What bothers me about L4D

[KarmicToast]

In any case, this is what I felt like really missed the mark in L4D:
1) I don't feel rushed. I feel like if my group and I take down most of the zombies in an area we can chill for a few minutes, heal, plan, clear corners and nooks and crannies, etc. without having to worry too much about any more zombies turning up. The whole point of zombie movies is that there is no such thing as "safe." You should never feel as though you are safe. The Resident Evil Series was awesome in this respect, at least on the first time through. You never knew quite what to expect. A zombie video game should have the players running from one end of the stage to another with zombies constantly on their heels.

This isn't true. If you hang around, more zombies will attack.

2) These are zombies. They should be EATING me. Not kicking me while I'm down like a bunch of angry gang bangers. In the movies, zombies eat people. That's their joi de vivre, their raison d'etre. So, why do these zombies live to kick me? it makes no goddamned sense.

If they ate you then there would be no way for you to realistically revive. Eating people is great, however, I'm sure you can understand their reasoning for "less permanent" damage.

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.

Can you imagine a game where you are attacked by 100 enemies at once and can only take them out with a well aimed headshot? That would be frustratingly difficult if not impossible. Think about it.



In the end, your final point is the best. Can we make a game that can use traditional zombie mechanics from film? I doubt it. Video game zombies don't have to fall into that mechanic though. The "rules" of zombies came about for a variety of reasons. Mainly, because those rules dictated the most enjoyable (and do-able) scenes in early horror cinema. It is in that same practical tradition that video games are defining their own rule sets. Developers need to take certain liberties to make the game playable and enjoyable. Take each game for its self-value and enjoyment factor without comparing each component to a broader set of "laws" governed by the subject's depiction in a separate media form.

 

[Fraught]

When they would eat you, you wouldn't regenerate.
If your health wouldn't regenerate, the game would suck.

 

[SolidJohnny]

I understand where you're coming from, but I think that you're missing the point.

To answer your questions sequentially:

1. I've played on all difficulty levels, and when I play on Elite, I never feel safe. I'm always looking over my shoulder, making sure that nothing is sneaking up behind me. (Both in game and in real life...I'm a big wuss.) Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the "AI Director" release zombies taking into consideration how you're performing on that specific difficulty level?

2. I think that's more of an artistic choice than anything. Zombies are different depending on who you talk to, and perhaps the creative minds at Valve felt that Zombies would include some physical torment before they disembowled you?

3. I'd be kinda upset if it was a sort of "one shot, one kill" deal, since I'm pretty decent at head shots already. Think about it, if you've been playing FPS's for any number of years, how often do you get head shots? I enjoy the fact that it takes multiple rounds to take a single zombie down.

Personally, I think that this game has represented my emotions and experiences during zombie flics. I'm tense, I'm edgy, I'm scared, and, in some moments, I've even squeeled a little (much to the dismay of my gf). Perhaps looking at the game in a different light will help you realize all of the great qualities that this game has to offer

Oh, my only complaint with the game is that it needs more campaigns!

My only complaint is there isn't enough vs campaigns.

 

[GenHellspawn]

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.

 

[Healey]

Addressing point two; what would a true zombie game be like? Possibly very frustrating. You have to score a headshot every time, and one bite, one bite would spell your end. Though then there's also the fact "True" zombies would move at a shambling pace, thus sort of eliminating the whole "action" feel of it all. I think Valve had no other choice but to make 28 Days Later fast zombies. That is, "Infected".

 

[rossatdi]

1) I don't feel rushed.

Play it on expert. You take too long, you die. You rush, you die. You go carefully and quickly, most of the time yo die but sometimes you can pull it off.

2) These are zombies. They should be EATING me.

The fact zombies are cannibals is only really because one of the producers on Night of the Living Dead was a butcher and had access to a lot of, past its sell-by date, meat. Zombies are threatening because it's the whole world against you and there's lots of them. The eating you is just an extra. It would be very difficult to animate biting attacks to look right when charged.

