The Killing Floor

Yeah, It gets pretty crazy.

The Killing Floor is a zombie co-op survival game from Tripwire Studios, better known for the excellent and ball-breaking Red Orchestra mod, and its litany of spin-offs.

In the Killing Floor, up to four players, outfitted in any one of 5 classes, take on waves of undead monsters and all around freaks of genetic experiments gone awry.

Standard shuffling zombie makes up the bulk of the enemies- but there are enough diverse enemy types to counter any strategies you may come up with and always keep you on your toes.

The maps are large, and for the most part quite well made, though a few can be quite amateurish in spots. Probably the coolest feature of the Killing Floor is the ability to weld shut doors- which leads to some tense encounters as you flee through a decimated office building, sealing doors behind you and hearing the monsters tear them apart as you bolt out of the room.

You will see this screen a lot.

The Killing Floor can be quite hard- it has a lot of customizable factors, to be sure, so it doesn't have to be- but as long as you're not a little pansy bitch it's going to be difficult. It maybe doesn't demand the same level of co-op skill that the vaguely similar Left For Dead series does, but it is easy to get flanked and overhwhelmed in the Killing Floor, and that typically means it's all over.

There are a lot of nice touches in this game though. Weapons sounds great and feel good, blazing away with duel pistols shakes the screen and gives what're your doing a sense of real urgency, which isn't hard as it typically is.

 There is a good variety of weapon and upgrades.

Between waves, you've got to find the Trader, who can supply you with the weapons, ammo, and armor, and let you change your class if desired. There are a good variety of weapons- standard pistols and shotguns, zombie cult weapons like chainsaws and flamethrowers, and even some heavier stuff. 

Randomly scattered throughout the level are weapons and ammo as well, which can be a lifesaver if you're running low.

The graphics are pretty decent, and have gotten much better as the game's been patched and smoothed out- though, there are still times when animations don't look right. 

There are several cracks in the Killing Floor- it's not a great game by any means, and the occasional bug, or AI glitch, or poorly implemented graphic can really drag you out of it.

Headshots are extremely satisfying.

However, the Killing Floor counteracts these flaws with a lot of nice little touches- a well placed shot to the skull makes the head explode in a shower of blood, certain enemies and effects affect the screen in pretty cool ways, the constant moving of the trader forces you to either book it to make it on time or scavenge for supplies- that it still ends up coming out pretty positive.

I bought this game on a whim several months ago, and have not once regretted it. Solo play is a lot of fun and challenging enough to be rather addictive, while online play with friends or with the generally decent community is tactical and teamwork-oriented enough to actually work quite well.

If you liked this post on The Killing Floor, you might want to read my list of the best zombie games of all time.