Killing Floor 2
The Defence
The Prosecution
AMD Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz
AMD Radeon HD 6950
If you play games on PC, then odds are you have Steam installed. And if you have Steam installed, then odds are you know what Killing Floor is. The cooperative wave-based shooter didn’t become an instant smash-hit upon release in 2009 by any means - but with frequent sales, superior support from the devs through paid DLCs and free content updates as well as Holiday events over the years up until very recently, it has ended up in many PC gamers’ Steam library. The sequel, Killing Floor 2, is currently in the early Beta stages. With it, developer Tripwire Interactive are attempting to make the best wave-based shooter to date. Let’s have a look at what await players when the game launches in Steam Early Access on April 21, and if it’s worth paying attention to at all.
So, what do we get with this Early Access beta version, and what more can we expect for the future? Well in essence, it’s still the same experience as before. You and your teammates run around a large and open map where you try to survive for a set amount of waves where a variety of different monsters - or “Zeds” - spawn in and try to tear you to pieces. Killing zeds awards you XP and money. The money is used between waves to buy better weapons, which are needed as each wave gets increasingly more difficult to fend off. The final wave is a boss fight. Each player can select between different player classes (called “Perks” in KF2, but I will refer to them as classes to avoid confusion). Ten classes are planned for the final release of the game, though only four are currently available in the beta; Medic, Support, Berserker and Commando. All classes have a personalized arsenal of weapons that they specialize in, but you are never locked to only using the weapons of your class.
The classes themselves are pretty self-explanatory; the medic is better at healing players, the commando is an automatic weapons specialist, the support favors shotguns and can deal out ammo, and the berserker will usually favor weapons of the melee variety over projectile-based ones. The XP you’re awarded is used to level up that class. The level-cap is 25 for each class, and you gain various passive stat-boosts each time you level up. These tend to be of the kind that decreases the price of your weapons or increasing the damage you deal or the armor you can carry. Additionally, you get a choice between two more significant passive Skills for every fifth level-up. Like the Commando’s first choice is between getting personal Night Vision goggles or allowing teammates to better see approaching cloaked enemies. You can switch between these on the fly, but the change only takes place when a new round begins. The enemies you face are, for now, the same as those you met in KF1. More enemy types are promised for the full release or post-release, but the beta launches with the same Clots, Scrakes, Sirens, Fleshpounds and so on that you know and love (or hate). They have been somewhat tweaked though. The battles feel more tactical this time around, tackling each enemy requires a different strategy. Though a usual headshot will suffice for most enemies and a well placed grenade will do wonders to groups. Except if there’s a Siren in the midst of said group, because she now negates the effect of grenades. In other words, you might want to take her out first with a couple of bullets to the head, then lob a grenade in there for greater effect. To prevent enemies from feeling bullet-spongy or weapons from feeling weak, Tripwire have gone a different route than the traditional “up enemy health to ridiculous amounts” for higher difficulty settings. Instead, your weapons deal the same amount of damage and enemies go down in the same amount of shots, but the challenge comes from enemies being more aggressive, employing new special moves and other weaponry. It’s a smart decision that should entice high-level players to want to beat the harder settings without having to frustratingly pour clip after clip into a seemingly unstoppable foe that went down in a single headshot before. The only enemy that’s brand new, is the boss. Hans Volter is a nasty enemy that’s similar to KF1’s Patriarch; he carries some nasty automatic weapons that spew out death, throws grenades and gas bombs, and heals himself at certain intervals. Only now, he’ll heal himself by grabbing a player and draining his or her HP. Keeping some distance between you and the boss is advised. Interestingly, Tripwire have said that their aim is to have multiple different bosses by the full release of the game, meaning you don’t always know which boss you’re going to face off against at the end of each match. This should address some of the issues players have with the game’s inherent monotony. The gunplay was always an important part of what made the first Killing Floor so enjoyable despite its monotony, and I’m happy to report that they’ve gone above