Left4Dead Gameplay/Demo discussion

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 12 Nov 2008, 19:04

Tried single player, and tried multi player. I didn't get quite so mangled on the single player, as the AI teammates actually helped when stuff got bad. But yeesh, those zombies are lightning fast.

edit: L4D kinda makes me think of the second Resident Evil film.

Post by **CrackerJackMack** » 12 Nov 2008, 19:07

edit: L4D kinda makes me think of the second Resident Evil film.

Not quite for me, reminds me of 28 days later, expect I'm the British actors and I totally rock with the shot gun..

BTW, if you were using the Uzi, you picked the wrong weapon for stage1

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 12 Nov 2008, 19:08

Ah, the shotgun helps, does it? Cool, might try that tonight.

Post by **CrackerJackMack** » 12 Nov 2008, 20:02

Ah, the shotgun helps, does it? Cool, might try that tonight.

The real trick is to let them get really close and just kill 2-3 with a single shot. If you get 4 or 5, use knock back and get them all with a single shot.

Dem Pyros · Post by **Dem Pyros** » 12 Nov 2008, 22:53

This had me really thinking of machinima, personally.

Think about it. Dark scary place like a school at 1 A.M.... the four people are walking around cautiously, and then zombies start flooding out from every classroom.

I don't know, just thought it had the "horror movie" tone the team was going for.

Post by **CrackerJackMack** » 12 Nov 2008, 22:57

I don't know, just thought it had the "horror movie" tone the team was going for.

It's not scary to me at all, which is why I was thinking thriller like 28-days later. More "oh sh...run!!!" than "AAAAAAH WTF@!!"

Dem Pyros · Post by **Dem Pyros** » 12 Nov 2008, 22:59

[quote]
I don't know, just thought it had the "horror movie" tone the team was going for.

It's not scary to me at all, which is why I was thinking thriller like 28-days later. More "oh sh...run!!!" than "AAAAAAH WTF@!!"It has the horror-movie feel, doesn't necessarily mean it's scary.

KelsieKatt · Post by **KelsieKatt** » 13 Nov 2008, 01:42

I'm still uncertain about this game, as it's being developed by Turtle Rock who have a history of terrible games. On the other hand, since Turtle Rock was recently bought by Valve, I wonder if that might push them in the right direction...

Although the concept of cooperative zombie swarm survival could be fun.

Edit: I was mistaken, seems the demo was recently released to the public and the preorder period ended.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 13 Nov 2008, 01:54

I'm still uncertain about this game, as it's being developed by Turtle Rock who have a history of terrible games. On the other hand, since Turtle Rock was recently bought by Valve, I wonder if that might push them in the right direction...

Either way, I'm not preordering. So until they release the demo to the general public, I'm not even considering it.

Although the concept of cooperative zombie swarm survival could be fun.

The demo has been public for a day or two now.

Its not being developed exclusively by Turtle Rock, as you said since they are owned by valve now everyone there has a big say in the game and everyone pitches in to work on it.
It's really well designed and thought out like the rest of Valves games.

KelsieKatt · Post by **KelsieKatt** » 13 Nov 2008, 02:08

Alright, downloading it now.

My above mentioned concern about Turtle Rock still stands.

Post by **CrackerJackMack** » 13 Nov 2008, 02:25

It has the horror-movie feel, doesn't necessarily mean it's scary.

Ah, I misunderstood you. I agree :)

Post by **The_cranky_hermit** » 13 Nov 2008, 04:09

Based on the demo, I don't think the full version is going to be worth the full $45 price tag. About halfway (quarter-way?) through the second level, the game just felt like one of those generic and monotonous shooters with tons of monsters and near-unlimited ammo, but with co-op and some innovative features that mainly serve to make the game balanced in terms of how forgiving it is. If the game felt monotonous before I was done with the second level, I seriously doubt the hyped "AI Director" can keep the game interesting on subsequent playthroughs.

Personally, I'd like to have seen an L4D game that took more to the direction of Night of the Living Dead with zombies that are slow and shambling but absolutely relentless and with limited resources available to fight them with, rather than zombies with superhuman agility but can be destroyed with a few bullets to the torso and enormous piles of guns and ammo at your disposal. Think Dead Rising but in a gritty L4D setting and with an emphasis on shooting instead of brawling.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 13 Nov 2008, 04:58

You did'nt play with friends did you cranky? Playing singleplayer or coop with random people is not fun at all.

Half the fun in this game (if not more) is just kicking back with a cold one, playing with your friends.

