Survival shooters have been a popularizing genre in the video game industry for a while now. Especially in the FPS category, zombie survival games have been popping up everywhere, including the Call of Duty Nazi Zombie, Dying Light, Left 4 Dead 2 and more.
These types of games are fun, fast-paced, engaging, and slightly creepy, making it an excellent choice for an exhilarating, thrilling game night with friends. If you are a fan of this type of game genre, the game Killing Floor 2 is right down your alley.
Killing Floor 2, which was released in 2016 by Tripwire Interactive is a gory, horrific and action-packed cooperative first-person shooter. You play in teams of six and struggle to survive against neverending waves of zombies in high intensity, round based matches.
The Core of it – Killing Floor Indeed
In Killing Floor 2, players find themselves in continental Europe, surrounded by unstoppable creatures killing anything in their way. Triggered by Horzine Biotech’s failed experiment, the government around you has collapsed, the military has been overrun, and it is solely up to you and your team to survive. Survivors like yourself have formed groups of mercenaries who fight and protect against these monstrosities together, slowly descending deeper into monster-infested areas.
Killing Floor 2 has three main game modes including 6 player co-op, solo, and versus survival. In the 6 player co-op mode, gamers find themselves fighting together in a horde based zombie combat scenario. Just like other survival zombie games, the first few levels are simple, and the small handful of zombies are easy to kill. As the game progresses, you will find encounter more challenging and more zombies of different shapes and sizes. This keeps the gameplay fresh, making Killing Floor 2 matches highly engaging. To make it even more challenging, you will need to face bosses at the end of waves.
The most notable feature of the Killing Floor 2 compared to most other zombie horde games is the vast variety of zombies. As you progress, you will find yourself finding new and surprising enemies. Inspired by other games, Killing Floor 2 has a large selection of blood-curdling creations including bloaters, witches, spotters, crawlers and more. Unlike most other zombie survival shooters, this title doesn’t only revolve around shooting anything that moves. There is more to it, including strategy, teamwork, and tactics, and if you do well, your efforts will be rewarded mainly with XP. The effective reward system distributes achievements and levels according to your character’s particular strengths. This means that players are not only paid for killing the most zombies but also how valuable they are for their team, promoting better collaboration, ensuring your groups’ success.
Classes – Everything from flamethrowers to katanas
Killing Floor 2 has a fantastic class system. In total, the game has 10 classes to choose from. Best of all, every class is different from each other and balanced well. So there is a class for every type of play style. This means that even if you are not the aggressive shoot-em-up gamer, you will still find your place on most teams. Some of the game classes include the Medic, Demolition, Support, and Pyro. When selecting your class, be sure to communicate with your team. If not, you may find that your team to be highly unbalanced, which can result in your ultimate demise.
Gameplay – What it’s all about
At the end of each round, players are allowed to spend their points earned from previous waves to buy new weapons, armor, explosives and more. You will also be able to upgrade your weapons, and purchase supplies to ensure your survival against the next wave. In Killing Floor 2, there are plenty of fun and unique weapons to choose from including fire-spewing bombs, brutal melee weapons, and highly customizable rifles. Overall, the large selection of weapons, upgrades, and supplies significantly improve the gameplay and gives the game more replayability than games such as Call of Duty Zombies.
As you get better at the game, you will find yourself applying new skills like strategy and tactics into your matches. Additionally, communication is a crucial skill to excelling in Killing Floor 2. This makes the game a little more interesting. As far as strategy goes, you realize that things such as bullets, resources, and points are more important than you think. You will need to understand maps, such as corners where a creature may be lurking, or how to get to your injured teammate as fast as possible. Holding corners and positions while you team covers other parts of the map requires plenty of tactical and communicative prowess, and is crucial to climbing up the ranks. Planning and preparing with your squad by anticipating how the following waves will roll out is also vital for prolonged survival.
Graphics – Impressive for its price class
In addition to the gameplay, the graphics and maps are also a well-polished part of Killing Floor 2. Despite being released a few years ago, Killing Floor 2 has a crisp and immersive picture that perfectly suits the gameplay. The title has a realistic modern vibe with clean menus, well-organized overlays and it’s easy to navigate the menu. The graphics may not be photorealistic like many AAA titles but is more than sufficient for this type of gameplay style. The large, open maps are also visually appealing and correctly displays a post-apocalyptic world. The atmosphere always leaves players at the edge of their seats and entrenched in the gameplay. Everything from the guns to the monsters looks stunning and have the clean animations.
Audio – Does a good job creating an atmosphere
The audio is always a huge aspect of a polished title. In Killing Floor 2, the developers knocked the audio element right out of the park, the sound effects are phenomenal, the guns sound powerful and sharp, and the splattering sounds of exploding zombies is highly satisfying. The soundtrack in the game is fast-paced and heavy, perfectly mixing with the intense gameplay. Overall, the audio as a whole is clear and of high quality, and nicely balanced to create a highly immersive experience.
Gore – Rated M for Mature
As expected from a survival zombie game, Killing Floor 2 is incredibly gory. With a single shot of a pistol, limbs are blown off, blood is splattered everywhere, and a wave of satisfaction rushes through your body. The game features well polished high-pressure blood mechanics and uniquely brutal weapons. Without a doubt, gamers who visually enjoy flashy arcade shooters will find themselves falling in love with Killing Floor 2 in no time.
The Bad
Overall, Killing Floor 2 is a very well polished game, but there are still a few flaws. For starters, the game is fun when played in short sessions but the gameplay can get repetitive, and the same arcade based nature and few game modes can be a bit boring, especially when playing alone. Although, Killing Floor 2 is still entertaining and a lot of fun when played in small to medium doses. Unfortunately, it still lacks some of the depth and story many gamers look for in a title. Either way, Tripwire made Killing Floor 2 to be a fun, short and addictive gorefest shooter.
For gamers looking for relaxing break or quick game session with friends, this title is definitely worth a shot and is honestly one of the best co-op fps games to play right now.
Bottom Line – Final Thoughts
In retrospect, Killing Floor 2 is worth trying out but mostly if you plan to play with friends. The exciting game modes will leave you spending hours upon hours playing matches with your friends and honing your strategies.
Unlike most survival zombie shooters, this title has many new and fun mechanics including a vast selection of weapons, classes, maps and more. The gore riddled matches are visually appealing, and the maps are well structured, creating balanced gameplay. If you are a fan of FPS games and bloody, fast-paced arcade gameplay, Killing Floor 2 is for you. The game is very similar to most survival zombie shooters but has plenty of features that make it unique, and much more varying.
The best way to describe the game is like an arcade machine. You would visit it every so often and play a couple of games, but won’t play for hours upon hours, at least not by yourself. Especially for Doom and Call of Duty fans, Killing Floor 2 has nearly everything you need and is worth playing with a couple of your best friends. The only downside is the repetitive gameplay, but that doesn’t mean Killing Floor 2 isn’t fun when played in moderation.
Best of all, developers from Tripwire are still working on new material regularly, bound to keep you engaged with the new content.
- Endless type of zombies and environment makes for good replayability
Excellent co-op and online experience
Fantastic classes and reward system
Fast paced and adrenaline inducing game
No real story
Not the best singleplayer experience
