What bothers me about L4D

[Metalgamer81]

1: If you dwadle, steadily increasing hoards will show up randomly

2: They aren't traditional undead zombies, they're 28 days later zombies. They're infected with some crazy violent virus (ostensibly a form of rabies), and thus can be killed like anything else, they just don't feel pain.

3: See 2

2&3: I get that, but only in so far as accepting it as a flimsy explanation for why the game failed to capture the quinetessential zombie experience. 28 Days Later was awesome, but it was only one movie out of countless hundreds. Why base your zombies on 28 days later? Because using Romero zombies in a game would be too hard. I want to see a good Romero zombie game.

 

[BallPtPenTheif]

True, it's not a real zombie game when you nitpick through it. However, if you go through the developer comments they adress why these changes occurred. Basically, most of the things you are complaining about were done to service the playability of the game.

 

[Aries_Split]

What difficulty are you playing on?

Why does it matter? If they were zombies, only headshots would kill them. If they weren't (you seem awfully confident about this, do you work for Valve?), several shots to the heart would kill them, which it doesn't (unless your playing on easy/normal, but who does that?).

Because it's a video game you twat, and to realisticly rebuild a human body virtually would take a fucking supercomputer.

 

[Metalgamer81]

No wonder why you don't like it. you play on easy and you think they're zombies.

They are not zombies, they are infected people with a virus, and they shouldn't eat you because they're not zombies.

I will tell you that repeatedly until you get it in your head.

They're not zombies.
They're not zombies.
They're not zombies.
They're not zombies.

Not zombies, eh?

Then why does the back of the box read "Four survivors in an epic struggle... fighting HORDES of SWARMING ZOMBIES." Why does Zoey say "Oh no... the Zombies killed GOD!" during the Dead Air campaign?

way to troll.

Anyway, in spite of the fact that SolidJohnny seems to think that zombies aren't zombies, a lot of good points are brought up in this thread. The fact is that L4D is a really fun game and while it is difficult if not impossible to put the more classic interpretation of "zombie" into a game it would still be cool.

I have to disagree with some of you that say that the whole idea of zombies eating people is not necessarily typical of the archetype, but that's only because Romero has been imitated so much that it has become the accepted ideal.

Moving along, I find the game to be too easy on normal but advanced is remarkably better in terms of making me feel like I have to keep moving. Once I learn to control my FF I'll have to have a go at expert.

 

[sheic99]

3. They are Infected...not Zombies...

So why can they take multiple machine gun rounds to the heart without dieing? I know very few sick people that can accomplish this.

People on PCP can take several rounds of a 9mm before going down. You'd be surprised what a person can do when they don't feel pain.

 

[GuerrillaClock]

Last time I checked, there was no such thing as a zombie, so I think Valve can do whatever they like with the zombie formula when they make a game.

 

[Metalgamer81]

Last time I checked, there was no such thing as a zombie, so I think Valve can do whatever they like with the zombie formula when they make a game.

Were there a prize you would win it.

 

[GenHellspawn]

Because it's a video game you twat, and to realisticly rebuild a human body virtually would take a fucking supercomputer.

Why would they need to do that? It's just damage allocation.

 

[Zac_Dai]

Does it really matter?

 

[DirkGently]

3. They are Infected...not Zombies...

So why can they take multiple machine gun rounds to the heart without dieing? I know very few sick people that can accomplish this.

Perhaps the infection has given them some sort of huge adrenal boost... Something like PCP can make someone carry on attacking even with broken bones (allegedly), and we have no idea what the infection is - although I'll wager it isn't flu or a nasty head cold.

I can still live with broken bones, without a dose of PCP. I can not, however, live without a functioning heart, no matter how many drugs I take.

You're playing a game that is about a massive infection that has turned the entire population of Where-Ever-The-Hell-We-Are-City into psychotic monsters whose primary goal is to kill you because you're not one of them. Why the hell are you concerned with realism? Maybe the virus turns them into Time Lords and they get two hearts. Maybe everyone has bulletproof hearts. Does it really matter? Shut up and shoot the bastards.

 

[PirateKing]

I did think it was too easy. There is no difficulty curve. I didn't like it how you encounter all of the zombie types within the first 20 minutes or so. There's not much surprise that way.
Also, a story would've made me feel like I was actually accomplishing something. I rented L4D and I got sick of it and started playing Half Life 2, a much better shooter made by Valve.

