Left 4 Dead

[Bucko]

Some trailers from Left 4 Dead, a coop team Zombie shooter from Valve. Those who've played it hands on say its amazing. Anything on the Source engine is good!


Trailers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQkFEJJg9DE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5spmvBxLp4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSSHqNicKSs

[Balti]

Zombies eh? This might actually push me to play an FPS game soon!

[SaskNewfie]

Zombies eh? This might actually push me to play an FPS game soon!

What? You'd put your purse down and join us? lol...jk...It does look like a fun game though...

[HedgeHog_jr]

Zombies eh? This might actually push me to play an FPS game soon!

The only thing you have been pushing lately is stool! :D Can't wait to shot you again!

[Bucko]

They say release early 2009, although rumor has it we may get surprised later this year. Gabe Newell (honcho at Valve) believes in "it's done when it's done and no sooner", so when it does come out, it's guaranteed to not be a bugfest.

[McFeely]

Gabe Newell (honcho at Valve) believes in "it's done when it's done and no sooner"

Past experience with Gabe's quotes mean look for it in the 2nd or 3rd quarter 2009. When Valve bought up Counterstrike and Day of Defeat mods to turn into commercial releases in early 2002. It was quotes like that resulted in a 3 year wait for something that was still buggy as hell but playable. I will say Valve has come a long way with TF2 (another 6 year wait) in releasing finished games. They do actively support the mod community with developer kits more than I can say for EA or UBI.

[Bucko]

Update...

I've been playing the demo, which is downloadable if you preorder the game from Steam (it is 10% off if you buy before the release date of Nov 19).

The demo has single and multiplayer. Multiplayer mode is basically a campaign mode (sort of simiar to story mode in Vegas2 except the story plays differently each time). I am going to focus on Multiplayer-Campaign mode in this post as I have not really played the other modes yet.

Campaign-multiplayer is 4 players against the computer-controlled zombies. It can be thought of in many ways like 4-player Terrorist Hunt in Vegas2. It is as fun as it looks and definately encourages teamwork. You and teammates will get attacked by "special" zombies, such as Hunters, which sort of stalk you, pounce out of no where, and knock you to the ground so they can chew on your scrote or whatever they do. Sometimes if you're quick you can blast them before they get you. But if they do pin you down, your teammates have to help you by shooting him off you. Valve did a great job of making it easy for yout teammates to know when to help you, where you are, so you almost always get the teamwork you need regardless of who you're playing with. When there are less than 4 people in a particular server, like say one drops out mid-game, a bot takes over that slot and also works very much as a team mate (will look for opportunities to heal you, will give you pain pills on occasion and other behaviors of a good human teammate). If a human rejoins the server mid-game, they replace the bot.

The weapons that you can use are pistols which have unlimited ammo, shotguns, assault rifles, submachine guns, etc. There are pipebombs, molotov cocktails, gasoline cans you can throw in strategic locations and shoot them to ignite, etc.

I'll reserve getting too detailed with this initial review, because the game is not out yet, some of the game modes like player controlled heros versus player controlled zombies is not available in the demo and the multiplayer campaign only has two maps. I will say the game is very well done, typical of Valve.. very polished, runs perfectly at all resolutions, had no bugs at all that I could tell, and the mutliplayer game interface was best of class.

What about the game play itself, is killing zombies fun? Yes, it is tons of fun.. It's a different kind of fun than something like Far Cry 2 or Vegas 2, at least that's my impression from the demo.

It will be interesting to see, in the released version, what sort of tactics emerge when you're playing against computer controlled zombies (or if you're playing zombie against humans). That's one aspect I couldn't get the feel of from the demo.

[simplepyro]

seems like fun might have to give it a go.

[Bucko]

Look me up on Steam if you do, user id = |OSG| Bucko

[simplepyro]

not sure if i found u on there but if not add me my user id is |OSG| Simplepyro

[Bucko]

sent you a pm..

[Bucko]

There is an review (score 9/10) here.. One of the links is a video review that will give you a good idea. Those into coop play will like it, that's what this game is all about.

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/930/930763p1.html

[chiselwac]

looked like the boss was using a wallhack...

[McFeely]

I got it after playing the demo. I like the idea of the AI Director. I played the demo level 4 times and it was not the same each time. I also understand that there is a map creator for it. I can't wait to play some co-op or versus. The assault rifle is awesome.

[Bucko]

I got it after playing the demo. I like the idea of the AI Director. I played the demo level 4 times and it was not the same each time.

Yeah and the demo only has two maps. I think the full game has 4 scenarios each with five maps (20 total). And I'm sure more will come, Valve is good about updating after release and giving bang for the buck.

[Bucko]

Played a little versus mode today. You switch between playing survivors and one of the specialized zombies. I haven't yet puked on anyone as a Boomer (easier said than done) but stalking people as a Hunter or Smoker is kind of fun. Hehe.. you've got to wait for a straggler than lure them to unassisted death :)

[SaskNewfie]

I'd like to try out mulitplayer some night if anyone's interested. I'm away from the 31st to the 5th though...perhaps when I get back. I see Pongo plays a lot (via xfire), but I haven't seen him here in the forums for a while.

[McFeely]

I would love to. Still one of my fave games from this winter.

[SOJA]

I got it for Christmas and is the best Co-op game I've ever played. Lot of fun.

Edit: I need to learn how to spell Christmas.

[McFeely]

NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS


http://store.steampowered.com/news/2223/

[Tombstone]

I need to get in some CoOp and MP in this game. The SP Campaign is alot of fun. I can't wait to see what custom maps and game modes will come out with the SDK release.

I'll have to look for some of you guys in-game or on TS for some CoOp play.

']['

[GOAT]

I have it and have only played it twice on single player. Any time we can get a few together for coop lets do it??>?

[SaskNewfie]

I'd like to get into this game a bit...damn, so many games! I bought FarCry2, L4D, WaW for xmas and still want to play COD4 and BF2! It sucks when you only have 3 to 6 hours a week to play around with this stuff...real life interfering again! lol

Yes, I'd like to try co-op or mulitplayer with L4D...haven't yet. I know McFeely enjoys it and I see Pongo on xfire playing a lot (not sure if he'd join us or not).