REVIEW – Here’s an FPS that covers itself as a TV-program. Here’s a guy who bashes his head into the wall due to the terrible aiming, making him just call the game as „meh” after playing it. The results are not promising, to say the least…

 

Jump? It takes stamina. Running? It takes stamina, too. AIMING? That costs stamina. What the…? Oh wait, there’s no crosshair, either. You get that after completing the first level. The game doesn’t help you, and it’s not even my first impression – for that, I have to rewind.

Microsoft [Iforgotthenameofthecharacter] secretary

So in the game – which have eight levels – offered a tutorial for me, I jumped in, and my first thought was that the voice acting is awful. It sounded like something ripped from a Microsoft text-to-speech solution. Then, I got my first weapon, a pistol with unlimited ammo – first rule: you must reload the guns yourself, the game won’t do it for you. Then, the monsters came. Imagine something like The Legend of Zelda, or The Binding of Isaac – if you don’t kill everyone (and you can do combos here, like double kill, monster kill, etc.), then you can’t progress. Hm, the second game is a good comparison: demonic monsters are attacking us. (Snowmen. Lol.)

Unpopular I-run-around-but-damnit-I-must-start-over

I’m rewinding a bit here – I completed the first level, then I quit to continue later (wow, Continue!), but the game says that the number of deaths in the main menu is standing at 1. Screw you. But what about this lead, you ask? Well, as it’s a game show, there are no multiple lives. If you die – which can happen quite easily on the third level already -, then you are forced to start over. Eight levels, remember. You will see the early stages A. LOT. OF. TIMES.

How can you die? By running into a trap on the floor everywhere (although it gives you popularity), or by running out of HP, because you can’t aim properly, and you get tired by AIMING, plus running around all the time doesn’t help, either.

Let me mention this popularity thing. There are five categories; the hero is the best one. On the levels, you find a few items. Blue fridges give you items for free; there are dispensers that can give you 40 health (I think 64 is the maximum, and you start out with 50 or so) for a ton of popularity, or some ammo.

There’s a negative dispenser, too – for a negative effect/item, you gain popularity. However, its RNG can screw you over, and die in that level after having a flawless run. There are also coffins that mostly have HP for you, and you need lockpicks to open these. It throws up a minigame – you have to hit all five „nails” without breaking your rhythmical back-and-forth moving „metal hand” to open the coffin. (Well, that sounded like a sexual innuendo.)

Poor man’s Serious Sam

Now that I think about Killing Room, it also feels like a Serious Sam-clone. You discover the rooms (map in the corner, don’t worry), some enemies attack, and if you’re lucky, you can buy something with your money at a few shopping stands. Then, boss fights at the end of each level, and if you win, you gain new skills, such as AIMING, and you can choose what to improve on you. RPG?

Replayability? Something like that. However, unlike Serious Sam, the game’s novelty wears off in like 25-30 minutes, or even less, becoming boring in no time, especially if you screw up and are forced to restart a few times.

Not even for this price

I usually have positive words about voice acting, but not this time. Boring memes, annoying voices make the already cold soup oversalted. While the graphics are okay and somewhat stylish, the experience isn’t worth more than a headshake.

Sure, you can kick explosives into the faces of the enemies to shoot them and kill them off quicker, it’s mostly overshadowed by the classic run around and use the pistol method because you barely get ammo, and the lack of money/skill won’t help either.

The game feels unfinished, and it does not motivate me to play it more, plus it’s quite buggy (standing in one place, aiming at the enemy 5m away, miss it, getting stuck to a chair, things like that). It costs 6 euros (will be 10 after the promotion ends), but I’d rather buy four 5-packs of Kinder Milk Slices because those aren’t outdated and tiresome like Killing Room is. Its ambiance doesn’t make the game great. I’d rather kill this room.

-V-

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Publisher: Alda Games

Developer: Alda Games

Genre: Indie rogue FPS with RPG elements

Release date: October 21, 2016 (PC)