Killing floor is described as a co-op survival horror game but I see it more as a co-op first person action/horror game. It may seem obvious to some that killing floor is very similar to a co-op horror game released by valve last year but killing floor came first. It originally started life as a mod for unreal tournament 2004 a few years ago. It was then sent to tripwire interactive in the hope they would include it with one of their releases but they guys there enjoyed the game so much they went on to release it as a full game.
The story lines as simple as they come, your a solider working in a team of up to six and your mission is to cleanse an area of failed super solders that came from a government experiment. The games played in rounds, each round your forced fight off a set number of specimens that increases each round and between the rounds you have 60 seconds to run to the nearest trader to buy up new weapons, equipment and ammo.
Killing Floor is mainly a multi-player co-op game, it does have a solo option where you can play by your self (no bots) but the games been designed to be played with others and the solo option id just there as something extra rather than a main part of the game. The game contains 5 maps, nine different enemies and over 12 weapons.
Its fun to play
In my eyes any game + cooperative play can instantly can make any game fun. Whether your playing with strangers or old friends this game is unbelievable fun. Every little aspect of this game has been designed to keep the game fun rather than make it feel like a job.
The maps are great
Not only does each map have its own look & feel but they also have small areas within each map that feel unique. For example the West London map not only is completely different to other four maps but it also have small areas like the a church and a police station that feel different to the rest of the map, making you feel like the map is made of smaller maps stitched together perfectly. Everything looks natural and kind of unplanned but every where you go in the maps there are countless good places to defend as well as countless ways you defence could fail.
The class system
Because you are supposed to be a solider, the game uses a class system where at the beginning of the game you can choose what class you want to play as. This effects how effective you will be using certain weapons as well as what you will have to pay at the trader for certain weapons. Not only can you choose your class but you can also level up each class by meeting goals within the game. All this is great because it allows you to play the game the way you want as well as become better at your chosen skill over time be you a medic or a sharpshooter.
Mod-ability
Because the game is based on the Unreal 2.5 engine it allows you to make new content for the game easily as well as play others content. I personally enjoyed playing though games where the squad cap had been increased above six players to 50 and to compensate there were more enemies each round to fight. Even though at the time of writing the games only been out for a little over a week already there are new maps are starting to appear which shows the games already starting to form a good community that will hopefully last for a long time.
ZEDtime
Sometimes when you kill an enemy the game goes into slow motion allowing you to get a few more head-shots in because Killing Floor is a multi-player game ZEDtime effects everyone but it actually works out as if your killing enemies chances are so is every once else. The only time this fails is when your welding a door shut and suddenly ZEDtime kicks in slowing the whole process down but over all it looks and feels really great when it happens
More guns please
Even though there was over 12 guns in the game by round five I had normally bought (or found on dead team mates) the 4 guns I always buy. After that I would only spend my money on ammo and armour. It would have been nice to have better versions of guns that are there for 15 round games where you will probably have enough money left over by the end off the game to buy a small house.
More maps please
While the five maps were very nice and there are fans making their own maps, after few hour playing the game I knew my way around most of the maps and although I'm still finding new things out about each may to this day. I still feel as if there should have been more maps included in the game.
Stats please
When the game ends the game just tells you if you won ( or lost) and then loads the next map. What would have been nice was if a stats page came up detailing things like who killed the most, who had the most money, who gave away the most money, who got the most head-shots, etc. most of this stuff is already being stored for achievements and levelling up your class, so it would have been nice to have it displayed.
Overall
Its a great game and while there are a few negative points to it, the good cancels it out for the most part. In the past week I've played this game for close to 15 hours not because I felt obligated to play it for the review but because I was genuinely enjoying it and I plan on continuing to play it. I can highly recommend it for those looking for a new co-op game or those that want something a little different that Left 4 Dead.
