In recent years the videogame industry has been flooded with zombie titles both enjoyable and less then desirable ones. Valves Left 4 Dead , a team based zombie shooter, was an enjoyable entry into the ZSF or “Zombie Shoot Franchise” that took solid First Person Shooter mechanics and threw you and either AI or human companions into the zombie fray. Combating regular “walker” zombies or special mutated zombies, mutated more so then normal zombies, that had special and even more dangerous abilities then their lesser being zombie brethren.

While L4D was a fantastic addition to zombie shooters I was praying for a more realistic, as realistic as a zombie game can be, zombie shooter and luckily Killing Floor answered my prayers. Killing Floor is a zombie shooter that has players combating the undead hordes on several maps ranging from night time suburban neighborhoods, underground facilities, carnivals and several other well designed maps that are suited for close quarters combat as well as long range combat. There are enough maps and their level design is varied enough to keep gameplay fresh and varied enough that players won’t get tired of the selection available.

Gameplay is broken up into rounds, during the course of each round you kill a set number of zombies in the map then you are given a 60 seconds to locate the trader or weapon store which randomly generates on a location in the map where you can purchase weapons, armor and ammo. Depending on where you currently are on the map an indicator will appear showing you the most direct route to take to the trader. This is one of Killing Floors biggest faults as some maps are so large that it can take up to 30 or 40 seconds to make it to the trader depending on what map you are playing, and when you shop is only open for a 60 seconds this makes purchasing equipment and selling old equipment quite frantic especially if you are not familiar with the selection. After the purchasing round another combat round begins and will continue until round 10 and after that round an 11th round will begin where you’ll face a boss type zombie, that will force players to coordinate attacks and ultimately be forced if not already working together to do so. The formula works work well as with each round the number of zombies will grow as well as what types of zombies you will face making combat become more hectic and difficult with your squad’s progression.

A big plus for this zombie shooter is the inclusion of iron sights, being able to look down the barrel of your weapon, along with the games physics engine, as you can score accurately aimed headshots and dismember zombie’s limbs slowing them down or rendering their special attacks useless. The game also boasts a perk system where you pick from a selection of seven perks that includes medic, specialist, sharpshooter, commando, berserker, firebug and demolitions. Each perk has certain achievements they need to reach in order to level up and have their statistics increase such as having damage bonuses, discount on certain weapons and even increase their ammo capacity. While the benefits of leveling up, there are six levels for each perk, are tremendous the achievements are only for the hardcore who will be playing this game for a long time, as such achievements as accumulate 5 million points of melee weapon damage or score 8000 headshots will take a considerable amount of time to achieve. You can see the longevity behind these milestones that are sure to have the hardcore coming back for more though casual players might not find the time put into the game worth the reward.

Depending on which class you decide to undertake when it comes to purchasing weapons you’re class favors certain weapons as you’ll receive bonuses or discounts on said guns. For example the Commando favors assault rifles such as the AK47, Bullpup, or SCAR and his perk allows him to deal more damage with these rifles with a discount that makes I easier for the class to purchase his class weapons as well as giving him incentive to. Killing Floor has an extensive array of weapons of ranging from the starting 9mm handgun to high powered bow guns, axes, chainsaws, assault rifles, grenade launchers and devastating A-12 automatic shotgun and many more. All of the guns feel and sound satisfyingly powerful and accurate as landing headshots isn’t too easy or too difficult as well as making ZED moments occur just at the right moment. You enter ZED or slow-motion gameplay for five or six seconds after a hot streak of zombie killing which not only is effective when you’re surrounded, but really gets the blood pumping when the games metal and rock sound track picks up at the moment when you’re plowing through the hordes with your weapon of choice.

Multiplayer is exactly the same a single player, as you’ll clear levels of the dead with up to five other people though if you’re looking for the best online experience you should really be playing this game with friends instead of random people you meet in a lobby. Communication is key to staying together and to haul ass if you get overrun instead of playing with , players that have seen Die Hard one to many times, and decided to run around by themselves and eventually getting killed or weakening the perimeter that you’re squad and you have created. Playing with people that have taken the time to level their perks and have certain squad members taking on key roles like Medic to constantly heal teammates, support specialist welds doors shut while providing close quarters combat cover with his shotgun and having an assortment of sharpshooter or commandos keeping enemies far away at bay with rifles fire. It’s quite something to see a plan unfold in front of you and while it’s rare to either stumble upon experienced players or to find a group of people willing to commit the time required to get to the level of communication where all of you play off of each other’s skills it makes for one heck of a multiplayer experience.

Killing Floor is my zombie shooter of choice when it comes down to it, as it offers flawless shooting mechanics, fast paced and unrelenting hordes on the harder difficulty , as well as a commendable multiplayer experience when played with friends. The game isn’t perfect as the zombie types are similar to those of L4D and it doesn’t exactly have many revolutionary features as you get pretty standard weapons and maps are very a symmetrical though all these things combined in addition to a surprisingly good soundtracks and physics engine make for a conscious and thoroughly enjoyable experience.

The Killing floor is available on Steam. – Link

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