Ever since Tripwire Interactive announced its first-person shooter (FPS) Killing Floor: Incursion at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2016, the videogame has looked like one of the most brutal titles coming to Oculus Rift. And that’s not far from the fact, with this free-roaming monster hunter not pulling any punches when it comes to creating an intensely fast paced experience that’s more action than it is scary horror.
The story unfolds with you as an elite Horzine Security Forces soldier who is tasked with dealing with an outbreak called Zed, unleashing hordes of horrific creatures which have similarities to zombies. Naturally there’s more to the story as Horzine isn’t all it seems, but you’ll have to play to find out more.
Killing Floor: Incursion starts out as a survival horror. Once you’re through the fairly extensive tutorial you’ll find yourself in a dark and creepy forest. While the general premise is that of a horror title the videogame is far more action orientated, with this first level probably the scariest of all four locations. While there are only four specific levels each is broken up into three sections and they don’t feel short by any means. In fact the whole experience should last a good few hours from start to finish.
Playing through Killing Floor: Incursion is great fun. The assortment of weapons is the usual mix, with pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, grenades and knives on offer, with an inventory layout similar to other VR FPS’. The pistols are kept in side holsters which are nice and quick to access, whilst the bigger ranged guns and the melee weapons are located on your back – one for each shoulder. It’s a system that when done right works really well, and it does so here.
This means you can mix up your play style on the fly quite effectively. Suddenly in a pinch and need to reload, you can either give enemies a quick gun butt or drop the weapon and grab something else. Any weapons that you do drop will then return to their original inventory position after a few seconds (excluding grenades). There’s a satisfying realism to all the weapons, with the pump action shotgun being particularly good as you need two hands to use it, blasting the heads – or limbs – off enemies.
Not everything is perfect though. All of the enemies aren’t exactly what you’d call clever. Ok, so yes they are your normal crazed experimental monsters so they don’t really need cover, however they all do the same thing, run at you screaming/groaning until either they or you are dead. The same can be said for the bosses, all of which relentlessly attack you, but completing each one is more satisfying than the last so it’s not all bad.
The gun play is good, the action is well paced, and the bosses are challenging, one aspect not covered is movement. This can be a crucial make or break issue in any VR title, especially when you need to explore whilst evading ravenous creatures. The default is teleportation as it’s the most comfortable for most players. Tripwire Interactive’s system means that the first teleport has a sizable distance and will remain so if not used too quickly. However try to move several jumps in quick succession and you’ll notice that distance gets shorter and location pointer becomes slower. This is to simulate stamina, so the more you move the tireder you get, hence the reduction.
Fine in principle, in a virtual fight it’s particularly annoying, especially in boss battles. As mentioned all the enemies tend to run at you so there will be occasions where you’ll need to evade several times. If you’re not careful it can end up with you cornered with no chance of escape – you better have some melee weapons to hand if this happens. All is not lost, in the menu is an experimental FPS movement mode, so if you can handle it, you can strafe and walk around as normal. Note the ‘experimental’, there are certain sections in Killing Floor: Incursion which can’t be traversed in this mode so you have to teleport, so you might find yourself either switching from time to time or just sticking with the default.
So is Killing Floor: Incursion still worth getting? Damn right it is. The videogame does have its faults but they aren’t gameplay breaking. Killing Floor: Incursion’s single-player campaign is a glorious action romp that’s easy to play through in one sitting. One thing not mentioned so far is the fact that there’s a co-op option, and as every gamer should know, bringing a mate along to cover each others back only increases the fun factor.
Awesome
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Verdict