Having sanded Killing Floor first of the name at the time, we were impatient to be able to find the blows of pressure put by the hordes of Zeds, while our team is about to be overwhelmed. It is therefore on PC that we tested Killing Floor 2, since the latter has been available in Early Access for a while now. If you've never played Killing Floor, here's a little catch-up lesson. Europe is overrun by the Zeds, a horde of monsters halfway between zombie and nightmarish creature, and your team must fend off the threat. Here, we are not dealing with three cloned zombies with stupid behavior; on the contrary, the Zeds are of an impressive variety, with more or less vicious behaviors and very particular attributes. As in Pokémon, it will be necessary to know each species by heart as well as the most effective weapons against this or that enemy. Classically, a game consists of surviving 7 or 10 waves of monsters on a fairly large map, plus a big boss. Each assault will consist of different kinds of enemies, with the number of Zeds increasing with waves, difficulty, and the number of players on your team. After each confrontation, depending on your results, you will obtain a small in-game nest egg called Dosh. Each Zed you kill will earn you a certain amount depending on how much damage you dealt to him, the type of enemy (larger ones yield more) and your propensity to survive - the less damage you take, the higher the count in bank goes up. Once our pockets are filled with Dosh, we have one minute before the next wave to run to the weapons and ammunition merchant pod, and do our shopping.
ZED DEAD REDEMPTION
What makes the success of Killing Floor, beyond the financial management aspect, is above all the way in which teamplay is at the heart of the gameplay. For example, to take the example of shopping, it is possible to spin money to any member of the team, via a key that makes us send bundles of 20 Dosh. We can directly see the strategic possibilities open to us, since everyone can play for their apple, give a helping hand to a struggling player, or simply contribute so that the most efficient player buys his ultimate weapon and makes cleaning up for the next wave. The importance of cooperation is noted from the start of the game when composing the team. Each player must choose his class from the nine available. Basically, each of them defines your armament or your role. Thus, the Firebug will have incendiary weapons, the Demolitionist will be an explosive expert, the Berserker a melee pro, and the sharpshooter an ace gunner. These classes also have useful functions for the proper functioning of the team. The Medic will be able to heal his buddies very effectively (each player has a gun with a cooldown that restores 20 HP), the Demolitionist will be able to distribute grenades, while the Support and his shotguns will have the ability to provide cartridges to his partners. You will have understood, if the team is only composed of Sharpshooters, forget all hope of passing the fifth wave.
Fishing a bit for its lack of innovation, Killing Floor 2 is still an enjoyable cooperative gaming experience that skilfully mixes demanding teamplay and an assumed taste for gore and filth.
If the choice of class determines your starting weapons, nothing prevents a Medic from buying a flamethrower. Each kill made with a weapon gives you XP points for the corresponding class, knowing that the more your XP goes up, the more this perk will have bonuses. By dint of chaining the frags to the grenade launcher, we earn XP and levels to our Demolitionist, which will allow us to pick up big bonuses when we use the explosive with its dedicated class. Note that each class earns a big bonus every five levels up to level 25, with the idea that the higher your level, the more your weapons will hurt. That said, again, there's nothing stopping you from buying a Grenade Launcher and opting for Support which has a big boost on Shotguns. Moreover, when the number of players is reduced, mixing weapons is a good option since, as we said above, some Zeds are more sensitive to explosives, fire, or bullets. Even on a full server with a team of six players, it can be recommended to vary the weapons, since the strongest in math will have already noticed that with 9 perks, it will be impossible to have a team composed of all classes. Basically, Killing Floor 2 offers a dozen maps that range from the most open, such as Burning Paris and Outpost – the best choice to start because it is easier to flee – to the most closed such as Catacombs and Hostile Grounds. Moreover, although we start on normal difficulty, we quickly notice that the more difficult the difficulty, the more the XP points fall quickly and the more teamplay becomes essential. If you can get by in "Normal" or "Hard" by doing just about anything, the "Suicidal" and "Hell on Earth" modes become incredibly demanding and rewarding.
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
The developers of Tripwire Interactive being open to modding, new maps from the community are also available, as are game servers with more than 30 slots. Be careful though, because on this kind of server, the number of Zeds becomes so large that the game can show some lag, even on a large PC. Technically, Killing Floor 2 uses a heavily modified version of Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3. Overall, the rendering is quite nice, especially when you activate certain options such as NVIDIA Flex which adds great physical behavior to the blood and organs of the Zeds. Once activated, if the bodies end up disappearing, this is not the case with the blood with which we can repaint the whole map. The other advantage of Unreal Engine 3 is that by dispensing with the most demanding graphics options, the game will run without any problem on PCs with more dated configurations. As proof of this, the recommended configuration which is content with an Intel Core 2 Quad and an NVIDIA GTX 560, sufficient to have fun and already have a more than acceptable rendering. At the level of the soundtrack, it will be necessary to be satisfied with rather tortured noises and large very aggressive metal riffs which nevertheless have the advantage of sticking well to the overall atmosphere of the gameplay, very focused on the stuffing. Finally, a last word to talk about the "Survival VS" mode which is played very little given the number of servers. There, half of the players play in the classic way, while the others embody the different Zeds placed on the map, all with the aim of killing humans. Unfortunately, once in the skin of a Zed, the gameplay is often limited to melee attacks, or the use of a ranged weapon.
