First I'd like to say tactical coop is THE most under appreciated genre of the decade. It rarely gets even the lamest of considerations in most games despite being by far the most fun.
One of the biggest fears I had after watching all the gameplay videos is that it was going to be mindless fast-paced Serious Sam style action. Anyone who's seen a zombie film knows that it's the lulls and tension built up between action that makes the film engaging. Thankfully the demo showed me that they know that too. It's a little much action peppered with tension instead of tension peppered with action, but close enough. I really hope we got a "customize the AI director" mod where we can adjust the frequency and severity of the attacks.
One of the things I like about L4D is how it forces you to challenge your conceptions about playing shooters. Sometimes you don't want to go through every room must because you can. Most of the time going into a crazy circle strafe in combat just means a lot of friendly fire. Closing doors, turning on and off lights, and actually avoiding some enemies are all good examples of expanded thoughts. How many games of Unreal would you ever willingly give up your health pack to another player? In L4D its often one of the only ways to improve your own chances of survival.
I really like how it punishes individuality, discoordination, greed, and impulsiveness. It really is at odds with the typical gamer mind set and so you get an excellent set up by putting people who usually aren't good at teamwork into a setting that requires it. The interplay between 4 human players is by far the best part about the game.
I'm hoping the full game is more dynamic and more complex. The demo so far is variable but still hugely the same. I'd love to see a bit pile of rubble come down between two pairs of players forcing them to link up later, pathways open or blocked randomly, and other considerations that force you to use your head.
One of the biggest fears I had after watching all the gameplay videos is that it was going to be mindless fast-paced Serious Sam style action. Anyone who's seen a zombie film knows that it's the lulls and tension built up between action that makes the film engaging. Thankfully the demo showed me that they know that too. It's a little much action peppered with tension instead of tension peppered with action, but close enough. I really hope we got a "customize the AI director" mod where we can adjust the frequency and severity of the attacks.
One of the things I like about L4D is how it forces you to challenge your conceptions about playing shooters. Sometimes you don't want to go through every room must because you can. Most of the time going into a crazy circle strafe in combat just means a lot of friendly fire. Closing doors, turning on and off lights, and actually avoiding some enemies are all good examples of expanded thoughts. How many games of Unreal would you ever willingly give up your health pack to another player? In L4D its often one of the only ways to improve your own chances of survival.
I really like how it punishes individuality, discoordination, greed, and impulsiveness. It really is at odds with the typical gamer mind set and so you get an excellent set up by putting people who usually aren't good at teamwork into a setting that requires it. The interplay between 4 human players is by far the best part about the game.
I'm hoping the full game is more dynamic and more complex. The demo so far is variable but still hugely the same. I'd love to see a bit pile of rubble come down between two pairs of players forcing them to link up later, pathways open or blocked randomly, and other considerations that force you to use your head.
