Gaming Left 4 Dead

[CockroachMan]

Pre-ordered mine, got the demo today.. Valve has done it again! IMO, Team Fortress 2 is the ultimate online team fps.. and this game is the ultimate co-op fps!

Reminds me of playing DOOM coop on lan years ago.. you start each level at a small room with ammo and supplies, open the door and a horde of zombies comes after you and your friends, you just have to shoot everything that moves (the way I like it!), if you stand still for too much time, more zombies come, so you gotta keep moving.. sometimes zombies can jump on you, or some special zombies (smokers) can entangle you with their tentacle tongues and another player has to rescue you, also if you take too much damage you stay on the floor, you can still shoot to protect yourself, but can't move while no one comes to heal you.. that kind of stuff enforces the team work on the game, also, you can get killed, and if all four players die, you have to restart the level.. the numbers of zombies is impressive, and they can run.. and some can jump!

Game is very fun, but not perfect, I have two complains.. first, the demo is too short

second, I played the game once on single player mode and then online.. for those with no friends out there, the single player experience is almost as good as the online one, the AI is very well done, the CPU helps a lot and even take some items if they find it first (bastards!), anyway, my other complaint is that on the two times I've played, I played on the exact same levels.. and first time is awesome, second time is cool.. third time.. ok.. and I really don't see this having the lasting appeal of something like TF2.. I see this getting very repetitive after some weeks.. I hope Valve and the community supports this game like they're supporting TF2 with big updates and new maps every now and then, if that happens.. no complains then.

So, anyone else got the demo!?

 

[Opium]

I've got the demo. It's pretty cool but sadly hasn't impressed me as much as I thought it would. Perhaps that's got to do with the shitty forced matchmaking system it uses. It makes online play consolified, like they just ripped it from the 360 version and plonked it where it doesn't belong on the PC version. Navigating through the dev console though you can force a server browser to appear which is a relief. I hope they add a proper button for it to the main menu.

At the moment by just using the forced matchmaking you can't even see the ping of the server you are joining, and I've been matched up with people from the UK before which is ridiculously laggy. It makes no sense. The community is definately not going to get behind this horrible matchmaking system, so hopefully valve change it. If they do that then L4D will be a great game.

The gameplay itself is great.

 

[Wanted]

Farcry2, Fallout 3, mirrors edge, dead space... etc etc I really don't need another game to tempt me right now.

 

[CockroachMan]

True, the matchmaking system is far from the ideal.. from what I understand, the match host chooses the server, haven't hosted any matches yet so I don't know how it works exactly. Like I said, I hope Valve keeps maintaining this game like it's doing with TF2 and fix those small problems after some time.

 

[Opium]

True, the matchmaking system is far from the ideal.. from what I understand, the match host chooses the server, haven't hosted any matches yet so I don't know how it works exactly. Like I said, I hope Valve keeps maintaining this game like it's doing with TF2 and fix those small problems after some time.

A server is randomly assigned to the host. They don't actually get to 'choose' anything.

 

[juggernaut911]

Oh jeez, this game looks awesome!! This is gonna rock! Adding to my "MUST BUY B4 APOCOLYPSE" list

 

[AshuraZro]

I pre-ordered it two days ago and fired through the demo twice. Loving it so far and the demo is only a tiny taste.

I can see the reason behind choosing matchmaking as bringing up a server browser for 4 player games is kind of pointless. Not to mention hosting for the average player may be a tad more complicated than they want it to be.

Still, I agree that there should be a server browser that is easily accessible from the menus. I am sure if it is demanded it will be added as Valve tends to make those necessary corrections.

Also, if no one has noticed...

$2.50 for AudioSurf. I am sold on that. Also used that as an excuse to toss Beyond Good and Evil in as it was a game I always heard good about but never got around to playing.

 

[Ferrariman]

I'm thinking of this game as Counter-Strike Zombie mode advance. I will buy when I get a new PC.

 

[Opium]

Some pics. The Source engine has come a long way. The lighting looks pretty awesome in this game.

 

[Edgedancer]

Looks great. Thnks for the info Opium and Cockraochman.

 

[CockroachMan]

Lighting and effects sure look nicer, the number of enemies is also way higher, but overall it looks like Half Life 2.

And the boys at Valve are fast:

Left 4 Dead Demo Update Released
November 6, 2008, 7:57 pm - Jason Ruymen - Product Update
Updates to Left 4 Dead Demo have been released. The updates will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted. The specific changes include:

Left 4 Dead Demo


Fixed several issues with matchmaking and password protected servers

Tuned matchmaking to provide better search results

Fixed bug where servers could stay reserved by matchmaking forever

Performance optimizations and fixes to networking layer

Fixed issue where game could cause Steam executable to use too much CPU

Fixed music resetting when changing video settings

Fixed some issues with not being able to chat and/or connect to other users

 

[lonfar]

Haha should try out expect mode, way hard in online mode when your workin as a team. Did one while all the player left and completed it, takes hours to complete if the teams is crap

 

[Opium]

I've completed a few rounds on expert. It gets difficult if you get vomited on, but besides that it's not too bad.

 

[Trolly]

Sounds good. I'm under the impression the final game was going to be procedural though. Like each level would be different, and the important events in each would differ too.
Hopefully that hasn't been withdrawn or misconstrued, as that's a major draw for the game.

Still gonna get this off Amazon once it comes out, as Steam is really expensive for us in the UK since the exchange rate plummeted. Far Cry 2 was £36 when I paid for it, now the exchange rate's gotten even worse

.

 

[Mewgia]

Why does the graphics style remind me more of TF2 than a more serious game like Counter Strike Source, Half Life 2, Fallout 3, or things of that nature?

TF2-style semicellshading does not fit a zombie apocalypse game.

 

[Joe88]

Why does the graphics style remind me more of TF2 than a more serious game like Counter Strike Source, Half Life 2, Fallout 3, or things of that nature?

TF2-style semicellshading does not fit a zombie apocalypse game.

the gfx look nothing like TF2
are you looking at the same game? lul

 

[MystikEkoez]

The game looks pretty interesting and if I had the choice, I would get it for the 360.
But... Is it worth 45$ or even 55$ for the 360?

 

[Mewgia]

Why does the graphics style remind me more of TF2 than a more serious game like Counter Strike Source, Half Life 2, Fallout 3, or things of that nature?

TF2-style semicellshading does not fit a zombie apocalypse game.

the gfx look nothing like TF2
are you looking at the same game? lul

It's mostly the guns I am taking about.

I haven't actually played the game, mind out, I'm going off of those screenshots.

 

[CockroachMan]

Why does the graphics style remind me more of TF2 than a more serious game like Counter Strike Source, Half Life 2, Fallout 3, or things of that nature?

TF2-style semicellshading does not fit a zombie apocalypse game.

Not really.. the graphic style is not as serious as Counter Strike, but also not as cartoony as TF2.. they fit the game very well IMO. I think you'll understand it better once you play it.

 

[Gaisuto]

I've been playing the demo on the 360 for the past few days now. With the same group of four, we make Expert mode seem too easy. Even when the Tank shows up we know how to deal with it with minimal casualties. My favorite moment so far though, the Tank caught us off guard and attacked us in the first lobby of the Subway. We decided to just go back to the Safe Room and hide in there until it died out of boredom. But what happened instead was him busting down the Safety Door and killing us all.

I dunno about buying it to be honest, but I'm definitely renting it for a good period of time when it comes out.