Left 4 Dead (multiplat)

Yeah Scott, I just found out last night you could change the difficulty level on the demo when I quick matched into an expert game. The other three guys seemed to be fairly experienced, and all seemed to be taking a break from Gears2.

The only way we got to the subway was just to clear the apartment and then mad dash to the first safe room. We didn't clear out the streets at all. And clearing the apartment must have taken us at least 12 tries.

We could never get through the subway to the second check point. There was a great point where I was dead, watching the last remaining survivor climb up some stairs to make it to the subway platform and as he's walking up waves of zombies from the top of the platform leap over the railing and jump down and swarm him.

The take a break bot thing is great, but the AI tends to use your health packs to heal your teammates so when you return you don't have your health pack anymore.

Expert is really the way to go, though. Made me totally rethink my desire for there to be an actual zombie apocalypse. :)
 
With 3 people and 1 bot we were able to make it to the last room of the demo on expert, but we couldn't survive to make it through the door. Then we got a 4th player, and things went downhill. The bots are amazing for quick saves and revives when you get pinned or knocked down. With 4 people, you really have to be on the ball, and we weren't. We made it up to the subway after maybe a dozen tries, but that's where we couldn't get any further. The subway was kicking our ass over and over again. One time we got wiped right after stepping out of the safe room, which was a pretty humbling experience ;) After quite a few tries we voted to go back to advanced and were able to finish after several tries.
 
That was fun and intense. I have to say the hardest difficulty is more frustrating than fun. Advanced was the right combination of fairness and enjoyment. Those smokers suck bad. Hate it when they pull a squad member away and then the fat guy throws up on you while you try to save your squad member and then your whole strategy goes out the window.
 
RobertR1 said:
That was fun and intense. I have to say the hardest difficulty is more frustrating than fun. Advanced was the right combination of fairness and enjoyment. Those smokers suck bad. Hate it when they pull a squad member away and then the fat guy throws up on you while you try to save your squad member and then your whole strategy goes out the window.
Click to expand...

I really want to beat that segment on expert. When I was dead and watching on ghost camera, I noticed my friend Bjorn was shooting us a lot ;)
 
Sadly, Expert is much easier to play alone with 3 AI team mates than online - on my first attempt at Expert I completed the demo. Other people keep doing stupid things - mainly doing the gung-ho we've only got 5 minutes to clear the level idiocy, when there's no time limit. SIGH.

Jawed
 
You both are probably right. Friendly fire is just deadly on expert and I'm sure the AI does a much better job of not shooting you in the face than your "friends" do.

I'm surprised you finished it on Expert on your first try, you da man!
 
I'd played Normal on my own once, then Normal online once followed by Advanced online once - so I'd mostly learnt the levels - I didn't dive in straight away on Expert :oops:

I've just realised this thread is for the console version - whoops, shoulda been posting in the PC version. ARGH. Keyboard and mouse for the win...

Anyway, I'd never died until that Expert session with those peeps - so the "revival" mechanic (being locked in a room - I think, not sure - waiting to be unlocked by a team mate?) was an unexpected surprise.

I swear some peeps seem to think it's Counter Strike the way they rush.

Jawed
 
Ahh... your mileage may vary on the PC with the M/KB.

The first couple of times I played the demo I didn't even know you could change the difficulty settings, all the games I jumped into were set for 'normal', and while they were intense, I never once got the black&white 'you're about to die for good' screen. Until I jumped into that expert screen, and then it was very confusing with the 'survivors over here' bit and then even more confusing when you become one of them yourself!

I'm really wondering if there will be a different health pack distribution on the 'real' game. The mechanic of only having health packs in the safe rooms and only pills in the actual levels is kind of questionable. Especially considering the 'take a break' and the AI's desire to heal everybody.

Only one health pack per person per level could really ruin the experience and almost force re-starts. If you die and get rescued, you restart the level with 1 health and a health pack. That will happen continuously until your team beats the level. The only way I found to get around that was to 'take a break' and let the AI take over your character, as the game doesn't seem to "punish" the AI when the level re-starts.
 
