patch the day after release which proves that the developers are dedicated to supporting the game.

-Daniel Lindberg

Tags: Killing Floor, PC, review, Steam

Subscribe to the Check Your HUD RSS Feed