Also available on Xbox One and Windows When I first played Killing Floor, I was being SUPER Captain Late-to-the-Game; Killing Floor 2 had been out on Steam Early Access for more than a year, and the full release - including consoles - was only a couple weeks off. Despite my extreme tardiness, I immediately fell in love with Killing Floor's immensely satisfying zombie slaughter. When I heard that the sequel was getting a release on PlayStation 4 with a retail version to boot, I immediately went to Gamestop and reserved a copy (after swallowing my pride for pre-ordering a game from a retail that isn't Amazon). Killing Floor 2 is a team-based shooter designed for online multiplayer, although it is important to note that the game can be played single player. It's DEFINITELY more fun online, though. As you can see, the zombies in the game are basically walking water balloons filled with blood. The game's format is survival mode, the standard length being 10 waves plus a boss. Each wave has an increasingly high number of zombies, and you get money for each kill that you can spend between waves at a vender booth for armor, more ammo, better weapons, or grenades not unlike Counter-Strike. For such a simple design, the game is incredibly fun and infectiously addictive (pun absolutely intended). You've got a handful of classes to choose from, and while you can play each class the same way if you want, they each have their own perks that, over time, will give each one a very distinct feel and role on the battlefield. One class will give you more headshot damage, one class will give you bonus armor, one class will give you extra healing, one class will give you more general weapon damage, etc. One of the coolest features of the game is the wide array of guns. Your class determines your starting loadout, but typically, you'll start with a basic pistol and some other gun (my class-of-choice gets a pistol and a random weapon). From there, you can upgrade like crazy. You can get a shotgun, a burst fire assault rifle, dual wield Desert Eagles, get a flamethrower, get an explosive scattershot pistol, get a katana and samurai the zombies to death, get a shovel and just bludgeon them to death; there are TONS of potential weapon combinations, and trying out new weapons keeps things feeling fresh and fun. There's also a strategic element to the game (although, in fairness, the primary strategy is "shoot lots of shit"). You can close doors to slow the zombies down. If you want to slow them down for more than about a second, you can weld the doors shut. I'm not entirely sure how you weld a wooden farmhouse door closed, but I managed it, and that will take most zombies a couple minutes to break through. You've got a healing syringe that you can use to heal yourself infinitely (albeit on a cooldown timer, obviously), but you can also get a dart gun that you can use to shoot healing darts at your allies. If you've got a team that isn't full of idiots like me to just sprint at shit with a katana screaming like a lunatic, you can try to set up killzones for the zombies, taking advantage of the game's wide array of weapons, although you need to watch out for zombies spawning behind you as they seem to spawn from wherever you're not. Periodically, a "slow motion" effect will be triggered. I'm sure there's an easily explainable trigger, but I have no idea what it is. All I know is that it makes headshots super easy to line up with your pistol and thus makes you feel like a TOTAL badass even if you're a total shooter scrub like me. See, this is what Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps SHOULD have been. Cooperative horde mode with actually functional shooting mechanics, more than like six weapons, an actual difficulty curve rather than Olympus Mons, and the ability to withstand more than a dirty look from a zombie. Even the bosses have to hit you a handful of times before you die in Killing Floor 2. Don't get me wrong - those bosses will fuck you up and not lose a wink of sleep over it - but it's not an instant "Game Over" if you get snuck up on one time. Killing Floor 2 isn't a perfect game. It could stand to have a little more variety in gameplay modes, and they had some real potential for a more fleshed out single player campaign. What it does, however, it does EXTREMELY well, and it's wickedly addicting. If you can find it for $15 or less, definitely pick this one up on your platform of choice. If that platform happens to be PlayStation 4, hit me up; I'd be glad to embarrass myself in some games online with you. =P My Rating - A |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
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