People need to stop comparing Killing Floor to Left 4 Dead. It doesn't work, and it's not fair. It's like comparing Starcraft to Dead Space because they both have a space setting. They're two completely different things, so stop.
Killing Floor is a survival-horror FPS from the guys who brought you (well, not you, because you had the sense not to buy it) Red Orchestra, the game that succeeded in being one of the most realistic games ever and yet was not fun, Tripwire Interactive.
However, Tripwire seems to have gotten the hang of things this time, because Killing Floor isn't that bad. It's a co-op game, which means your level of fun will likely vary depending on how stupid your teammates are, but the game isn't that hard to get the hang of so it's not as infuriating as other co-op games with zombies. Cough.
I'm told that they're not actually zombies, but rather failed military experiments. You'd think the government would know better than to surgically attach chainsaws and rocket launchers onto something that might go wrong.
[small]Gorefast, meet 9 milimeter.[/small]
So, as I was saying. It's a cooperative zombie game- you fight through several "waves" of zombies intermitted by purchasing guns and ammo Counter-Strike style from the Trader, who hides unabashedly while you kill everything. The high point of the game for me was the gunplay. I should have expected it, since it's the only thing Red Orchestra had going for it, but the guns feel and look superb. Every shot gives just the right amount of kick and the models were not lazily done; headshots are especially satisfying. The graphics won't wow you, but the system requirements are low and I wouldn't call them bad. The sound quality is fine, though not particularly impressive either; the game is run on a heavily modified Unreal 2.5 Engine. There's a wide variety of weapons you can buy, though you spend most of your time using the pistol you start with, since the difficulty level is wack.
[small]See how pretty the gun is? See?![/small]
The first level you ward off mostly just Clots, which are your basic zombie looking things which can latch onto you if you let them get too close. The next level you get more variety, with Crawlers and Gorefasts charging at you. If you're lucky enough to make it to the final wave, you'll have to face the Patriarch, an impossibly overpowered specimen who has a rocket launcher/chaingun combo for an arm, and tentacles protruding from his chest. He runs faster than any character in the game, and he can turn invisible whenever he needs to heal.
[small]Shamelessly stolen from GameSpot because I sure wasn't paying attention to screenshotting when he was in my view.[/small]
So, the gunplay is great. The co-op action is good. My only complaints are the difficulty and the poorly designed server browser. Despite my lack of complaints, Killing Floor isn't amazing. The problem lies more within the things that just aren't there, rather than things that are there being bad that leaves this game stuck in mediocrity. It's not particularly addicting, and while it's a cool experience, it's really just not that...fun. It gets repetitive fast and there aren't very many maps. There's bullet-time, which is weird for a multiplayer, and seems to be entered randomly, which can be awkward when you're just faffing about and suddenly enter bullet-time with no enemies in sight. Apparently there are 10 different Specimen, though I can only think of 6 or 7 off the top of my head.
+Some of the most satisfying to shoot guns in a video game; variety of specimen; an actual survival-horror game that works; it's cheap.
-Repetitive; low variety of maps; difficulty curve steeps impossibly by the last wave; in general just nothing that impressive;Left 4 Dead is better.
I know the game came out a while ago, I did this review a while ago too.
Killing Floor is a survival-horror FPS from the guys who brought you (well, not you, because you had the sense not to buy it) Red Orchestra, the game that succeeded in being one of the most realistic games ever and yet was not fun, Tripwire Interactive.
However, Tripwire seems to have gotten the hang of things this time, because Killing Floor isn't that bad. It's a co-op game, which means your level of fun will likely vary depending on how stupid your teammates are, but the game isn't that hard to get the hang of so it's not as infuriating as other co-op games with zombies. Cough.
I'm told that they're not actually zombies, but rather failed military experiments. You'd think the government would know better than to surgically attach chainsaws and rocket launchers onto something that might go wrong.
[small]Gorefast, meet 9 milimeter.[/small]
So, as I was saying. It's a cooperative zombie game- you fight through several "waves" of zombies intermitted by purchasing guns and ammo Counter-Strike style from the Trader, who hides unabashedly while you kill everything. The high point of the game for me was the gunplay. I should have expected it, since it's the only thing Red Orchestra had going for it, but the guns feel and look superb. Every shot gives just the right amount of kick and the models were not lazily done; headshots are especially satisfying. The graphics won't wow you, but the system requirements are low and I wouldn't call them bad. The sound quality is fine, though not particularly impressive either; the game is run on a heavily modified Unreal 2.5 Engine. There's a wide variety of weapons you can buy, though you spend most of your time using the pistol you start with, since the difficulty level is wack.
[small]See how pretty the gun is? See?![/small]
The first level you ward off mostly just Clots, which are your basic zombie looking things which can latch onto you if you let them get too close. The next level you get more variety, with Crawlers and Gorefasts charging at you. If you're lucky enough to make it to the final wave, you'll have to face the Patriarch, an impossibly overpowered specimen who has a rocket launcher/chaingun combo for an arm, and tentacles protruding from his chest. He runs faster than any character in the game, and he can turn invisible whenever he needs to heal.
[small]Shamelessly stolen from GameSpot because I sure wasn't paying attention to screenshotting when he was in my view.[/small]
So, the gunplay is great. The co-op action is good. My only complaints are the difficulty and the poorly designed server browser. Despite my lack of complaints, Killing Floor isn't amazing. The problem lies more within the things that just aren't there, rather than things that are there being bad that leaves this game stuck in mediocrity. It's not particularly addicting, and while it's a cool experience, it's really just not that...fun. It gets repetitive fast and there aren't very many maps. There's bullet-time, which is weird for a multiplayer, and seems to be entered randomly, which can be awkward when you're just faffing about and suddenly enter bullet-time with no enemies in sight. Apparently there are 10 different Specimen, though I can only think of 6 or 7 off the top of my head.
+Some of the most satisfying to shoot guns in a video game; variety of specimen; an actual survival-horror game that works; it's cheap.
-Repetitive; low variety of maps; difficulty curve steeps impossibly by the last wave; in general just nothing that impressive;
I know the game came out a while ago, I did this review a while ago too.
