I have a bone to pick with Left 4 Dead

[Crazybuddha56]

When I first heard about Left 4 Dead, it sounded amazing. Most of the reason was I am a sucker for zombies, but the gameplay sounded really fun too, then I saw the gameplay footage and what hopes I had for the game were struck down. I hate the fact they have gone in a run-and-gun direction. The whole time, the guy was fighting waves and waves of undead, useing tons of ammo and playing it, basicly, like Counter-Strike. Now, I don't have a problem with Counter-Strike, but that breaks the spirit of a zombie game. In a zombie invasion, you got to play it safe, conserve your ammo, fortify a building and just try to survive, but in Left 4 Dead, you seem to play it like a Rambo movie. It just doesn't seem to stick to the spirit and lifeblood of the genre.

 

[SpySmasher]

They are certainly tapping into the Dawn of the Dead remake style of zombies (and, no, not 28 days later, because that was a rage virus; they were not undead.). Do you play Zombie Panic? I think that would be more up your alley. As for the running-and-gunning: there will be moments in the game where it will be intense, then not so intense. I remember reading that there will be a "director" AI or something like that, that decided how many zombies to send at you, and when. Unlike ZP, though, this game will make you work together. I used to play ZP, and people would just horde ammo, weapons, and be arseholes and watch everyone else die. With L4D, you HAVE to work together, there just isn't any other option.

 

[Ixus Illwrath]

From what I was left to believe is it's more a PvP style force on force game with one side of human players playing the zombies and a much much smaller group playing the survivors. That'll be a hard concept to fuck up. Or an easy one. We'll see.

 

[the monopoly guy]

I've played zombie panic source, alot, and you conserve ammo and baricade yourself. That gets old and sometimes its fun to go all out. I like what they're doing.

 

[Crazybuddha56]

I disagree Left 4 dead will be awesome

 

[Crazybuddha56]

No it wont

 

[buggy65]

I love zombies and running and gunning, why not both?
I like Silent Hill for its creatures/story, but I don't really like getting the shit scared out of me, or worry about ammo. F.E.A.R. let the ammo thing go, but you're still too freaked out by Alma half the time to enjoy it. I play games to feel baddass, to escape my everyday status as normal. I would rather fight something to the death then run like a screaming child from savepoint to savepoint. That's why I think Left4Dead could be good. It takes the cool concept of zombies (Silent Hill's creatures) adds Fps awsomeness (F.E.A.R.) and the teammates can help you out of bad situations thereby easeing some of the tension. Hopefully they dont fuck up the gameplay like Timeshift.

 

[ThePoodonkis]

I disagree Left 4 dead will be awesome

No it wont

Do you have multiple personalities, CrazyBuddha?

And I think Left 4 Dead will be good, I need to shoot some zombies.

 

[scottkirch]

I'm very excited for Left 4 Dead, me and a couple of my friends love Zombie Survival games, and we've been looking for one (Other then CS Mods) where we all are together and work together.
Staying in one spot and Boarding it up can actually be fun at times, but i like to move around once and a while and actually Bring the fight to the zombies, not them.

 

[Singing Gremlin]

From what I was left to believe is it's more a PvP style force on force game with one side of human players playing the zombies and a much much smaller group playing the survivors. That'll be a hard concept to fuck up. Or an easy one. We'll see.

I was talking to a friend who is far more knowledgeable then me on the subject about this. And according to him, you only have a few players playing as the boss zombies (smoker, hunter, boomer, and the other one...), I think only four, maybe five so the teams are actually balanced.

 

[ElArabDeMagnifico]

I've seen so many videos that I don't know what to think of the game anymore, so I said "fuck it" and I'm just gonna buy it, and if it sucks, well the woe is me I've wasted 40 bucks.

 

[Llasnad]

1 Smoker, 1 Boomer, 2 Hunter. The Tanker is also playable, but only the Director gets to decide who plays as it. Teams are 4 on 4 max, with the zombie players respawning after death, and the players only respawning at check points, if the survivors make it there.

L4D is one of my top three games I am waiting for.

 

[Susan Arendt]

From what I was left to believe is it's more a PvP style force on force game with one side of human players playing the zombies and a much much smaller group playing the survivors. That'll be a hard concept to fuck up. Or an easy one. We'll see.

I was talking to a friend who is far more knowledgeable then me on the subject about this. And according to him, you only have a few players playing as the boss zombies (smoker, hunter, boomer, and the other one...), I think only four, maybe five so the teams are actually balanced.

Might I suggest you guys check out this: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/conferences/e3_2008/5066-E3-2008-Left-4-Dead-Hands-on

The PvP is one gameplay mode, but not the main one.

 

[wyldefire]

I also don't understand why this game has so much hype. I wiki'd it because I was curious about it and nothing about it really stands out as must have to me. The 4 player coop seems light compared the 8 player coop in R2 and even though I know the Valve stamp will be on this game, the developer is actually Turtle Rock. So I'm left wondering why this would appeal to me over other shooters. Obviously I know that the fact that you're fighting zombies sets it apart, but c'mon, zombies, chimera, locusts, no matter what I'm just killing pale skinned anthropomorphic creatures.

 

[[ICR]]

The game has varying levels of difficulty which control ammo count, the number of hits a zombie can take, the number of hits you can take etc.

I can't find it now, but I've read a fair few times from people who've played the game when they played those various sections it was a lot harder, with less ammo and zombies not going down quite so quick.

It was probably a mistake for Valve to show a clip on such easy difficulty as I've read a lot of similar complaints. If you're still wary, just wait for a free weekend and try it out for yourself first.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

i'm still waiting for a zombie game that is 1 part shooter/1 part logistic strategy/2 parts barricade puzzler

 

[SpySmasher]

I agree that Left 4 Dead will rock collective faces. It's actually the reason why I am going to upgrade to a GamerBoner 5000 computer from my IBM Thinkpad 2001 LaptopSadFace computer.

 

[Llasnad]

What other game has all the enemies controlled by an AI Director that alters the game as you play, creating more or less enemies as befits the scene, placing item drops and even controlling the music you hear, based on the situtation per player. Two different players can be listening to different music, depending on the situation around them. I have no interest in Gears of War 2 compared to this game. Gears sounds like just another FPS game with some slight tweaking to make it different, just like Halo 3. L4D sounds like something truly original, and a hell of alot of fun to play.

 

[[ICR]]

"nothing about it really stands out as must have to me"
The AI director is probably the biggest unique selling point.

"the developer is actually Turtle Rock"
Or as they're now known, Valve South

 

[squid5580]

It could be that the "director AI" will be able to adjust for different players. If you want to play it out by fortifying a house and praying with your head between your knees while your co op partner(s) run and gun it and give each player the experience they are lookin for.

Although there is 1 little fly in the ointment. How does the player who hides out win? IS this going to be some time limit type game? Oh you survived for 10 minutes you win.... yay. If there isn't objectives then I think it will start to get lame within the first few hours of playing.