Left 4 Dead! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Sir Psycho Sexy
- Start date
basically you want to play it with 3 friend co-op as this is where the game really comea alive
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gSSHqNicKSs
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=gSSHqNicKSs
Looks amazing though.
OP
from X360 mag-
What would you do if the zombie apocalypse happened right now? Where would you go and how would you survive? Where would you even get a weapon let alone a helicopter or some other sort of hardcore military transport to get you the hell out of wherever you were? There are a few simple rules to remember at the end of the world: find out exactly what sort of zombies you are dealing with. You don’t want to be strolling out into the open thinking all the zombies around you are ‘harmless on their own because they’re slow as snails’ Romero types. The last thing you want is to have a pack of quick ones around you. Secondly, learn how to destroy stairs and board up windows. And thirdly, keep a fresh pair of trousers handy and all the ammo you can carry.
Obviously a zombie apocalypse wouldn’t be much fun, you’d probably have to shoot a member of your family and that’s just really depressing. But imagining how you would survive in such a hospitable situation, well that’s a lot of fun. Left 4 Dead has been painstakingly produced over the last few years by Valve, a developer notorious for taking its sweet time when making a game, and famous for creating many Game Of The Year contenders but its lasting legacy to date is certainly the Half-Life series. Valve makes superb FPSs and it also has a dedicated community intent on providing support and voicing exactly what they want from a game. And the results of all these years of work? That’s right, a zombie game.
Before even inserting the Left4Dead disc into your 360, you should be aware that this game needs/must/has to be played online. Valve is primarily a PC developer and as such it has produced a game that truly shines when played with friends. As a single-player experience it may leave you wanting, and that’s simply because Valve has designed something quite special that only truly blossoms into some sort of blood-fuelled zombie flower thing online. So if you’re not online (and if not, why not?) you may not understand what all the fuss is about.
Valve’s latest shooter has truly nailed the atmosphere of the classic zombie movie. Moody lighting, destroyed houses, abandoned cars and the constant and unnerving recognisible groan from distant rooms. As Valve has focused on the multiplayer side of things you are tasked with surviving four scenarios (split into chapters), which generally last around two hours each depending on how good you and your group are. This is as well as the competitive side of the multiplayer (more on that later). It’s difficult to recommend a game that has been designed with only online play in mind, Ubisoft’s latest title EndWar is a case in point, but what Left 4 Dead does differently is offer an incredibly slick, scary shooter experience that can also be played through split-screen co-op so there is definite fun to be had with friends.
Fun is very much the word too. Each scenario is completely unscripted. Zombies appear in different places each time and a fabled ‘AI director’ oversees the action, throwing zombies at you from any angle and that’s where the danger comes from. You’re not safe anywhere; if zombies hear you or spot your flashlight, or even if the AI director is in a bit of a pissy mood, you’ll have hundreds of zombies pouring out of a door so fast that you will simply not be able to reload fast enough. It’s because of this random element that makes traipsing through the levels a complete riot. You and three friends make the drama yourselves.
Even the abilities you have, like passing medikits between players, while seeming like a rather simple addition this creates drama. Just picture it: you’re down to your last slither of health, your friend’s across the street with pills and a medikit, all seems quiet. You move out of the shadows, dragging your feet and holding your wounded arm when all of a sudden a Hunter drops out of nowhere and zombies pour over the nearest fence screaming, and now it’s a race for survival. Something like that moment was created by circumstance, two people not sharing medikits properly and then that damn AI seeing an opportunity to get some kills.
The zombies themselves are a mixture of the new and the old, slow and stumbling when they’ve not noticed you and fast and vicious as soon as they do. Depending on your weapon they’ll go down in about two shots but it’s the special zombie characters that create a lot of the laugh-out-loud moments. Hunters will jump out of nowhere and rip you to shreds while Boomers will spit zombie-attracting vomit at you before exploding. Smokers have a tongue that can stretch about a mile to pull you from safety, the Tank is just a huge Hulk like monster and last but not least is the Witch, who has to be sneaked past and left undisturbed otherwise she goes mental and tries to rip your head off. These special zombies add another layer of unpredictability to proceedings and need to be concentrated on by the group to be taken down.
Everything can be going fine; it’s quiet and you and your friends are exploring a derelict hospital, no problems. Then, all of a sudden the player at the back of the pack gets dragged through a window by a Smoker and all hell breaks loose. These unscripted, totally random moments are so special because you are sharing them with other people and this is the reason why Left 4 Dead is only okay offline, it’s missing your mates.
