Killing Floor

Zombie shooters have become something of a trend in the video game world, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, what with the huge successes of games like 'Left 4 Dead' and 'Resident Evil 5.' Another recent addition to the blossoming genre is Tripwire Interactive's 'Killing Floor,' released as a download-only game for the PC on Valve's Steam service. While the game is just as fun as the next zombie gore-fest, it suffers from an overall lack of polish.

'Killing Floor' was originally created as a mod for 'Unreal Tournament 2004,' which is probably one of the main contributing factors to its poor presentation. Although I have not played the original mod, I find it hard to believe that Tripwire did much touching up to the game before releasing it as a standalone title. Even the small changes that the developers did make, such as the implementation of achievements, fall somewhat flat (the achievements are, for the most part, broken and fail to unlock when you complete the requirements).

I would also like to add that, though this may seem minor, the game does not include a reticule of any sort (but there are mounted sights on the weapons), which makes it incredibly difficult to aim and score headshots. I don't know whether or not this was intentional, but it's still unorthodox and generally annoying to deal with.

The graphics aren't terrible, but as they run on a modified version of the older Unreal Engine 2.5, they're still noticeably dated in comparison to today's games. The monsters look pretty decent, but the six different character models, from which you can choose to play as, all look relatively similar, and none of them are impressive. The animations are smooth and there's little to no slowdown...even when the screen fills up with 20 to 30 monsters at a time...but that's to be expected, since the visuals aren't really a strain on your computer's hardware.

The sound is less than impressive, and is one of the key indicators of the complete lack of effort on Tripwire's part to upgrade the game from its original mod state before its standalone release. Though there are six different characters from which you can choose, the same person does all their new voice-overs, and all characters say the exact same phrases (of which there are only a handful - and they get old fast). What's even worse is that muffled fragments of old voice-overs can be heard at times, often while the new ones are being played. When my character takes damage from the acidic blood of a zombie, I'll hear him grumbling about it at normal voice level while in the background I hear him screaming indistinctly.

By far, the biggest problems with the game are the network issues. I like to believe that my friends and I are at least relatively computer literate, yet we still have yet to figure out how to successfully host a game. First off, when attempting to host the game, the program demands that you ensure that particular ports on your firewall and/or router are open in order to allow people to connect. This is just sloppy, since most games take care of that issue for you, but it's more than likely that this is something you'll have to do manually; chances are slim you already have those ports open for some reason. Beyond this, any attempt to host a dedicated server will cause the game to minimize and enter some kind of command prompt, where it ends up in an infinite loop and never opens the server. The only other option is to open a listen server, which works for the host, but then anybody who attempts to join the game finds that they simply cannot. Though many updates have been released and I have tried a number of fixes, I have yet to figure out any solution to this issue.

Once you get past the game's clearly unfinished presentation, you find some incredibly entertaining, albeit simple, gameplay at its core. One to six players join together on any of the five included maps and fight off zombies that come in waves (the number of which can be set when creating the server) before finally facing off against an extremely powerful boss known as the Patriarch. You have you ability to weld doors shut in an attempt to redirect the flow of the zombies, which somewhat enhances the strategic element of the game. You also earn cash as you play and in between waves, you have one minute to make your way to a trader to buy weapons and other equipment. The trader shifts her location from round to round, so you are given a small objective in that you need to make sure that you at least head in the general direction of her shop during the wave so you're not too far away from it when the round ends.

The co-op aspect of the game is fantastic, but somewhat necessary. It is very easy to get swarmed by enemies...the most basic of which can grab you and prevent you from moving if you don't pay attention...so teammates often need to rely on each other to help in such situations. The Patriarch is also incredibly powerful, what with a rocket launcher, minigun, a devastating melee attack, and the ability to cloak and heal when he gets weak. It is imperative for players to team up and attack him simultaneously with their best firepower; he can't be defeated any other way. The game encourages this teamwork, offering greater healing bonuses when healing a teammate as opposed to yourself, and giving players the ability to drop money for their teammates to spend at the trader.

The best part of the game is your perpetual character development, which is presented in a style similar to 'Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory.' From the start, you choose one of six perks...Berserker, Support Specialist, Commando, Field Medic, Sharpshooter, or Firebug...all of which offer their own unique bonuses to the player. As you play, your performance with specific weapons...among other things, like the amount you heal your teammates or weld doors shut...counts towards their respective perks, eventually allowing you to level them up. For example, the Sharpshooter gets a damage bonus with the hand cannon, rifle, and crossbow, a discount on the hand cannon at the trader, and extra headshot damage; and your total accumulated headshots count toward leveling up. Another nice touch is that you can switch your perk between rounds, so you never feel too confined to any one of the classes. Each perk is capped at level five, but rest assured that it will take quite a while before you have all six maxed out.

The game's monsters are also surprisingly creative, with the exception of the Bloat, which, as pointed out by IGN.com, is a shameless rip-off of the Boomer from 'Left 4 Dead.' The monstrous Fleshpounder, which has giant meat tenderizers for arms, is probably my favorite, but there's also the Stalker, which remains cloaked until it's right next to you, the Crawler, which is supposedly a failed attempt to mesh human and arachnid genes, and more. They're entertaining, they're scary, and they add to the game's excellent ambiance that you're playing through your favorite horror movie. That being said, the environments and atmosphere are pretty great on all of the five standard maps, including the darkened, sprawling fields of the Farm map and the dreary, raining swamps of the Manor map.

At its core, 'Killing Floor' is a fun co-op experience that is marred by its incredibly poor presentation. As a result, I can't help but feel irritated when playing the game, because ultimately, I shelled out $20 for a 'UT2004' mod, and nothing more. The gameplay is straightforward but entertaining, the monsters and maps are creative, and the perk system is great, but it's just not worth the money. Had Tripwire Interactive taken the time to spruce up the network issues, sounds, graphics, and overall presentation of the game, this would be a much better value.

Score: 7.2/10