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.

Back pedalling story? Story? The first thing you see after the valve symbol is "Two Week After Infection". How about Return of the Living Dead zombies which are complete killable without burning them alive or otherwise completely destroying their bodies? Or 28 Days Later - that's the film the games most closely imitate.

 

[GenHellspawn]

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?).

 

[SomeBritishDude]

1. If they constantly threw zombie after zombie at you you'd get what is called battle fatigue. Valve are the masters of game pacing, throwing enough enemys at you to keep you exctied, while steming the flow so you don't just get tired and fustrated. Anyway, if your stay somewhere for too long, they throw more zombies. You have just enough time to heal up and have a little look around, no more, no less.

2. This does kind of irratate me actually. They should be sinking there teath into me, not stomping on my face. But still, they're not traditional zombies, they're more 28 days later zombies, but even there the zombies bite you. It makes them seem less human, more animal. Still, its only a minor thing.

3. Because once again, it'd get irrataiting. You may get more satisfation from hitting them in the head, but if you had to hit them there all the time, I now I'd be pissed.

 

[hypercube]

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.

 

[GenHellspawn]

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.

 

[GenHellspawn]

But I don't get it, did you met a zombie that didn't took a few bullets to the torso to kill them? I actually counted and it takes 3 pistol bullets (to the torso) to down a horde zombie.
.

First of all, THEY'RE INFECTED NOT ZOMBIES ZOMFG!!!?!
Second, I once shot one of them five times in the heart and other than recoiling from my shots, it seemed to be perfectly fine.

 

[Elurindel]

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.

Judging from the greyness of their skin, I'd say that their blood flow isn't all that healthy to begin with.

 

[hypercube]

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.

OK, maybe not a good analogy (although I'd still like to see you walk on broken ankles without a dose of PCP!), but we have no idea what sort of effect the infection is having on the 'normal' infected. I mean, look at the mutations it has created in the Boomer, Smoker and Tank - but no one has questioned their authenticity.

Perhaps the infection has given the normal looking infected some sort of thickened or ossified tissue around the heart, thus taking more damage than a normal human? Maybe their clotting agents are now fantastically efficient, which means they need an awful lot more trauma to cause death than you. Perhaps they need less blood in their bodies now, due to some change in the metabolism of their cells... Maybe they have distributed hearts?

Basically, it's a game, and if you're enjoying playing it, I think there's more than enough 'Left 2 Imagination' to make it interesting. I don't think anyone expects Valve to give us a long breakdown of the biological changes the infection causes in people (although the diagrams might be very cool!).

 

[ProfessorLayton]

1) Well, if you played the game on Expert, you will ALWAYS be rushed. I mean, there were points when we went to pick up ammo, but even when we were, there were 10,000 zombies coming around the corner.

2) It's a game. If the zombies ate you, then you would be down on your first try. Yes, that adds a dimension of terror to the game, but it also makes it much harder.

3) Think about this for a minute. 100 million zombies. Only way to kill them is shooting their head. Sometimes, games have to risk making the game "accurate" for making it possible. Either way, have you ever seen 2 zombie movies exactly the same? Have you played two zombie games the same exact way? There have been so many zombie movies, I think it's good to have a new take on zombies. Some people use their imagination.

 

[T-Bone24]

Realism does not = fun.

 

[BurningMan]

3) A single bullet DOES stop them. At least the horde ones, you're not expecting to kill a mutated, full of tumours Tank with a bullet to the head are you?

Dude, I have trouble finding the Tank's head when it's charging at me.

As for why they don't eat you, not only are they NOT ZOMBIES, but you couldn't be revived if they ripped out your ribcage and devoured your steaming entrails, ripped fresh from your corpse as you scream on the ground until one bites out your throat.

And as the above mental image shows you, if they did, the game would be AO.