Throughout each scenario you’ll be tasked with reaching safe houses, which contain ammo, weapons and health. These rooms act as checkpoints throughout the levels but the AI will certainly make you work to reach them. There are certain moments within the scenarios – such as calling a lift, pushing a button and moving a train – that usually create a lot of noise and bring down an entire city of infected on you that you’ll have to repel. Each one ends in a massive battle between hundreds of infected as you fight them back, waiting for a helicopter, boat or something else to rescue you. These end-game fights are completely insane, requiring military-style precision and teamwork if you’re to survive.
Left 4 Dead isn’t without a few issues. Besides from the fact that to get the most out of it, it really must be played online, there are some graphical problems. Overall the quality is outstanding, environments are rich and detailed and the character models, on the survivors particularly, look highly detailed. Throughout some parts of the levels, though, you’ll find some incredibly muddy textures, which really there is no excuse for. Apart from the odd graphical smudge you’ll generally be moving through the levels too fast to notice. The lighting is also a standout feature with light from your torch bouncing around rooms realistically making the creepy buildings look around 90 per cent more terrifying.
It goes without saying that a zombie game like Left 4 Dead is incredibly violent. Shooting zombies results in copious amounts of blood. Limbs, heads and bodies will go flying and using the Uzi, shotgun, assault rifle and hunting rifle to dismember the horde is very easy, the only problem is that you’ll often find yourself outnumbered and when that happens you really are in trouble. Special mention has to go out to the pipe bomb, which the zombies find irresistible right up until it explodes and then they scatter themselves and their body parts over a wide area.
Valve has included one more mode which helps push Left 4 Dead closer to greatness. As well as the immensely fun and addictive co-op mode (which can also be played split-screen), it has also developed a competitive eight-player mode where players can actually take control of the special zombie characters. Without this ‘stroke of genius’ mode Valve’s game would still be excellent, but with it we’re talking about a must-have title.
There really is nothing quite like playing Left4Dead with a group of friends. It’s the closest you’ll ever get to being in your own zombie horror film. Watching as your mate gets dragged away screaming, attempting to save him and being overrun. Or falling and hanging off the side of a building waiting for someone to rescue you as your mates desperately attempt to take down a Tank. All brilliant game moments that are created not by scripting, not by the game itself, but through the act of having four people together who like shooting stuff.
There really is no end to the fun that Left 4 Dead can create. Each scenario contains every conceivable reference to zombie films, from creepy houses to lawn mowers covered in blood. If you are online and have three friends then this game will keep a constant smile across your face for many hours.
What would you do if the zombie apocalypse happened right now? Where would you go and how would you survive? Where would you even get a weapon let alone a helicopter or some other sort of hardcore military transport to get you the hell out of wherever you were? There are a few simple rules to remember at the end of the world: find out exactly what sort of zombies you are dealing with. You don’t want to be strolling out into the open thinking all the zombies around you are ‘harmless on their own because they’re slow as snails’ Romero types. The last thing you want is to have a pack of quick ones around you. Secondly, learn how to destroy stairs and board up windows. And thirdly, keep a fresh pair of trousers handy and all the ammo you can carry.
Obviously a zombie apocalypse wouldn’t be much fun, you’d probably have to shoot a member of your family and that’s just really depressing. But imagining how you would survive in such a hospitable situation, well that’s a lot of fun. Left 4 Dead has been painstakingly produced over the last few years by Valve, a developer notorious for taking its sweet time when making a game, and famous for creating many Game Of The Year contenders but its lasting legacy to date is certainly the Half-Life series. Valve makes superb FPSs and it also has a dedicated community intent on providing support and voicing exactly what they want from a game. And the results of all these years of work? That’s right, a zombie game.
Before even inserting the Left4Dead disc into your 360, you should be aware that this game needs/must/has to be played online. Valve is primarily a PC developer and as such it has produced a game that truly shines when played with friends. As a single-player experience it may leave you wanting, and that’s simply because Valve has designed something quite special that only truly blossoms into some sort of blood-fuelled zombie flower thing online. So if you’re not online (and if not, why not?) you may not understand what all the fuss is about.
Valve’s latest shooter has truly nailed the atmosphere of the classic zombie movie. Moody lighting, destroyed houses, abandoned cars and the constant and unnerving recognisible groan from distant rooms. As Valve has focused on the multiplayer side of things you are tasked with surviving four scenarios (split into chapters), which generally last around two hours each depending on how good you and your group are. This is as well as the competitive side of the multiplayer (more on that later). It’s difficult to recommend a game that has been designed with only online play in mind, Ubisoft’s latest title EndWar is a case in point, but what Left 4 Dead does differently is offer an incredibly slick, scary shooter experience that can also be played through split-screen co-op so there is definite fun to be had with friends.
