We all have examples of video games we’ve seen sitting on shop shelves or on Steam that haven’t really grabbed our attention enough to spend our hard-earned cash on. But what about those times when we’ve eventually been convinced into buying one and have been surprised by how good it was? Our next series is about exactly that situation: pleasantly surprising video games.
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Instead of jumping straight into a game you’ve been looking forward to and finding it a complete waste of time like in our disappointing video games series, why have we ignored a particular game and what convinced us into finally giving it at go? Unlike our previous series we’ll be discussing what actually impressed us about the game whether it’s the story, gameplay or any other aspect which makes it worth your time.
About the game
Killing Floor is a co-operative survival horror which follows in the footsteps of giants Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. As such, with the the co-operative zombie survival game market full already, this is a game that didn’t grab the eyes of many upon its initial release. Developed and published by Tripwire Interactive, who created Red Orchestra 2 and have also published awesome indie titles such as The Ball, Killing Floor was originally a mod and the developers managed to make a full release of a truly phenomenal horror experience.
But other than the fact it is a co-operative survival horror game, what more can be said about Killing Floor? What makes this game stand out amongst others? It’s set in London, England and is basically about a company who specialise in biotechnology and were hired to carry out military level experiments: cloning, mutating and all other gory, nasty stuff. Unfortunately and somewhat predictably some of these experiments went wrong and boom – we’ve now got an outbreak of zombies on our hands. It’s up to an unlikely crew to band together, scream phrases like ‘Dosh, grab it while you can lads’, be exceptionally British and kill the outbreak before it’s too late. For the record: this game is uncannily British.
How was it surprising?
Killing Floor. What sort of name is that?! Seriously, when you hear it do you really get any sense of an incredible game? It’s so generic and it was far too generic for me. But Steam kept showing it off – and regularly might I add. I liked zombie titles and horrors were starting to come into their stride during 2009, which co-incidentally is when this game arrived.
So how could I justify playing just another release in the genre? The only thing that made me get this game in the end is recommendation by a lot of people. So, I bought it thinking that we’re going to be on a floor that wants to murder people and installed it thinking it was going to be a poor spend of the price of £8.99. I booted the game up to a very generic title screen which cycled through the different enemies you were about to encounter and I admit: the art style was awesome!
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An army of Zeds, Killing Floor speak for zombies, just waiting to be slaughtered!
So I finally got myself into a game after a few tweaks of the settings and bang – I knew I’d pick it up time and time again without worrying about how many hours I spent on it. I’ve racked up quite some time on Killing Floor even though I consider it a casual shooter. Don’t take that to mean just about anyone will be good at it, because you have to know what you’re doing. Thankfully the controls are so well thought out that it doesn’t matter how familiar you are to gaming. It’s just honestly superbly easy to get into, even if you don’t end up being good. You have your WASD keys for movement and your mouse to look around; you have your left and right mouse buttons which do different things depending on your weapon.
Speaking of weapons, there’s such a huge variety! Couple this with the easily understood class system, you get this feeling that this is a game where having skills unique in your zombie extermination team is a good thing. You want to run right in there with a chainsaw? Do it as a Berserker and make it gory! You want to stand back and keep an eye on your teammates? Excellent, everyone loves having a field medic on the team! The point is: each role has a specific purpose on the field, yet you don’t need all of these individual classes running around. You simply need to have your wits about you, a team of friends or a team of random online players and an hour or two while playing on the long mode. Ten waves plus the final boss of zombie explosion goodness.
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Some classes don’t fare well against the Fleshpound, the most fearsome enemy in the game.
Other than the fact there’s variety and simplicity, it’s super well-supported. Tripwire Interactive have made the game available on PC, Mac and Linux which made me extra surprised as I have made the jump from Windows to Linux. A title that I was playing very happily on Windows had followed me to Ubuntu! That I was happy about and to make it better, it runs beautifully. Seriously, hurrah to the devlopers for this. I’ve seen many ports that have been handled pretty poorly or been kept separately to their Windows / Mac counterparts, such as Team17’s port of Worms Reloaded – a port I was excited to see, but was saddened that I couldn’t play with most of my friends. At least the game works!
Killing Floor is a release I’m going to keep playing casually for many years to come. I’m excited that they have announced a Killing Floor 2 and I hope this little insight to the game has given you enough incentive to say ‘Damn, even with that generic name I’m excited to play this’ because trust me: it has given me some of the best gaming moments with my friends and even with randomers. I’ve made friends thanks to this game and I’ve bonded over it. It’s one that truly did pleasantly surprise me.
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Two pistols in one? Well, I’m sure this clot deserved it.
So, there you have Tim’s choice for most pleasantly surprising video game. Do you agree or have you played a title that’s impressed you even more? Let us know what you think in the comments below!
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