Soft Meat Reviews: Killing Floor
(PC)
(PC)
Hello and welcome to my video game review series Soft Meat. This week I will be reviewing the indie game Killing Floor available to download on Steam. I had originally intended to be reviewing Section 8 on the 360 but my local blockbuster didn't have any copies and I couldn't afford to pay $60 for a game I wasn't sure I was even going to like. I decided to check out what I could find on Steam and I found Killing Floor, a self proclaimed "Co-Op Survival Horror" featuring six player co-op and a variety of interesting baddies.
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The premise of the game is incredibly simple. You are a soldier or police officer sent in to kill rampaging mutants created by an Umbrella style evil corporation. That's it. That's the entire story. There are no cut scenes, no conversations (beyond combat dialogue), and no story what so ever besides a paper-thin excuse to have you blowing up zombie wanabes with a double barrel shotgun. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
I have heard people compare this game with Left 4 Dead but it really doesn't play like that at all. This game has much more in common with Horde Mode in Gears of War 2. As opposed to trying to survive long enough to get from point A to point B, like in Left 4 Dead, the goal here is to eliminate wave after wave of the creatures. Your best bet is to find a corner (or similarly defensible area) and blast the things as they approach. This however greatly diminishes any horror aspects the game may have and limits the co-operative play to "You cover that door while I cover this door." When your position gets overwhelmed (and unless you're playing on Beginner difficulty it's a matter of when not if) is when things get frantic and fun. You'll have to blast just enough enemies for you and your teammates to slip away and find a place to regroup, reload, and heal.
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After you have killed every enemy in the current wave, you have a set amount of time to get to the trader to buy new weapons, ammo, and armor. The load out in this game is your standard fair. Various rifles, shotguns, and pistols are at your disposal as well as a rocket launcher, flamethrower, and a few different melee weapons. All of the weapons act as you expect them to and are incredibly well animated and they never stop being fun to use. Blowing a specimens limbs off with the afore-mentioned double barrel shotgun, or decapitating one with a katana just never gets old. There is even a perk system that allows you to get better with weapons as you use them but, while you can level any perk at any time, you can only receive the benefits of one so you need to choose one that suits your play style.
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The final wave introduces the Patriarch, a boss creature with a gatling gun/rocket launcher for an arm and an absolutely ridiculous amount of health. On anything other than Beginner difficulty it will take a group of four or five people armed to the teeth to take him out and it is really satisfying when you finally do.
The game also comes with a level editor for the game so if you get bored with the default maps there are tons of user generated maps and you can even try your hand and creating one yourself.
Well there really isn't much more I can say about the game because I have already described pretty much the entire thing. This isn't a game that trying to revolutionize the gaming industry and it probably won't hold your interest for more than a week or two but it is definitely fun and I highly recommend getting a few friends together and blowing up some monsters.
