Killing Floor is possibly my most favourite of all the ‘Horde’ type games, including COD zombies and GOW horde modes. It delivered all the that the others did and more. I don’t know exactly where to start in telling you what I love most about the game so I won’t. Instead I’ll talk of Killing Floor 2’s awesome new features and how it has built on all the best ones from the 1st game.
One of the game’s core elements was the co-op, unless you had a death-wish or you were the most anti-social person ever you could play alone. You and 3 of your teammates would band together and fend off waves after waves until you would finish off the last crawler or fleshpound and let it scream it’s death-cry to your relieved ears. Even with 4 players the game was very challenging. Although I was never the best player I wasn’t too bad at finishing off the genetically modified monsters and even then I only managed to vanquish the Patriarch a handful of times. Tripwire have seemingly made it easier by introducing a 6 man co-op. However I advise not to trust them, I’m sure the more firepower you have is to help contain the greater mass of targets…
The first game was never going to win the award for ‘Prettiest and Softest and Delicate Game Voted by Sensitive Children’ even though this is a really tough award to win the game was all about shooting grotesque creatures. The developers have promised to make this game even more gory. Killing Floor 2 has the M.E.A.T. system (Massive Evisceration And Trauma) in which, say for example in KF1 you would shoot a target in the head and its head would blow up, in Killing Floor 2 that head now has five points of explosion. If that’s what they have done for the head imagine the rest of the body! They have devoted themselves to make this game as brutal as possibly. The blood of your enemies will actually build up throughout the waves of the hordes and not disappear. That award is getting further and further away as the pools of blood get larger.
The AI has been given a makeover as well. In the first game no matter the enemy type they would just walk or run directly at you in the hope that the mass of bodies will absorb the punishment and finally reach you. In Killing Floor 2 each enemy has its own unique movement and abilities that will make each wave unique. Weaponry and the Perk system have also seen a change. The weapons in the game will vary from real life, beautiful imitated guns to make-shift and futuristic weapons with a different feel to each of them. The perk system has been promised to be more in-depth with 25 perk levels allowing a more steady climb up the perk tower, unlike the long haul in the previous game.
From what I’ve read and seen of the game, the sequel has just built on the strength and weakness’ of the previous game and made Killing Floor 2 a better, more diverse game. The long hours we all put into the first will pay off this time around, with the fun we were having to be rewarded with a more in-depth perk system. The release date is yet to be announced but expect the carnage this year.
Read more about Killing Floor 2 in these articles by IGN, Gamezone (which has a lot of info on the game, very good read) and Gamespot (not a fan of the gore in his opinion.)