Left 4 Dead

[TigerII]

I love this game. It seems the infected are more alert and have a quicker reaction in this one. The gore factor has been upped too. I have seen brains, ribs, stomachs, everything, lol. This has become my favourtie zombie game(Over Dead Rising and Resident Evil).

[MidnightViper88]

I don't bother with melee weapons if I'm dual-wielding pistols, only picking up a melee weapon if I'm only stuck with a single default P220...30 rounds unlimited ammo with distance kill is a better bargain than a one-kill wonder, since you don't have to get within kissing distance of a special infected to kill one with dual pistols...

[Zenemis]

Originally Posted by TigerII

I love this game. It seems the infected are more alert and have a quicker reaction in this one. The gore factor has been upped too. I have seen brains, ribs, stomachs, everything, lol. This has become my favourtie zombie game(Over Dead Rising and Resident Evil).

I don't have any gore in mine.

*One ticket to anywhere but Australia please!*

[-Sho-]

Originally Posted by Zenemis

I don't have any gore in mine.

*One ticket to anywhere but Australia please!*

Lol yeah , Australia with their censors XD
I have seen a comparison with boths trailers Australia/Others countries .
Omg , no gore and they cuts somes parts like when the coach used the chainsaw to cut the zombies XD

[TigerII]

Australia and Singapore have the harshest gaming laws in terms of what content is allowed. You guys(Australian gamers) should get people into office and change them, lol.

[Mueti]

Originally Posted by MidnightViper88

I don't bother with melee weapons if I'm dual-wielding pistols, only picking up a melee weapon if I'm only stuck with a single default P220...30 rounds unlimited ammo with distance kill is a better bargain than a one-kill wonder, since you don't have to get within kissing distance of a special infected to kill one with dual pistols...

The melee weapons do have their use (apart from the fuck-yeah-effect). Once the common DO get up close I found it considerably easier to get rid of them when wielding a pan/guitar/katana/etc.
You're still kind of right though; I see myself picking them up in the actual game more for the fun-factor than for actual usefulness.

Originally Posted by TigerII

Australia and Singapore have the harshest gaming laws in terms of what content is allowed. You guys(Australian gamers) should get people into office and change them, lol.

Don't forget about Germany...

[Spectacular_Insanity]

I've played the demo, and it looks awesome. My only problem, and it's a pretty big one, is that the AI doesn't seem to be much improved over the last game. The bots for the survivors are still dumb as shit. I mean, I got pulled by a smoker and Rochelle, as a bot, was right freaking next to me, but instead of meleeing me really quick to get the smoker off, she shoots the smoker AND me for like two whole seconds before a human teammate saved me. And when you're playing on Expert, that is NOT COOL. It's hard enough to stay alive with SKILLED players, much less stupid bots that do more damage to the human team than the infected do.

One thing that always bugs me when I play is how callous the survivors are when another survivor dies. I mean, the lines are not all that bad in and of themselves, but the voice acting is, in my estimation, complete shit. Half the time the survivors don't even sound like they're in their own present situation. I mean, except for Nick (who's supposed to be cynical, as it's within his character), the other three in general seem to be out-of-character assholes. I mean, it's to the point where I don't even give a shit if the other survivors live or not. When they're bots, anyway. I just ditch 'em if they get jumped by an infected.

By the way, has anyone else noticed how the bots tend to wander off on their own now, as well? I and a human teammate were getting attacked by special infected, and Rochelle (a bot) runs ahead of the group and doesn't even bother to save us. Then she gets pounced and we lose as a result (Ellis, another bot, was already dead because he also ran off on his own and got owned by a Charger).

All in all, I'm only semi-impressed with the game. The new graphics are awesome and the upgraded weapon tiers + melee weapons are useful (the electric guitar is my favorite ), but the AI is still as stupid as ever and the special infected just attack with no plan. In other words, The Director hasn't improved all that much. The new infected are cool, but again, they would be so much more scary if they didn't have the tendency to attack one at a time, which isn't very interesting.

