Kill it With Fire 2
Review
Oh What a Tangled Web We Weave
by Camrin Santchi
reviewed on PC
So It Wasn't Over…
Sometimes it seems like any job worth doing is never truly done - and this holds very true for Kill It With Fire 2, a sequel that pushes disproportionate retribution against the arachnid menace even further than the original that was released several years ago. For any readers wanting to see how the war against spiders truly began, we have a review here.
Gamers return to their role as the silent exterminator from the Kill It With Fire team, but it seems since the first game the exterminator has had it rough - a whiteboard listing the amount of days since they've seen a spider, sticky notes with crude drawing of spiders, and what even appears to be a PTSD styled episode once the exterminator makes a discovery that somehow, the spiders have returned.
This leads to a quick tutorial of fulfilling tasks via clipboard and arming yourself with some gear like a DIY flamethrower and a 'spider tracker' - before the plot takes a turn for the wacky. You know, even more than a one-man war on spiders already was to begin with. Namely by virtue of being abducted by a spaceship that recruits you to fight spiders on a much grander scale. As one does.
Bringing In Backup
Well, this reviewer calls it a one-man war, but in Kill It With Fire 2 gamers are able to load into levels in multiplayer - the primary mode is co-op, but the game does also sport a 'versus' type mode that allows players to take the role of the arachnid menace themselves. These multiplayer experiences add to the replayability of Kill It With Fire 2, as do select challenges added to the maps such as fleeing a haunted spider statue- and even the maps themselves add to the time you can spend hunting down spiders, as they are now much more spacious than before. This does have the side effect of giving spiders even more complicated spaces to hide, especially when debris starts to accumulate due to the destruction that is set out while performing your extermination duties.
New and Improved
When I originally checked out Kill It With Fire, there were two main complaints, both of which have been resolved with the sequel's release. The first was ammo replenishment for the weapons, which are now much more forgiving in the larger areas that Kill It With Fire 2 populates with eight legged demons. The other main issue was the lack of explanation throughout the game - rectified by a somewhat cocky AI named Darwin that acts as our 'employer'. He sends us across the multiverse to confront and wipe out as many spiders as possible, since this new infestation appears to have come from a different reality. At this point, I wasn't even surprised at the seeming connection between spiders and alternative realities, having been a thing since at least the 90s iteration of Spider-Man.
Too Much of A Good Thing?
One issue with Kill It With Fire 2 actually comes from one of the improvements that they made from the original - namely, the large levels. Some of the more tedious levels of the original game were the larger ones, and the sequel features many more nooks and crannies for spiders to hide themselves in. This is compounded by the introduction of terrors called 'morph spiders' that cause your spider tracker to stop working in their presence. The only way to regain usage is to find the object the spider has disguised itself as, and beat the webbing out of it, since whatever it uses to jam the tracker appears to only function while it's alive. These morph spiders are just one of the new species that make an appearance in the game, and with more of these shaking up the formula it can be tricky to keep track of all of the potential threats on your plate as an exterminator.
Spiders Everywhere… Hopefully Not For Long
Kill It With Fire 2 can best be described as more of a good thing - everything that made the original an enjoyable experience is here again in spades, along with many new additions such as multiplayer, new spider hunting tools/weapons and new and larger maps. It can be said that the best of sequels take everything from the original and improve upon it - and I can gladly say that my time within Kill It With Fire 2 follows that saying. This war against the arachnid menace seems long-lasting, but so long as this war is as fun as it is, I say bring on the demonic little buggers in order to Kill Them With Fire!
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8.9
fun score
Pros
Fun multiplayer, Improves on the formula
Cons
Almost too spacious, New spiders add to the trouble
