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Killing Floor Review

Submitted By Greg on Jun 3 2009 at 2:31 PM

Intro, Story

Tripewire Interactive's Killing Floor

In the world of videogame development there are such things as Cinderella stories, the marketable release of the Co-op, zombie-themed shooter Killing Floor is a prime example. This game was first conceptualized as an Unreal Tournament 2004 total conversion by the same name; this modification was in active development between 2005 and 2006, with a final official update in 2008 (v2.5). Early this year it was announced that a retail version of the Killing Floor mod would be released by Tripwire Interactive, a small development house responsible for both the modification and retail versions of the World War II FPS Red Orchestra. Having bought the rights to Killing Floor, Tripwire, with help from the remaining members of the KF mod team, has set out to update the game and bring it to the market via VALVe's Steam digital distribution system. But in this transition from free modification to purchasable product, has Tripwire Interactive been able to implement enough new content to separate Killing Floor from its from humble predecessor?

One of the most evident oddities with Killing Floor is the lack of storytelling, particularly a total absence of a singleplayer campaign (not even a chronicled map list). In truth, Killing Floor really does not have much of a story at all; and it is quite clear that a narrative was never Tripwire's top priority when developing the title. However, there is just enough less-than-serious backstory, by way of level briefings, short character bios, and loading screen quotes, to give context (even if its not the most original) to the game's otherwise senseless butchery.

Players are thrown into the game as a member of a jury-rigged group of British military and special police personnel tasked in containing and exterminating a month long 'zombie' outbreak. Each of the six selectable characters has a brief biography, seen at the selection screen, which cheekily describes any one character as either a borderline or a full-fledged sociopath in uniform. This squad of cockney-accented deviants is the last line of defense between the English populace and hordes of deadly Specimens.

The marauding Specimens, Killing Floor's zombies, are the result of an aborted military cloning experiment, housed in the innards of the Horizon Biotech company, to create an army of cheap and expendable soldiers. The project was shutdown by the British government, to the chagrin of the shady contractor. Soon after its ordered cancellation, a mysterious accident deep in the labyrinthine belly below the company's corporate face let loose an endless stream of shambling man-made monstrosities onto the unsuspecting Londoners above. By tooth and claw, cleaver and chainsaw, the Specimens overwhelmed the city and the surrounding countryside, lead by the powerful Patriarch; a super-creature who bears an uncanny resemblance to the now defunct defense contractor's lead scientist.