Review: Left 4 Dead

Jordan Deam

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Jan 11, 2008
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Review: Left 4 Dead

What could possibly be wrong with shooting zombies with a bunch of friends? As it turns out, not much.

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Doug

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Apr 23, 2008
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Nice review! And I'm pleased to see it does work on the XBox too! :)

Its grand on the PC!

On a side note, you don't even need a mic most of the time. Good players who actually realise and accept its not Counter-strike/Halo quickly work everything out, quickly get with the program, and work together, even better than in TF2.

Also, its very fun to play the Undead and try and eat those pesky survivors.
 

nekolux

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Apr 7, 2008
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I agree with most of your review except for the part about competitiveness although there is a lack of incentives for being the best in your team being known to be good in your l4d community is something that'll attract other players to play with you. A person who friendly fires his team mates to hell for example will definitely not attract people to play expert with him, where about half a shot from a shotgun takes 40+ health.

And as for the darkness of the campaigns i feel that it's to add a certain level of difficulty when encountering the witch, if you dont have your flashlight on you cant see her, if your flashlight is on you're afraid that you might shine it on her and alert her.

but yes i agree that the storytelling was rather poor, however from throughout the campaigns if you read the scribblings on the wall you do get a sense of nostalgia that is the humor from portal.

Lastly of course i'd like to add that valve's use of cinematic effects is really really good. ( If you swing your mouse about you get a cinematic blur ) and if you go to your video options you can actually choose the amount of film grain you see.


P.S You also forgot to mention that zoey > any rl girls cause she's hot and she kicks zombie ass
P.P.S Doug while a mic isnt necessary it really adds to the experience ( nothing liek hearing your teammates screaming )
 

HomeAliveIn45

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Good job! You basically summed up every feeling I have about this game, up to the 'recomendation' paragraph.
 

Doug

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Well, I think the problem with Story telling in multiplayer is that the elements can get repetitative - after all, you may never have seen cutscene X before, but your team mates may have seen it a thousand million times before and be on the edge of cutting their wrists if they have to sit through it again (ok, maybe not THAT annoying).
 

Doug

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nekolux said:
P.P.S Doug while a mic isnt necessary it really adds to the experience ( nothing liek hearing your teammates screaming )
Indeed, I wasn't denying that ;) Just meant, if your in a situation where you can't reply use your mic without pissing roommates/flatmates/parents/spouses/etc off, your in an ok situation ;)
 

gmjapan

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Oct 21, 2008
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Nice review. Want to levy 1 criticism (and it might be coz i missed it...) you only mention playing as the 4 survivors in co-op. The game can really take off for some people when you play 4v4 taking turnabout as survivors and infected to try and beat the other team.
It can also be played single player but really you dont want to be getting the game for that, it'll get old fast.
 

Slycne

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gmjapan said:
Nice review. Want to levy 1 criticism (and it might be coz i missed it...) you only mention playing as the 4 survivors in co-op. The game can really take off for some people when you play 4v4 taking turnabout as survivors and infected to try and beat the other team.
It can also be played single player but really you dont want to be getting the game for that, it'll get old fast.
The video supplement discusses versus mode.

I pre-ordered the game so that I could get the demo early, and I haven't stopped having a blast playing this game since. I honestly think this might be my game of the year.
 

Caliostro

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Jan 23, 2008
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Slycne said:
I pre-ordered the game so that I could get the demo early, and I haven't stopped having a blast playing this game since. I honestly think this might be my game of the year.
That makes 2 of us. Last year I thought no game could ever rise up to Portal's quality level for me. Lo and behold.


And Jordan, kudos, the review itself is amazingly delivered.
 

maddog015

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Has anyone played the mod Zombie Panic Source? Is there much of a difference between the two games? And I know the Brainbread mod is for HL1, but similar concept?
 

Doug

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maddog015 said:
Has anyone played Zombie Panic Source? Is there much of a difference between the two games?
I have and I'd say yes. Zombie Panic: Source, whilst good, doesn't match the improved gameplay and team-working of L4D - there is a demo if you want to try it.
 

Jordan Deam

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Thanks 4 comments! (To my coworkers - that was the last time. I promise.)

One thing I didn't get to mention was that the Xbox 360 version has dedicated servers this time around. I remember how disappointed I was when The Orange Box came out last year and TF2 was nigh unplayable due to lag. Thankfully Valve seems to have taken a lesson from that debacle, because the matchmaking on the 360 version of L4D is just as seamless (and stable) as it is on Steam. Three cheers for learning from your mistakes!
 

Low Frost

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Guy, people have long realised that classic zombies do not work in video games by virtue of what they are. Hell, in the classic zombie movies, zombies were toyed with by bands of well- armed, organized people (see original Dawn of the Dead). And in most classic zombie movies, HUMANS were still the biggest threat to the protaganists, not the zombies. There were an engine for the worst aspects of human nature to come to the fore, little more.
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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Rogue 09 said:
And why the hell would you go anywhere during a zombie apocolypse? There could be nothing stupider than trying to face the odds they did in the game, and we're just supposed to believe 'cause they said so.
If the choice is dying on your feet or cowering in a corner and waiting for help to theoretically arrive, many folks will choose the former. Wading through zombies to reach potential rescue makes perfect sense.
 

Low Frost

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Kwil said:
Low Frost said:
Guy, people have long realised that classic zombies do not work in video games by virtue of what they are. Hell, in the classic zombie movies, zombies were toyed with by bands of well- armed, organized people (see original Dawn of the Dead). And in most classic zombie movies, HUMANS were still the biggest threat to the protaganists, not the zombies. There were an engine for the worst aspects of human nature to come to the fore, little more.
Good point. Classic Romero style zombies are slow, stupid, and overpower by their sheer numbers and by eventually exhausting the resources of the living. Thinking about it, it sounds like a situation that's tailor made for a strategy game, but the FPS version would wind up being primarily for geriatrics. Which means we can expect it to come out for the Wii first. :)
I remember once I tried to hash out an idea for an mmo based on Dusk of the Dead. Could work in theory, maybe.