tpwoods28

0 comments by tpwoods28 on Jul 20th, 2008 digg this super bookmark

Killing Floor
Killing floor is one of the most brutal and tense games I've ever played, and has brilliant co-op fights to rival that of proffesional games. The setting is grim, dark and violent, but looks fantastic, the team have managed to get the absolute most out of the ageing UT2004 engine to make it look new and spectacular, with thick fog, eerie lighting and realistic sprays of blood and goo.

the combat itslef sounds relatively arcade like; you and your team (usually 4 or 5) against waves of zombies, mutants and other monsters, which gradually get harder to kill and become more numerous each wave. Inbetween waves you can visit the trader, a creepy individual who opens his/her (it's hard to tell) doors to you and your team so you can buy guns, ammo, armour and grenades, ready for the next wave (you earn money through kills). It may seem simple, but in practice makes for some tense and hectic last stands, and shows the true strength of a well organized team. don't be fooled, though, into thinking that the games is just point and shoot, instead the team decided to make the clever decission of removing your crosshair, meaning you either need to look down your gun sight (slowing movement) or get up close and personal with your enemies, be warned though: some enemies spit acidic vomit on you, whilst others are invisible, making every shot count as they bound towards you.

Whilst a disorganized team will wonder off in ones or twos and get massacred during the first wave, a good team that sticks together will see through to wave 4 or 5. When you reach this far you will most likely have an abundance cash, and that's when you can break out the big guns: flamethrowers, rocket launchers, and various others. these change the game to more of a zombie massacre than a survival game, this is great because it allows you to reap revenge on the guys who, just 20 minutes ago, were pinning you against a wall scraping at your face and vomiting on you!

The maps are, even by the standards set by today's games, terrifying, atmospheric, eerie and great fun. Ranging from a jail to the streets of London, an office and even a Biochemical science lab, all beautifully rendered and layed out, with multiple paths which will lead the unwary and unexperienced (who am I kidding: Noobs basically) into a horde of hungry zombies. London is a personal favourite: the streets are thick with a vomit coloured fog, limiting your view distance, making both the zombies, and your team, harder to spot.

Killing floor is a hugely original mod which is sure to delight fans of the survival horror genre, and those who just want to shoot zombies, it's only limitation is a lack of a single player mode or campaign, which would be good to explain the backstory to the game, but is sadly absent. I would love to see a sequel to killing floor using the UT3 engine, with a singleplayer mode included. With such a high quality game from the team as it is, I would love to see what they could acomplish given funding, a new engine, and a larger team.

Alexander Dunbar

My Score: 93%