gaming Left 4 Dead Thread

[Street Comedy 327]

If you don't know already, Left 4 Dead is the most poular zombie-horror game franchise right now. It was made by Valve who made great games like TF2, Portal, and Half-Life. There are right now two games in the franchise which are simply titled Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2. The main objective of the game is to help the four "survivors" of the Green Flu outbreak (a highly contagious disease that removes higher brain functions and increase aggresion) to the nearest by saferoom so eventually they can be rescued by a rescue vehicle. Most infected are weak dieing easily to any good coordinated team but there's a catch, not all infected are mindless zombies. First off you have the voatile Boomer, a fat infected who is extremley fragile but can vomit on you to attract the Horde (any infected within 5 miles will rush over to you in a group attack). Then there is the Smoker who will grab you with his extremley long, deformed tounge and seperate you from the other survivors and once he dies he releases a cloud of smoke that impairs vision. My favorite, the Hunter is an extremley agile infected that stalks his victim then pounces on him to deal MASSIVE amounts of damage at the expense of having telltale signals of his attack. The Charger charges at his opponents at high speeds then pummels them with his giant fist, but his attack is somewhat easy to dodge. The Jockey is arguably one of the most dangerous infected and pounces like the Hunter, but instead he rides his opponent around steering them into fire and other hazards. The horrifying Spitter spits an acid pool that deals heavy damage over time she also has silent warning signals at the expense of a low health pool. The sad Witch will cry in one spot until someone unlucky comes along and startles her, making her go into a beserk mode incappitating or even killing a survivor in one shot, another version wanders around in a set patrol route. Finally there is the mighty Tank, along with the Witch he is considered a boss infected having a high health pool, high damage output, and a frightening theme.

 

This may not be the most organized post, but I just want a thread that can spark conversation and innovation. (lol, I sound like some president doing a speech)

[Champion RD92 8,658]

I like Left 4 Dead, my friends and I used to play it all the time.

[GrooveBroove 680]

I dunno about most popular zombie horror franchise.

Sales wise Resident Evil still holds the top honor, though I suppose it could all be argued based on genre and numerous other factors.

Besides sales wise of course,

 

 

Anyway while I don't mind L4D, i'm not a big fan.

The game is just WAY to arcadey for my liking. You run around, shoot zombies with tons of ammo, and try to get to a door.

One of my biggest issues is that teamwork isn't even needed in the traditional sense. All you need them for is to help mow down the excess zombies and to get a special infect off of you. Which always dissapointed me.

 

I think L4D would be A LOT better had they slowed things down a bit, and actually made it more survival than action.

You and a group of buddies having to sneak past zombies, not always just rushing in guns a blazing.

 

So far the only online coop zombie game to even really focus on the survival aspect was RE:Outbreak.

Which while it had very good ideas was still flawed. Though it looks like RE:ORC might be a good balance between the two.

[Mephala 2,633]

I love L4D but I agree, there should be a litttttle more stealth involved if it's "survival-horror".

[TOMahwk 351]

I love L4D, none of my friend will buy it though cus they aren't PC gamers.

 

It's a blast if you play with friends on advanced or expert, and you end up dying multiple times along the way. On your own you have to do everything and if you get screwed over, the games over.

 

 

I agree a stealth aspect would be more entertaining. While it kind of does when you're walking through the streets and there's nothing around you. I wish there could be ways to avoid the hordes, like say they reacted if you break a window and then they all ran

Edited March 4, 2012 by TOMahwk

[Street Comedy 327]

I dunno about most popular zombie horror franchise.

Sales wise Resident Evil still holds the top honor, though I suppose it could all be argued based on genre and numerous other factors.

Besides sales wise of course,

 

 

Anyway while I don't mind L4D, i'm not a big fan.

The game is just WAY to arcadey for my liking. You run around, shoot zombies with tons of ammo, and try to get to a door.

One of my biggest issues is that teamwork isn't even needed in the traditional sense. All you need them for is to help mow down the excess zombies and to get a special infect off of you. Which always dissapointed me.

 

I think L4D would be A LOT better had they slowed things down a bit, and actually made it more survival than action.

You and a group of buddies having to sneak past zombies, not always just rushing in guns a blazing.

 

So far the only online coop zombie game to even really focus on the survival aspect was RE:Outbreak.

Which while it had very good ideas was still flawed. Though it looks like RE:ORC might be a good balance between the two.

 

Well I don't really like RE, not because it is a bad game but because Capcom milks it to death, it's like their cash cow.

And SI are specifically designed to demolish players who rush ahead and use no teamwork, if you get pounced by a Hunter and your teamates are 2 miles away, there is no way you're gonna make it.