The lastest Edge review scored Left 4 Dead at 9/10!

Mod : This thread was edited to remove the off-topic content. The Edge scores for other titles aren't relevant here and shouldn't have been included.
 
I played the demo a few more times.

I may have to rent or borrow this first as I started getting motion sickness even with a short play through. I really love the overall suspense factor of the game though.
 
Hey, is this game out on the 18th in USA and Canada? I thought it was out later. All the online shops in Canada say the 17th, but the official site says the 18th. I think I'll check around tomorrow.
 
The official release date is today, the 18th.

I checked Best Buy & Circuit City and neither have any 'in stock' to ship, but didn't check local availability yet.

I'm pretty sure it's out today, just depends on when stores get them on the shelves.

Both CC and BB are giving away $10 gift cards w/ purchase, btw.

I just checked in-store availability at both BB and CC and both listed the game as unavailable
 
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IGN UK 9.2

9.5 Presentation
From the character design to detail like graffiti conversations between other survivors, L4D builds a believable, monstrous and often funny world around its well-observed horror flick steroetypes.
8.5 Graphics
Everything in motion, particularly the huge swarms of fast-running, flailing-limbed deadheads, looks spot-on. Close inspection doesn’t do it too many favours, though.
8.5 Sound
Short on the catchphrases and ace theme tune that so got Team Fortress 2 stuck in our heads, but it makes the best of spooksome growls and gurgles to build an effectively apocalyptic atmosphere.
9.5 Gameplay
One of those games that’s instantly familiar while being very fresh. It uses the rules of FPSes as we know them well, but forces you to use them in new ways. A marvel of co-op and team versus alike.
8.0 Lasting Appeal
Dead hard to call at this stage. It could wear thin, but then again there’s few better ways to spend an evening than fending off Armageddon.
9.2 Outstanding OVERALL
(out of 10 / not an average)
Click to expand...


oh and 9.0 for IGN US

The Source Engine that powers the game may not be as cutting edge as other graphics engines anymore, but it does a great job at rendering a variety of environments that are packed with detail and clutter. And the lighting system is incredible; this game has some of the best flashlight mechanics since Doom III. You'll be in a pitch black dark room and the only illumination comes from the small cone of light from your flashlight. The light is attached to the muzzle of the gun so when you reload the cone of light shifts to the ceiling. Another nice lighting effect the strobe light effect that occurs from the muzzle flash when you're firing in the dark; all you see are the faces of the zombie horde in flashes. Then there's the excellent facial animation that lets conveys so much emotion on each survivor's face, as well as the typical Valve sense of humor in some of the graffiti in the safe houses.

The game runs well on both the Xbox 360 and the PCs that I've played on. The Source Engine has been around for four years now, so it's been optimized and tweaked quite a bit. The PC version looks better at higher resolutions, and the load times are definitely quicker. That's not to take away from the Xbox 360 game, which also looks good, though the loading times do leave something to be desired, as every time you hit a safe room requires you to sit around for a bit for the next level to load.
Click to expand...
 
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Picked up my copy at lunch from the local BB. They had to go to the back to get it, so if you're going out to get one tonight, ask them to check inventory.

Oh, and I'd suggest CC instead of BB as the $10 gift card at BB requires you to purchase the strategy guide. Yeah, that's a good deal.
 
Good times Scott. Such a fun and bad ass game. Ridiculously entertaining, even when my buddy thinks he's fuckin Rambo and runs AT the zombies with a shotgun in hand only to later cry at me for not rescuing him......
 
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RobertR1 said:
Good times Scott. Such a fun and bad ass game. Ridiculously entertaining, even when my buddy thinks he's fuckin Rambo and runs AT the zombies with a shotgun in hand only to later cry at me for not rescuing him......
Click to expand...

That last section of No Mercy is crazier than Gears on horde mode. I've played a lot of great games recently, but that last section of No Mercy ranks near the top of my gaming experiences for a while.
 
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