Saturday, July 19, 2008

Abominating!

Well then. After a very long break, I have decided that I will keep this blog thing going as it could be useful not only for expressing ideas and interests, but also as a viewable medium of work and critique by potential employers (if I ever decide to work in the games industry).

Several weeks ago now, I once again interested my housemates here to play a UT2k4 mod called "Killing Floor". Now, zombies are cool. I think you would find few people who disagree (and if they do they are crazy). Shooting zombies, on the other hand, is even better. Shooting a never ending horde of zombies with a group of friends, delaying your inevitable demise is perhaps one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences you can encounter. What is great about killing floor is that you really do need to work together to stay alive (reloading, healing, welding doors shut etc..) as well as providing enough tension, fear and action into the mix to not ever get sick of it.

Below: Killing Floor - Curiosity killed the zombie.


However, what is interesting from a game play perspective, is that Killing Floor is rather slow. You move slow, you aim slow and (surprisingly not frustrating) reload slow too. You have no crosshair (sticky tape on screen with dot kgo) and status effects such as disorientation, bleeding and/or getting mauled by a zombie all effect how accurately you aim and move. Usually I do not care for these sort of games that attempt to mimic realistic qualities of human biology and limitations. A game is a game and if you want realistic games then I suggest you walk outside for awhile. But, in Killing Floor, these qualitites only enhance the gameplay experience. If you can imagine a limping team mate desperately trying to reach the safety of your teams temporary barricade while you are steadily running out of ammo shooting past him at the advancing horde of undead, then you can understand the very panicy and tense gameplay situations Killing Floor offers.

Below: Killing Floor - Anticipation is everything.


Also, retreating to an escape route elevator after being overrun in a corridor only to have a zombie with a chainsaw emerge from it when the doors open creates the most interesting team mate reactions and profanity you can possibly bear witness to.

Anyways, leaving off with a zombie zerg feel, I present a Left 4 Dead trailer, a new game being patented and soon to be released by Valve. It should be pretty epic.

Below: Left 4 Dead - 28 Days... now.