[Osaka Bomb 39]

I do agree with the stealth aspect being part of a survival-horror game. But I don't think that takes away from the horror aspect of it. Horror is one of those genres that can wear many masks at any given time. Sometimes, it is in the sneaking past the enemy. Which I've had to do in Left 4 Dead when I've played with friends. I mean, that is the essential purpose of The Witch. A special infected that can instantly incapacitate you and kill you shortly after if she isn't killed quickly enough. But she only attacks if you startle her. It creates this tense moment where you do have to use stealth. Shut your flashlights off, give her a wide berth or sneak around her. Granted, yes, it is primarily a run and shoot game, but they at least have some moments where that is a non-option. Unless you are like me or my friends who like to intentionally startle the Witch.

But there's plenty of fear and terror in simply running for your life, and having to slow down or stop means imminent death. I think that also makes it count as much of a horror game as it does make it an action game. This is just my opinion, of course. But horror is one of those things with a very loose definition of itself. Sometimes, it's also a little subjective. I mean, as seems to be the case with this thread so far, not everyone finds the same thing to be scary.

 

I also find the Green Flu in general to be scary. To think that these things attacking you, especially the Special Infected used to be (and still are, technically speaking) human. They are now just grotesquely mutated. I find something so unnerving and creepy about that.

[GrooveBroove 680]

Well I don't really like RE, not because it is a bad game but because Capcom milks it to death, it's like their cash cow.

And SI are specifically designed to demolish players who rush ahead and use no teamwork, if you get pounced by a Hunter and your teamates are 2 miles away, there is no way you're gonna make it.

 

But that's the thing that irk's me.

That isn't really teamwork, but rather just something to keep you in place.

It's not telling you to work together but "hey you need to stay over here with everyone else".

True in a zombie infestation no realistic person would stray from the pack like that, but the way they execute just isn't to my fancy.

 

I do agree with the stealth aspect being part of a survival-horror game. But I don't think that takes away from the horror aspect of it. Horror is one of those genres that can wear many masks at any given time. Sometimes, it is in the sneaking past the enemy. Which I've had to do in Left 4 Dead when I've played with friends. I mean, that is the essential purpose of The Witch. A special infected that can instantly incapacitate you and kill you shortly after if she isn't killed quickly enough. But she only attacks if you startle her. It creates this tense moment where you do have to use stealth. Shut your flashlights off, give her a wide berth or sneak around her. Granted, yes, it is primarily a run and shoot game, but they at least have some moments where that is a non-option. Unless you are like me or my friends who like to intentionally startle the Witch.

But there's plenty of fear and terror in simply running for your life, and having to slow down or stop means imminent death. I think that also makes it count as much of a horror game as it does make it an action game. This is just my opinion, of course. But horror is one of those things with a very loose definition of itself. Sometimes, it's also a little subjective. I mean, as seems to be the case with this thread so far, not everyone finds the same thing to be scary.

 

I also find the Green Flu in general to be scary. To think that these things attacking you, especially the Special Infected used to be (and still are, technically speaking) human. They are now just grotesquely mutated. I find something so unnerving and creepy about that.

 

Very True.

Probably one of the reason's why I find the witch segments to be one of the highlights of the game.

I wish it was filled with a bit more stuff like that, rather than crazy action than a sudden stop to not disturb the witch.

 

I hope a L4D3 changes up the formula a bit.

Since l4d1 and 2 came a year from each other.

[Street Comedy 327]

Well, a really experienced LFD player can easily cr0wn the Witch (the process of waking her up and headshotting her with a shotgun before she goes beserk). While this method usually works well, the Witch is EXTREMLEY rare only appearing once or twice in an entire campaign. This does ruin one of the precious stealth parts.

[Kaborer 164]

I kinda liked left 4 dead 2, but I think it's overrated. The guns don't feel right, the story is kinda lame, the game is generally too easy, and the multi player is not really teamwork-focused.

 

Also, the Left 4 dead wasn't made by Valve... Turtle Rock Studios made the game on the source engine but went bankrupt. Valve bought the studio and released the game. They then basically just added a few new features, replaced the characters and added new levels and released left 4 dead 2.

 

Lately I have been playing Killing floor which, in my opinion, is a whole lot better but is kinda underrated. I think the guns feel better and look better, the multi player scales so if you don't work together and help other people out getting decent guns you get owned, the story is more believable, (except for the shop) the soundtrack is awesome and you have a British accent.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Kaborer

[I am Fluttershy 20]

I too like L4D 1 and 2, I hope there will be a 3rd.

[FyreDash 3]

I LOVE L4d2, in matter of fact i bought an xbox JUST to play that game,

and if i had to be a zombie from that game, Hunter

Survivor, Ellis

My friends say i kinda Look and sound like him..