Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Linux, PC
Tested on: PlayStation 4
Killing Floor 2 – Review
Calling Killing Floor 2 Call of Duty: Zombies without the Call of Duty is candid. This idea might pop to mind when you do think about what the game is all about: there are zombies and you kill them with guns. It could have been a mod to the ever present, almost annual, shooter. Holding it to Call of Duty standards wouldn’t be fair as it isn’t Call of Duty. Setting that aside you’ll be mowing down vast swathes of undead/infected/mutants.
Story
*searches through menus* *plays through the practice mode* *plays through several hours worth of survival matches* What is the story? Luckily the internet holds the backstory. That in itself is a flaw in game design, if the developers had at least put it in a menu or some papers you can pick up during the levels, it would be fine. There’s nada story in the game in any way, shape or form. If you really are interested in the background lore, you are shit out of luck if you want to be immersed. That being said, there is actually a story. It takes place in London, in the offices of a wealthy biological technology corporation, where all of a sudden all hell broke loose. They smashed their way into the building and by the time the riot police arrived none of them were still present. What the police found however were creatures that had mutated or had been infected and were grotesque beyond imagination. Here you come in, a member of the survivors of the military and it’s up to you to defend the country and more importantly do your duty for your Queen.
Graphics
Graphically, Killing Floor 2 is really something. Its maps are elaborate and the level design is ingenious, every level feels completely different and none of them feel like they have any copy pasted elements. However the maps do have some items that get in the way. They feel cluttered and sometimes it’s not obvious on which items you’ll get stuck and which items will just brush away if you walk into them. The powertrip after a round when you look around the room and seeing it painted red with the blood of your slain enemies is huge. Almost making it a sport of not only killing them but refurbishing the room with their entrails. Enemies come in various sizes and varying degrees of menacing and ugly.
Sound
When talking about the sound, a couple of things become apparent immediately. A: The developers had a love for Demon Hunter, as the biggest part of the soundtrack are of their repertoire. B: The sound cuts away from song to song very abruptly. C: The announcer is a french woman. D: The voice actors have been cast in a manner that makes it so none of them actually sound the same and they feel different in a sense that actually accentuates their appearance. This is something that speaks in Killing Floor 2’s favor. Guns and other murder makers actually all sound different from each other and the guns that do have a secondary firing mode have a distinct sound when firing that clip.
Gameplay
Killing Floor 2 is a first person shooter where the aim of the game is killing zombies. You can choose to do so solo or jump in a multiplayer co-op/pvp match. Killing Floor 2 is multiplayer focused and it’s obvious when you look at the layout of the main menu. First option is the multiplayer mode, second is the solo offline mode and lastly is the practice mode. The game has quite some options when it comes to play styles. Before you start off, you can choose your character’s combat style out of a list, and every combatant has different weapons and different perks.
As you kill zombies you’ll gain experience. The accumulated experience adds up to levels and when you hit level 5/10/15/20/25, you’ll unlock different perks, which you can switch up if you want to change up your playstyle. Choosing a role doesn’t mean you can’t gain experience in other ones. If you want experience in another role you pick out their gun and start shooting stuff. Apart from shooting zombies you can also hunt the maps for collectibles. It’d be good if the collectibles were the same over all the maps, but they aren’t and this can be confusing when you are going for the trophies.
The gameplay isn’t that organic, the enemies don’t grow more and more strong as you play. It’s not as if the different mutants are added when you play through the waves, but all of them can come at you when you start off the first wave. On one hand this makes it so you have to pay attention when you start off, but it can also feel overwhelming when you start out and are new to the game with weaponry that barely dents anything coming your way. On the other hand when you do bite the bullet and make it to the higher levels and start getting the hang of the different weapons and the perks, the game really become cathartic.
Conclusion
Killing Floor 2 is a really competent zombie shooter, it doesn’t promise you the world and then yanks the floor from under you. If you are looking for a fast paced over the top powertrip and a really fun shooter that is undiscriminating about killing whatever comes your way and is hostile then this is your game. You can play as a female re-murderer so there’s no gender bias. If you are looking for something that slowly builds on previous gameplay and story then you better look elsewhere for your entertainment.
Killing Floor 2 - Review,
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