Left 4 Dead (multiplat)

[RancidLunchmeat]

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.

I played through it four times with a group on Tuesday (on normal) and we couldn't get through it.

What seemed to work best was for me to sit on the adjacent building where the molatov's are and toss them at the pipes in front of the 'main' building where the rest of the group was defending so the zeds had to go through a river of flames in order to get to them. That was working until one of them got knocked off the building by a tank and I had to leave my post to go save him.

How'd you get through it?

 

[RobertR1]

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.

Dave and I stuck around and tried it over and over. When you get to the end, we found running STRAIGHT for the pad while shooting is the only way. If you try to bunker down and pick them off, you'll never get to the pad.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Dave and I stuck around and tried it over and over. When you get to the end, we found running STRAIGHT for the pad while shooting is the only way. If you try to bunker down and pick them off, you'll never get to the pad.

Hmm....? What? Are we talking about different parts?

Are you talking about after you radio for the helo and they tell you it'll be there in 15 minutes and tells you to 'survive' until the helo arrives?

Don't you have to bunker down until it gets there?

 

[RobertR1]

Hmm....? What? Are we talking about different parts?

Are you talking about after you radio for the helo and they tell you it'll be there in 15 minutes and tells you to 'survive' until the helo arrives?

Don't you have to bunker down until it gets there?

Yeah, when you call the heli, there are about 3 waves you'll have to deal with. The zombie flood, the tank + zombie flood and the all out assault when the chopper does arrive. My strategy was only for when the chopper shows up.

 

[Scott_Arm]

I think Fable2 is still my game of the year, but this is close.

 

[liolio]

An interesting interview of Gabe Newell:
http://www.edge-online.com/blogs/gabe-newell-writes-edge

I find the part about "procedural narrative" interesting, it sits nicely along some comments the FCII dev team.

 

[RobertR1]

This game is a lot of fun. Versus mode is awesome since you get to play as the Infected and tear up survivors. However, the difficulty on "expert" is a bit too much.

 

[AntShaw]

I just picked this up today. Anyone still playing?

 

[vanquish]

I have the 360 demo, it seems very much like an early 00s PC shooter.
In the way the movement and aiming is handled.

The controls feels clunky on the 360 (unlike COD4 etc), but it seems to have a lot of aim assist, so even though you don't think that shot would kill that zombie it does.
This makes the shooting feel kind of unrewarding, as you can just shoot randomly and take out that mob of zombies that were running at you.

It's a pity it doesn't support 4 player splitscreen as it would be a great game to play with friends on the couch.

The graphics are average, which I suppose is a necessity seeing the amount of zombies on screen at any given time. Any idea what resolution it runs at? It doesn't seem to have any AA.

It also is too much of a linear shooter for my liking, I would have preferred a more sandbox style game, like a multiplayer Dead Rising, where you have to navigate/use the environment more, with improvised weapons. They could have used Havok to allow you to move stuff around and create barricades etc, like in the movies.

 

[Asher]

I can't help but feel you missed the point of the game, vanquish. While it's technically a shooter, that's not really it's emphasis in a lot of ways.

I have the 360 version, I've no qualms at all with the controls. I don't know why you say shooting is unrewarding because you shoot randomly -- you must be playing on the easier difficulty settings? To successfully play the game, you need to play a lot more strategically than shooting randomly. On higher difficulties you need to actively use the melee as well to throw back throngs of zombies and make your bullets count.

It sounds to me like you've only played single player? This is a game that MUST be played multiplayer (campaign or versus) to be enjoyed. It's the multiplayer dynamics that make this game, not its shooter dynamics. I'm also perplexed by your complaints on being linear, it kind of misses the point here as well. The path is linear and it should remain as such, for the most part -- otherwise it'd break the best game mechanics in Left 4 Dead, namely the Versus mode with the Director AI.

 

[zoekimball]

I have the 360 demo, it seems very much like an early 00s PC shooter.
In the way the movement and aiming is handled.

