Killing Floor 3 Review on Xbox

Killing Floor 3 is a co-op action/horror FPS.

The premise is you are a member of the team Nightfall, battling bioengineered hordes created by the megacorp Horzine.

The game boasts up to five teammates to battle waves of Zeds, to earn dosh, unlock skills, and build the ultimate arsenal. Realistic blood effects and slow-motion alongside intense combat.

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility, there is a some options available with accessibility at the forefront of its design. A vast array of visual options alongside button remapping, screen shake, colourblind mode, and camera bob. Audio options however are the norm though, but still it means a lot more people can really enjoy what this game has to offer.

Gameplay

Being given time to fully play and engage with a game is something most reviewers do not get. Thankfully, I was able to be given such time when reviewing Killing Floor 3, which I truly appreciate.

This is a game that has split the fanbase in two. New users are impressed and thoroughly enjoying themselves, where the old fanbase from the previous titles are not happy with the changes made to the series. This review is going to be from a newbies perspective to the franchise, but I will try and address the old fanbases concerns and issues.

The main aim of the game is to choose an operative and then face off against waves of ZEDs, before defeating the final boss. During the fights you are encouraged to go round the level and grab as much scrap as you can for use once the battle is over. Once the battle is over, you are then returned to the main hub, where using your scraps and Zed parts collected, you will level up your weapons, unlock and upgrade skills, before doing the same process again on a different level or with a different operative.

This sounds simple enough and in reality it is. The challenge and thrill of the game, comes from the difficulty and its co-op design, but the premise is identical regardless of the level or choice of operative. This is also the same when you are battling the waves of ZEDs, with each wave allowing you a short respite to quickly purchase more gear and weapon upgrades at the shop which is found in a variety of locations on each map. This loop then comes full circle with a boss fight as you try your hardest to kill the beast or beasts and collect the suitable reward.

As mentioned to begin with, you will start out with preset weapons and gear for each operative. However any custom builds you have built at the games hub zone, will also be available, but only if you have the cash. From the beginning you have little to no cash, with a small preset being given to you at the start, but this increases with each level. You earn cash, by killing ZEDs, which at the end of a wave you then use to refill, and choose an higher tier weapon to face the ever increasing numbers.

Co-op is highly encouraged here, even to the point where you can share your hard earned cash with your fellow team mates, which at the higher difficulties is essential that you do. From what I can tell the higher the difficulty the more health each Zed has, but I believe the damage they do, is still the same or at the very least increased very minorly.

Lower tier difficulty, you can pretty much allow you to explore with the knowledge your weapons, can take most Zeds.  At higher tier, moving an inch away from a teammate means instant death. Keeping close to operatives that heal or can turn on support turrets are a must to ensure you can support your team in wiping out the enemy.

Gameplay is tight and engaging with waves of zed’s coming at you from all corners of the map, and in some instances from locations you wouldn’t normally check like ceilings, ducts and doorways. A great aspect of the game, is zed mode, which is activated for all team members when any member hits a certain critical damage threshold. This then activates a slow-motion effect allowing the team to hyper concentrate on thinning the herds of incoming monsters. This is different from the previous iterations which you would move normally while zeds are slowed down.

However, when it comes to the operatives, this is where the fanbase starts to split apart. The six operatives to choose from each have unique weapons, skills trees and unlockable skins to ensure your build is tailored to you.

They are an Engineer - Support, Firebug – Heavy hitter, Commando – Tactical, Medic – self explanatory, Sharpshooter - Sniper, and Ninja – Melee class. From the previous titles it seems we are missing the Gunslinger, Demolitions, SWAT, and the Survivalist class. Though to be fair again the developers they have hinted at these making their way into the game on the games roadmap.

Although each class has only four tiers of main primary weapons to and a unique sidearm, if you do like the weapon that another operative has, you can purchase it and use it. The developers have also announced that they are untethering skills and weapons load-outs further to ensure even more customization. 

Speaking of customization, weapon mods are the big new thing in this sequel which buffs each weapons stats. As you play matches, you collect scrap that can be used to build laser sights, muzzle compensators, extended magazines, elemental ammo, and much more. Searching for scrap is easy, as its often breaking cameras, signs, and general electrical items dotted round the levels.

Another nice touch is that each mod, can be upgraded a number of times to really spec out the weapons of your choice, and provide a substantial buff. Like the weapons mods, the operatives skill trees are also full of choice as you gain more experience levels. Similar to the weapon mods, skill can also be upgraded to provide even more buffs and damage.