Fun is very much the word too. Each scenario is completely unscripted. Zombies appear in different places each time and a fabled ‘AI director’ oversees the action, throwing zombies at you from any angle and that’s where the danger comes from. You’re not safe anywhere; if zombies hear you or spot your flashlight, or even if the AI director is in a bit of a pissy mood, you’ll have hundreds of zombies pouring out of a door so fast that you will simply not be able to reload fast enough. It’s because of this random element that makes traipsing through the levels a complete riot. You and three friends make the drama yourselves.
Even the abilities you have, like passing medikits between players, while seeming like a rather simple addition this creates drama. Just picture it: you’re down to your last slither of health, your friend’s across the street with pills and a medikit, all seems quiet. You move out of the shadows, dragging your feet and holding your wounded arm when all of a sudden a Hunter drops out of nowhere and zombies pour over the nearest fence screaming, and now it’s a race for survival. Something like that moment was created by circumstance, two people not sharing medikits properly and then that damn AI seeing an opportunity to get some kills.
The zombies themselves are a mixture of the new and the old, slow and stumbling when they’ve not noticed you and fast and vicious as soon as they do. Depending on your weapon they’ll go down in about two shots but it’s the special zombie characters that create a lot of the laugh-out-loud moments. Hunters will jump out of nowhere and rip you to shreds while Boomers will spit zombie-attracting vomit at you before exploding. Smokers have a tongue that can stretch about a mile to pull you from safety, the Tank is just a huge Hulk like monster and last but not least is the Witch, who has to be sneaked past and left undisturbed otherwise she goes mental and tries to rip your head off. These special zombies add another layer of unpredictability to proceedings and need to be concentrated on by the group to be taken down.
Everything can be going fine; it’s quiet and you and your friends are exploring a derelict hospital, no problems. Then, all of a sudden the player at the back of the pack gets dragged through a window by a Smoker and all hell breaks loose. These unscripted, totally random moments are so special because you are sharing them with other people and this is the reason why Left 4 Dead is only okay offline, it’s missing your mates.
Throughout each scenario you’ll be tasked with reaching safe houses, which contain ammo, weapons and health. These rooms act as checkpoints throughout the levels but the AI will certainly make you work to reach them. There are certain moments within the scenarios – such as calling a lift, pushing a button and moving a train – that usually create a lot of noise and bring down an entire city of infected on you that you’ll have to repel. Each one ends in a massive battle between hundreds of infected as you fight them back, waiting for a helicopter, boat or something else to rescue you. These end-game fights are completely insane, requiring military-style precision and teamwork if you’re to survive.
Left 4 Dead isn’t without a few issues. Besides from the fact that to get the most out of it, it really must be played online, there are some graphical problems. Overall the quality is outstanding, environments are rich and detailed and the character models, on the survivors particularly, look highly detailed. Throughout some parts of the levels, though, you’ll find some incredibly muddy textures, which really there is no excuse for. Apart from the odd graphical smudge you’ll generally be moving through the levels too fast to notice. The lighting is also a standout feature with light from your torch bouncing around rooms realistically making the creepy buildings look around 90 per cent more terrifying.
It goes without saying that a zombie game like Left 4 Dead is incredibly violent. Shooting zombies results in copious amounts of blood. Limbs, heads and bodies will go flying and using the Uzi, shotgun, assault rifle and hunting rifle to dismember the horde is very easy, the only problem is that you’ll often find yourself outnumbered and when that happens you really are in trouble. Special mention has to go out to the pipe bomb, which the zombies find irresistible right up until it explodes and then they scatter themselves and their body parts over a wide area.
Valve has included one more mode which helps push Left 4 Dead closer to greatness. As well as the immensely fun and addictive co-op mode (which can also be played split-screen), it has also developed a competitive eight-player mode where players can actually take control of the special zombie characters. Without this ‘stroke of genius’ mode Valve’s game would still be excellent, but with it we’re talking about a must-have title.
There really is nothing quite like playing Left4Dead with a group of friends. It’s the closest you’ll ever get to being in your own zombie horror film. Watching as your mate gets dragged away screaming, attempting to save him and being overrun. Or falling and hanging off the side of a building waiting for someone to rescue you as your mates desperately attempt to take down a Tank. All brilliant game moments that are created not by scripting, not by the game itself, but through the act of having four people together who like shooting stuff.
There really is no end to the fun that Left 4 Dead can create. Each scenario contains every conceivable reference to zombie films, from creepy houses to lawn mowers covered in blood. If you are online and have three friends then this game will keep a constant smile across your face for many hours.