ROFL, you must have gotten into PC gaming about a year ago.

 

[vanquish]

I can't help but feel you missed the point of the game, vanquish. While it's technically a shooter, that's not really it's emphasis in a lot of ways.

I have the 360 version, I've no qualms at all with the controls. I don't know why you say shooting is unrewarding because you shoot randomly -- you must be playing on the easier difficulty settings? To successfully play the game, you need to play a lot more strategically than shooting randomly. On higher difficulties you need to actively use the melee as well to throw back throngs of zombies and make your bullets count.

It sounds to me like you've only played single player? This is a game that MUST be played multiplayer (campaign or versus) to be enjoyed. It's the multiplayer dynamics that make this game, not its shooter dynamics. I'm also perplexed by your complaints on being linear, it kind of misses the point here as well. The path is linear and it should remain as such, for the most part -- otherwise it'd break the best game mechanics in Left 4 Dead, namely the Versus mode with the Director AI.

I played coop splitscreen campaign, and I was playing on normal.

Well, there is something about the controls that makes them feel unresponsive, I can't really put my figure on it, but compared to CoD, or Halo, or even Gears, it just doesn't feel right.

And yes, I do realise that its a multiplayer title and its short length makes it a poor single player game anyway.

I guess I would buy it if it had 4 player splitscreen, as I rarely play on Live, and prefer local multiplayer anyway.

With regards to linearity, I think my point is that Valve could have done so much more in the 3 years they took to make the game. For example they could have borrowed much from Dead Rising, ie. have a less linear environment, and allow you to improvise weapons or build barricades and such, so the game resembles a zombie flick more.

 

[vanquish]

ROFL, you must have gotten into PC gaming about a year ago.

What are you trying to say? I was a PC gamer before I was a console gamer.

 

[AntShaw]

Wow this game is a BLAST! As much as I have been enjoying R2 co-op, this will surely keep me occupied more in the mean time!

The intensity, the score/soundtrack changes, that wonderful feeling of being overwhelmed and 2 of your team is down and there are still 40 zombies barreling down on you. This is the most 'emotional' game I have played in a long while.

It's gruesome!

Double thumbs up so far.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Raise your difficulty level, Vanquish.

Don't blame a game for being 'bland' or 'easy' when you're playing on an easy setting. Log into Live! start a game with three other people on the highest difficulty setting and see how your experience changes.

 

[vanquish]

Raise your difficulty level, Vanquish.

Don't blame a game for being 'bland' or 'easy' when you're playing on an easy setting. Log into Live! start a game with three other people on the highest difficulty setting and see how your experience changes.

I played it on hard, it isn't an easy game per se, It's just that the shooting doesn't feel particularly satisfying compared to other FPS. It's a good game though and I'm sure it's a riot with 4 players.

 

[AntShaw]

Also note that increasing the difficulty, only changes how much damage the infected do to you. Nothing else changes.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Also note that increasing the difficulty, only changes how much damage the infected do to you. Nothing else changes.

It also changes the amount of damage you do to the infected and how much damage you do with friendly fire. And I think on expert you don't find the better guns as often.

Wicked wicked game. I agree the shooting does not feel as good as COD4, but its still pretty great. This is really a 4 player game. If you play with bots, it takes a lot of the challenge away. The bots respond very very quickly to pinned, fallen or otherwise incapacitated teammates. With 4 people you have to be a lot more attentive to each other, which is the real challenge of the game. Playing in single player would be extremely boring. Split screen is pretty fun, actually, but I prefer 4 player online. You can do split screen and pick up another two players on LIVE.

 

[AntShaw]

It also changes the amount of damage you do to the infected and how much damage you do with friendly fire. And I think on expert you don't find the better guns as often.

I don't think so. I think I remember specifically reading in the manual that the only difference is how much damage the infected do to you.

Regardless...This game is uber fun!

 

[tirminyl]

Picked this game up this weekend. Love it! Now I just need to play with other people. No one is ever "on" on my friends list.