Now there is a lot of operative skins, banners and key chains to unlock for more customization, alongside a monetised battle pass, which certain skins you will need to have to unlock. Thankfully though, you can grind in-game to unlock this, so it doesn’t feel like a paid only option.

The game is a enjoyable and engaging experience and does what it says on the tin, with a good player base to ensure that you will always have someone to play with.

Graphics

When it comes to the style of gameplay, the visuals of this have jumped from previous title to use Unreal Engine 5, ensuring that the core and visuals are stylish and slick to look at. With a much more dark future feel, this also has kind of split the fanbase as the previous title went for a more fun approach.

Again from what I can tell, the biggest issue for some is the look of the character models and weapons models being  ‘’generic’’ instead of the more stylised version of Killing Floor 2. For new players, we are not going to notice or worry about something like that, but from the older fanbase they feel like it has lost its essence. For me looking at KF2, I can see what they are saying, and it does look like the developers tried to open this up to a wider player base by doing so.

Now there are eight maps in this game, from bunkers, cities, secret laboratory bases, and urban streets. Again the complaint here is a reduced number of maps, but from my research, KF2 never started out with a large number of maps either. I would say that the maps themselves seem bigger than KF2, so this maybe the reason why a reduced number has been done.

The maps also aren’t just big open spaces, they are crammed with a massive variety of traps, interactable items, and tactical opportunities depending on your class. For me, I will never stop turning on one of the many huge fans or molten larva drops that destroy the weaker zeds in a gruesome way.

Turrets are also plentiful if you have the omnitool to turn them on, and can really help at setting up crunch points in various locations. Combine this with the ziplines, and vertical travel is equally superb in getting where you want to go and avoiding being trapped against a corner. So whilst there maybe less maps on offer, what is on offer is better in my opinion. You know what they say, quality over quantity.  That said, the only place that really did feel out of place was the huge Hub zone that just feels empty and overkill that a tighter smaller space could have easily achieved the same feeling.

What I would say is the lighting really needs some work on it, as in general I have found the maps to be way too dark for my liking. It’s like that contrast is way off in some instances, even with your small flashlight on hand. Seeing your enemy is only ever really viable in well lit areas, which is a shame as I think the general look of each level is great, from the limited view I can see.

For me Bosses are also great, with the ones on offer being a bug-like Crawler Queen that teleports, three sword-headed Impaler’s who focus on melee, and the heavily-armoured Chimera who summons waves of zeds. Early difficulties, these are just a slight challenge, but later ones they are downright hell on a stick with entire teams get fully wiped out in a matter moments.

With regards to the frame rate and smoothness of the game, I saw little in terms of crashing, pop-ins and screen tearing, though again I have seen this mentioned more than once on the pc version…

Sound

Like any brutal FPS game, it’s all about the music blasting out combined with the effects to ensure the oomph is just right. From the main menu, you will get a heavy guitar and bass that is built to ensure aggression. This then transcends into the main maps with heavy rock and drums similar to that to the modern Doom blast out as you take down the waves of Zeds.

The weaponry though takes centre stage in the sound department, with ballistic weapons sounding chonky and fire weapons giving that enthusiastic toasty sound. The more futuristic weapons like the medics blaster equally comes off with brutal in its own way and in the mids of battles is a joy to behold. Monster sounds are the best however, with gargling, distraught animalistic noises echoing thought the levels as they make their way to you.

Voice work here in the form of the operatives doing an number of one liners over and over again which after a while just becomes white noise when you killing. Its not saying they are bad, but just a bit forgettable. When it comes to the storytelling, this however is relayed by your boss within side missions often asking you to pick up something or find something. However, once they are done, she effectively disappears, which is a shame as the voice actress did a great job in conveying a hard nosed boss not taking shit from anyone. Fingers crosses she makes another appearance in any future dlc.  

My recommendation here would be a good quality soundbar to enjoy the big booms of your guns tearing into the flesh of your enemies.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Killing Floor 3 is a ‘’Great Purchase’’.

I fully understand the complaints of the older fanbase and from what I can tell, the developers are trying to resolve a lot of those issues. Some like the style or choice of direction in terms of visuals will never be resolved, but for newer players this wont matter.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £34.99 or approx. $40 and depending on skill and patience would give you about 60+hours to completely get all skills for each operative. However you can easily double that, in a bid to unlock every mod and upgrade in the game.

I found this a really fun and engaging wave shooter and for a newbie of the franchise I’m in. Has it lost its soul trying to cater to a wider audience, that will all depend on if you are an older fan or newer one. The real question here is if the developer will continue to make this the best game they can, and address most of what people are saying, and only time can tell on that.