Dem Pyros · Post by **Dem Pyros** » 13 Nov 2008, 05:02

Based on the demo, I don't think the full version is going to be worth the full $45 price tag. About halfway (quarter-way?) through the second level, the game just felt like one of those generic and monotonous shooters with tons of monsters and near-unlimited ammo, but with co-op and some innovative features that mainly serve to make the game balanced in terms of how forgiving it is. If the game felt monotonous before I was done with the second level, I seriously doubt the hyped "AI Director" can keep the game interesting on subsequent playthroughs.

Personally, I'd like to have seen an L4D game that took more to the direction of Night of the Living Dead with zombies that are slow and shambling but absolutely relentless and with limited resources available to fight them with, rather than zombies with superhuman agility but can be destroyed with a few bullets to the torso and enormous piles of guns and ammo at your disposal. Think Dead Rising but in a gritty L4D setting and with an emphasis on shooting instead of brawling.

I'll have to agree with you there, partially because Dead Rising's firearms implementation made them essentially useless.

Although something tells me that the game will cut back on the ammo amounts if your team is actually tearing it up.

Post by **CrackerJackMack** » 13 Nov 2008, 05:13

First thing to remember as these "zombies" are actually "infected" thus their mobility is increased.

If you guys are looking for a slow moving zombie game with crappy weapons (and no skiing effect), then play Zombie Panic:Source. Bornl33t put a server up for WGSF and you are welcome to try it out if you like.

Note: ZPS has done a great job with the game, just the zombie HP to weapon DMG isn't quantitative for the current release.

infernus · Post by **infernus** » 13 Nov 2008, 07:49

So I finally tried the demo. Pretty good stuff. I'm just worried...
They said there would be 4 maps? Do they mean locales? Because I don't want to have just beat half the game already. And even if that's true, it still feels like it'd be short, too short. It's really fun, especially with some friends (until they start f&*king around and replaying the level), but I don't feel it warrants the current price tag. I'll be damned if I buy the 360 version either. At least on PC, I'm guaranteed some free stuff to extend the value.

Maybe some time down the line.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 13 Nov 2008, 08:09

So I finally tried the demo. Pretty good stuff. I'm just worried...
They said there would be 4 maps? Do they mean locales? Because I don't want to have just beat half the game already. And even if that's true, it still feels like it'd be short, too short. It's really fun, especially with some friends (until they start f&*king around and replaying the level), but I don't feel it warrants the current price tag. I'll be damned if I buy the 360 version either. At least on PC, I'm guaranteed some free stuff to extend the value.

Maybe some time down the line.

In the game theres Four 'movies' think of them as Acts.
Each level within the game is a chapter. Each Act has Five chapters.

So the demo is 1/10 of the game.

KelsieKatt · Post by **KelsieKatt** » 13 Nov 2008, 09:48

So far I'm not liking the demo. I'd have to agree with cranky, it feels extremely bland, repetitive and generic.

On top of that I was also expecting something more tactical, for a survival horror game. This seems to be basically just run and gun strafing around while firing a single weapon like crazy. I would have expected a zombie survival horror game to have slower player movement, setting up barricades, and traps and trying to hold out from defensive postions and such, or at least something involving strategic use of the terrain to your advantage.

Also, maybe I'm just weird, but after watching the opening cinematic for the game, I thought the different characters would actually serve a purpose, such as different play styles, like Hunter: The Reckoning for example. So you would each have to pick different fighting style characters and combine their abilities in a tactical manner. Doesn't seem to be the case though, they might as well have just given us a list a multiplayer skins to choose from instead. Although I suppose the comic relief would be missing then, not that I found any of them very interesting in the first place.

So far it feels like a bland version of Serious Sam or Alien Shooter, etc, but with fast moving zombies and you can only use 1 weapon.

I suppose it would be more fun on coop, although nobody I know plays it and I don't join random people I've never met in coop games online, versus matches I don't mind, but cooperative play is another story. I suppose I could try it with some of you guys if you wanted to.

Also I'd like to add another +1 to the Half-Life Crisco boots. This game seems to also have a pretty extreme case of it.

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 13 Nov 2008, 10:35

Have you played on Expert mode yet?

You don't get past the the subway cars in the subway map if you don't get your act together and be tactical.

KelsieKatt · Post by **KelsieKatt** » 13 Nov 2008, 10:50

I've been playing Expert the whole time, as I do with most games, although I got bored within the first 15 minutes into the game and stopped playing.

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