Personally, I have been addicted to Zombie FPS games, especially the beloved Zombies gamemode on Treyarch’s Call of Duty titles, Sniper Elite’s Nazi Zombie Army mini-series, and even Dying Light – However, something just couldn’t scratch the competitive itch that underlaid these modes – Bring in Killing Floor 2, my introduction into the Killing Floor franchise.
I’m going to be blunt with you. I bloody love this game. Seriously. Killing Floor 2 brings class-based roles into the traditional Zombie FPS subgenre, with 10 classes to choose from, each with a unique starting loadout, perks and abilities, there is a lot to experiment with. The game is simple in nature. Select a number of rounds to survive (Either 4, 7 or 10), the difficulty (Of which there are 4 modes), and your class, then go around slaying some undead horrors! At the end of each round, you’re able to spend your earned Dosh (The game’s currency) on weapons, armour and ammo before beginning the next round. Once you reach the last round, you’re faced with a special boss character who’s health scales with the number of players, much like in Borderlands.
With a maximum player lobby of 6 on console, there really is room for you and your buddies to tag together and slay the undead horde, and try different techniques like trying to find camping spots, to competing to see which player dies first, to even competitive Player vs Zed Vs Player, where players are set on teams with half the lobby playing as survivors, and the other half playing as the undead themselves, similar to Gears of War’s infamous Horde 3.0 mode.
One other aspect I have to praise Killing Floor 2 for as well has to be the amazing sound design and soundtrack, composed by over 10 independent bands, all rooted in dark death metal and screamo; it’s easy to see how this game makes you feel like a badass, especially when you pull off a quick shot in time with the drop in a guitar riff – I mean, just take a listen to some of the absolutely amazing songs from the OST! My only gripe is that there isn’t a Skip button, or any way to create a specific playlist – Other than that, it’s pure gold.
However, there are a few issues I must bring up with Killing Floor 2. The game’s been in Early Access development hell since 21st April, 2015, having only slight updates over a year; this would be acceptable in any other situation, however despite the game’s state the developers have decided to focus every effort on a PS4 port – Now I’m not calling this a bad thing, necessarily, however I personally would want Tripwire Interactive to complete the game as a whole package, then release it to other platforms. To play the Devil’s advocate, however, the game does feel somewhat complete, despite it feeling a little empty and lacking content.
On the subject of missing content, this is my primary gripe with the game – The selection of weaponry is great, the number of maps decent…However with only two playable characters, and two simple, albeit limiting gamemodes, I only wish that there was more on offer – Especially an endless mode! Personally as someone who loves getting to high rounds on CoD Zombies (With my personal best being Round 56 on Origins), I think it’s a little abhorrent that a game like this is lacking a mode where you can see exactly how long you can survive!
Another issue with the game is that you can easily tell that it’s a direct port from PC – Everything from the movement speed being sluggish, to the look sensitivity being absolutely out of control initially due to it being too sensitive – The FOV in of itself is another issue with the game, being far, FAR too zoomed in initially – Thankfully, however, nearly all of these options can be edited within the Options menu, excluding the movement speed, which you are sadly stuck with. It’s a bit jarring, going from games with more mobility, like Dying Light and Dead Island, even.
Harking back to my earlier point about multiple weapons, however I’m not lying when I say it’s impressive – Each class of weapon has between 2-10 different weapons, each with unique modifiers and bullet types, such as the pistols, which come in single & dual formats, including a healing pistol and grenade pistol – Perhaps the eviscerator, which is literally a series of saw blades hooked up to fire on command, or use as a melee weapon; maybe the Microwave Gun, that literally acts like the iconic Proton Pack from Ghostbusters! It’s almost disappointing that you’re limited to a maximum of 10 rounds to experiment with these weapons…
Unfortunately I can’t comment much on the PS4 side of the multiplayer, since I couldn’t find a lobby, however I have played the game on PC a few times with multiplayer, and it is an absolute blast, even with the maximum allotted 6 player limit, the game still keeps itself challenging and hectic. On the status of the port itself, it is brilliantly stable, having never lagged or dropped even a single frame, even in the most hectic of situations; the visuals look stunning, and, although there are a few lighting bugs here and there, overall the package itself looks and functions like a Triple-A game.
All in all, Killing Floor 2 is an exciting, enjoyable romp that you can pick up for around 30 minutes a time, either alone or with friends, and either feel like an absolute badass, or be challenged out of your wits – The port itself is brilliantly stable, functions extremely well, and feels like a native PS4 game. I just wished that there was only more content baked in to enjoy. For these reasons, I am rating Killing Floor 2 (PS4 Edition) an 9 / 10.