You know, I?ve never really thought I?d be doing this. I mean, reviewing a game? I always felt as if nobody cared, and the whole endeavor was useless. But anyways, nobody really cares about these personal anecdotes, so let?s move on.
Left 4 Dead. Get it? It?s a left hand, and it?s dead, and it?s? okay, the title really sucks. Seriously, I don?t even care that this has nothing to do with the game; it just really makes me feel bad when I start it up and see the title screen.
Anyways.
Graphics: The graphics are pretty nice overall (smoker tongue non-withstanding), especially with the film-grain effects added, but there?s not really much in the way of style, coming from a company that just made TF2. That?s really all I have to say graphics wise.
Audio: The sound effects are great in-game, particularly the sounds of the zombies/special infected, and what the weapons lacked in originality, I really liked how the sounded. My only problem is that, apart from when you are swarmed via boomer bile and when you finish a level, there?s pretty much no music. The overall audio is good but, I have to say some good tunes would?ve really helped the game.
Game-play: Right from the title screen, you have three options. There?s campaign co-op mode, versus mode, and single-player, which is really sort of useless, unless you bought a multiplayer game just to play with the computers. Co-op mode is the most fun when played with friends, but for all the robust complexity of the AI Director, once you?ve beaten a campaign a couple of times, it should be a breeze with even average teammates. Versus mode, on the other hand, allows you to play as the special Infected: the Smoker, who drags survivors with his grotesquely long (and rather poorly rendered) tongue, the Hunter, who bunny hops happily along the level until the time is right for him to pounce on and cripple their victim, and the Boomer, who?s puke attracts a horde of a couple dozen zombies (don?t ask), and is by far the most fun class to play (it rewards you for dying!).
The actual game play itself is very enjoyable and rewarding. While the low player count may limit the scale of the levels, I think that this really makes you bond with your team, instead of just discounting them as people that can?t be bothered to shoot at you, like in Call of Duty 4 and various other shooters. However, there are some problems that really bugged me while playing the game.
The load out of weapons in the game is very, very bad. All of the weapons have this sort of plastic-y sheen to them, even the ones made of wood, and there are hardly any weapons to fight with in the first place: It?s just the standard hodge-podge of pistols, shotguns, SMG?s, and the like. Even for a game that tries to have a realistic take on an unrealistic event (something that needs to be done more often), it really, really could?ve used some interesting weaponry.
Also, there?s not much variety at all with the maps. There?s 4 campaigns, with 5 maps each, so when you?ve played all of them, the only thing that kept me was the AI Director. Sure, you can never memorize where the zombies/specials/weapons/med-kits are, but all this does is make you look in different parts of the level, rather than actually changing your path significantly.
Overall rating: 92/100. Definitely a must-play for any fan of the FPS.
Left 4 Dead. Get it? It?s a left hand, and it?s dead, and it?s? okay, the title really sucks. Seriously, I don?t even care that this has nothing to do with the game; it just really makes me feel bad when I start it up and see the title screen.
Anyways.
Graphics: The graphics are pretty nice overall (smoker tongue non-withstanding), especially with the film-grain effects added, but there?s not really much in the way of style, coming from a company that just made TF2. That?s really all I have to say graphics wise.
Audio: The sound effects are great in-game, particularly the sounds of the zombies/special infected, and what the weapons lacked in originality, I really liked how the sounded. My only problem is that, apart from when you are swarmed via boomer bile and when you finish a level, there?s pretty much no music. The overall audio is good but, I have to say some good tunes would?ve really helped the game.
Game-play: Right from the title screen, you have three options. There?s campaign co-op mode, versus mode, and single-player, which is really sort of useless, unless you bought a multiplayer game just to play with the computers. Co-op mode is the most fun when played with friends, but for all the robust complexity of the AI Director, once you?ve beaten a campaign a couple of times, it should be a breeze with even average teammates. Versus mode, on the other hand, allows you to play as the special Infected: the Smoker, who drags survivors with his grotesquely long (and rather poorly rendered) tongue, the Hunter, who bunny hops happily along the level until the time is right for him to pounce on and cripple their victim, and the Boomer, who?s puke attracts a horde of a couple dozen zombies (don?t ask), and is by far the most fun class to play (it rewards you for dying!).
The actual game play itself is very enjoyable and rewarding. While the low player count may limit the scale of the levels, I think that this really makes you bond with your team, instead of just discounting them as people that can?t be bothered to shoot at you, like in Call of Duty 4 and various other shooters. However, there are some problems that really bugged me while playing the game.
The load out of weapons in the game is very, very bad. All of the weapons have this sort of plastic-y sheen to them, even the ones made of wood, and there are hardly any weapons to fight with in the first place: It?s just the standard hodge-podge of pistols, shotguns, SMG?s, and the like. Even for a game that tries to have a realistic take on an unrealistic event (something that needs to be done more often), it really, really could?ve used some interesting weaponry.
Also, there?s not much variety at all with the maps. There?s 4 campaigns, with 5 maps each, so when you?ve played all of them, the only thing that kept me was the AI Director. Sure, you can never memorize where the zombies/specials/weapons/med-kits are, but all this does is make you look in different parts of the level, rather than actually changing your path significantly.
Overall rating: 92/100. Definitely a must-play for any fan of the FPS.