 

[AdjectiveAnimal]

3) Again, zombies. A single bullet to the head and ONLY a single bullet to the head should take them down. Nothing more, nothing less. So why can several shots to any part of the body take these guys out? Apart from, that is, the developer's backpedaling story revisions that cite some mutated form of rabies as the culprit.

http://theslackerz.com/index.php?nav=Comic&Page=87

 

[Death916]

i overlooked the other issues except for #2. The whole kicking and clawing thing REALLY doesn't make sense.

ya ove never seen a zombie kick someone

 

[SomeBritishDude]

Valve created the game, Valve can decide the law. If they don't want Zombies to shuffle, they don't. If they don't want Zombies to bite people, they don't.

It's like when people stopped having vampires unable to cross running water and hate garlic, because it caused to many problems, or didn't fit what they wanted. There not real. Its not like "Errr, why do the survivors have three legs?", "Its my game, I decide how many legs humans have!" Zombies don't exist, so they can do what they want.

 

[Convenient_Label]

Last time I checked, there was no such thing as a zombie, so I think Valve can do whatever they like with the zombie formula when they make a game.

And this innocent mistake by GuerrillaClock is exactly why the OP is wrong to assume he knows what a zombie should be like.

There is such a thing as a zombie. They don't bite, they don't fight, they barely even make a sound. They're people with brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation. Why should people decide that any particular type of violent humanoid makes a better 'zombie' than a real one?

Okay, so popular culture has developed this new archetype of a cannibalistic human corpse, infected with some sort of contagion which they spread almost on contact.

You know where you'll find the first zombie biting somebody? It's in a short story written by H.P. Lovecraft in 1921, 'The Shape of Things to Come' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_West–Reanimator].

Saying that the only valid zombie is a shambling, reanimated corpse, craving flesh, capable of infecting others on contact and only killable by the destruction of the brain is an incredibly narrowminded point of view, which ignores all sources that don't fit the concept, including Romero's masterpiece (and I don't deny it's a masterpiece), where the zombies simply rose from the dead, without any other zombies having to be involved.

 

[spuddyt]

3. They are Infected...not Zombies...

So why can they take multiple machine gun rounds to the heart without dieing? I know very few sick people that can accomplish this.

more to the point man, how can YOU survive shots to the heart without dieing?

 

[Rusty Bucket]

If it's a form of rabies, how come zombies can take multiple rounds to the heart without dieing? And if it's not, why would chest shots kill them?

How do you know it hit them in the heart? How do you know it didn't ricochet of a rib and hit something less important? Besides, if they don't feel pain, they won't be affected until everything stops working.

 

[the monopoly guy]

You may be safe in one area, but if you bactrack there will be zombies, and if you stay too long, a few specials will spawn. Being rushed my be fun to you, but not others, and Valve always tests their games thoroughly.

Having to shoot the zombies in the head and only the head would be a pain, especially in games liek L4D. Yeah, sure it's easy but when the horde comes, it gets more difficult. And when your friend is pinned down and surrounded by the horde, it's even worse.

It's kinda hard to had zombies nibble on your then continue to fight them. I guess the zombies like to kill their pray first. Or maybe they don't want to eat you, just kill you.

Yes you should be rushed a little bit more, but the zombies won't always know where you are. Having to shoot every last one in the head would get old, frustrating, and downright stupid fast. I'm sure companies planned on forcing the player to shoot the zombie in the head, and head only, but during testing they foud that people didn't like it.

It's hard to show zombies eating people, and the chunks being taken out of them. And after that people would be asking how their character is still fighting after they were half eaten!

These elements are left out because it makes the game hard to make and hard to play, and I'm glad they left them out.

 

[Arcticflame]

Why the heck are we talking about realism in left 4 dead.

If we are playing humans, how come they can survive their face being clawed off? or when they die there just happens to be another one in a cupboard which opens with a simple twist? or a first aid kit can magically repair broken bones, savage gashes, and near-death bleeding out, restoring you to full health instantly? Ready to take on any horde?

Because it's a GAME. Why has no one else said this?

I find it hilarious that we are arguing about the realism of a zombie/infected apocalypse. wow.