and beyond for the sequel. The sound design is only matched by DICE’s Battlefield franchise, and the animations are impeccable. Only a handful of weapons - about four for each class - are currently in the game, but with the series’ history, it’s safe to say there will be more. They all feel unique and deadly. Even the medic, which was one of the least fun classes to play as, now has an arsenal of powerful weapons that both deal out death to enemies and heal friends too. In fact, the medic is the more interesting of the bunch, as he is sort of an all-star class, with a unique pistol, an SMG, a battle rifle and a shotgun. In contrast, the commando only specializes in assault rifles and the support only has shotguns. Melee combat always felt like a second priority to the guns with the first Killing Floor, which was a shame considering how one class was more or less entirely dedicated to it. Once again, the ante has been upped. Moving in different directions while hitting the left mouse button gives you different light attacks. Moving forwards while striking will give you an overhead attack, moving right will swing from the right, and so on. In addition to the regular light attacks, you can now also perform a heavy attack, and you can parry the attacks of enemies. Not only are you a more viable fighter, but it also feels like it’s a little bit more about skill rather than mashing buttons. Although you’ll still be mashing buttons. Furiously. This taps into the increased focus on gore and violence. The devs always seemed proud of just how violent they’re making KF2, so it’s nice to see them following through with the promises. Just about any bit you can imagine slicing off a body, you can. And then some. Though it’s fun to splatter zed heads with a powerful pump-action shotgun, the real star of the show is the aforementioned melee weapons. Cutting a zed in half vertically with a katana blade and seeing his spine flail around inside his flesh invokes a powerful sense of badassery, and it never gets old. There are lots of other cool things to get into, like how you can now customize your looks to a greater extent than KF1’s full suits. Or like how you can now sprint, and shove enemies away with a melee attack for your firearms. Each class also has their own unique grenade this time around, like the Berserker’s shock grenade. Said grenades - along with bullets, blades and enemy explosive weapons - blow out lights in the environments, rendering rooms and corridors completely blackened. It’s a good thing that you have a flashlight, and the developer’s custom made real-time dynamic lighting means that both you and your friends get the benefit from the flashlight. Source engine, eat your heart out! But you might still want to regroup at a different location during the next wave. Especially since Zeds now not only breaks through your welded-shut doors, but also permanently breaks them down, rendering them useless as choke-points for the remainder of the match. A lot of these are only minor details, but they help set the game apart, and make it feel like a robust work of passion. Killing Floor 2 shows great promise, its core mechanics are nothing short of fantastic. And for an Early Access game, it’s surprisingly almost entirely bug-free. More content is coming in due time, and the devs have promised full mod tools during Early Access so the community can start churning out maps. So whether or not you find Killing Floor 2 worth buying during Early Access, comes down to how much money you’re willing to spend on a game that you’ll likely only try out for a few hours and then put to the side for weeks or months to come. This isn’t a DayZ type affair, however. The developers estimate six months, possibly a few more, before the game is out. This isn’t some proof-of-concept or pre-alpha tech demo, after all. I love it already the way it is now. It doesn’t try to pretend something it’s not. What it does is wave-based shooting, and it does that already exceptionally well. I’ve rarely played an FPS that gives as much of a visceral feedback as this. It’s gun-porn, pure and simple.
Posted 21-04-2015, 23:27
Thanks buddy
Posted 21-04-2015, 20:15
Don't take my word for it, but from what I heard it's not going to increase in price. The price you pay now is what it'll cost upon release.
Posted 18-04-2015, 12:20
Ah yes, I forgot. My list needs some freshening up. Thank you for showing me the errors in my ways ahahah
Posted 18-04-2015, 12:12
This is Steam we're talking about. You don't buy games to play them
Posted 18-04-2015, 09:53
I know I want to too but I don't have the internet capabilities to play online without lagging right now. q_q
Posted 17-04-2015, 23:44
Do it, do eet! You know you want to
Posted 16-04-2015, 21:42
Do we know if the price will increase closer to the full release, like ARMA III? Because I have no intention to play KF at the moment, but if I can pick it up for 30$ now rather then 60$ in the Fall when I have the chance to play it, I'll spring for it now.