Overall, 7/10. Don't get me wrong. The chainsaw and the other melee weapons are awesome, as well as the balancing of the weapons (i.e. the shotgun has less ammo, the Uzis have more). The new infected also kick some serious ass. The wandering witch is much, MUCH more dangerous than the normal witches from L4D 1, which adds some great "oh shit" factor. While they did many things right, they failed to fix the failtastic survivor bot AI, the voice acting is unconvincing at best, and The Director is still as uncoordinated as ever. in fact, sometimes I think The Director in L4D 1 was better. I just feel that the game overall was really rushed and could ahve been so much better than it currently is. I hope improvements are made before the real release.

Edit: Oh, and I almost forgot. I like the new melee fatigue during campaign mode. Though I'm sure some people will rage about it, I like the fact that players are mroe vulnerable and have to use their guns more. This also means conserving ammo, since players can no longer just melee spam the massive zombie hordes into submission, unless they have an actual melee weapon, thus they have to shoot more zombies.

[Mueti]

I think the voice acting is quite tongue-in-cheek. Ok, I've never had anyone die on me in the demo but when someone died in L4D1 the lines weren't really convincing either and made me chuckle more than anything. Whether that was intended or not I can't really tell but it certainly doesn't bug me. L4D itself is quite humorous after all.

I also don't see how bad AI is really an issue, I suppose you don't play the game the same way I do (pretty much exclusively 4vs4 Versus). The fact that AI isn't Valve's top-priority in a game designed solely around multiplayer is understandable to say the least.

[Spectacular_Insanity]

Originally Posted by Mueti

I think the voice acting is quite tongue-in-cheek. Ok, I've never had anyone die on me in the demo but when someone died in L4D1 the lines weren't really convincing either and made me chuckle more than anything. Whether that was intended or not I can't really tell but it certainly doesn't bug me. L4D itself is quite humorous after all.

I also don't see how bad AI is really an issue, I suppose you don't play the game the same way I do (pretty much exclusively 4vs4 Versus). The fact that AI isn't Valve's top-priority in a game designed solely around multiplayer is understandable to say the least.

Yes, but L4D2 is a sequel, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect an improvement in AI and other features. Otherwise, whats the point of a sequel? I might as well keep on playing L4D1.

[Gin]

Why are you even playing withs bots?

[Tamad]

Gonna have to question that too. Left 4 Dead is not a game that was made to be played alone, so I don't really know if that's a legitimate argument against the game.

[MidnightViper88]

Originally Posted by Tamad

Gonna have to question that too. Left 4 Dead is not a game that was made to be played alone, so I don't really know if that's a legitimate argument against the game.

Saying that the game was designed for multiplayer isn't much of a legitimate argument for the game either, since just because it can be enjoyed with friends doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed alone...

[Tamad]

Originally Posted by MidnightViper88

Saying that the game was designed for multiplayer isn't much of a legitimate argument for the game either, since just because it can be enjoyed with friends doesn't mean it can't be enjoyed alone...

Well that's where our opinions differ, since the stories that Left 4 Dead provided are only great when other people are there to experience it with you. I guess I just don't get why someone would buy a team-oriented game just to play it solo.

And to be fair, the A.I. are actually better than most of the people I've played with/against despite being absolutely idiotic.

[yezhanquan]

Like I said before, this game is ideal for replacing a trip to the pub. Heck, having beers by the mouses as you holler,"Ok, who the F*** (insert idiotic behaviour here)?!!": priceless.

[plmko]

Originally Posted by Tamad

Well that's where our opinions differ, since the stories that Left 4 Dead provided are only great when other people are there to experience it with you. I guess I just don't get why someone would buy a team-oriented game just to play it solo.

And to be fair, the A.I. are actually better than most of the people I've played with/against despite being absolutely idiotic.

A game in its most basic essence has to have at least a tolerable and a some what enjoyable offline experience. Saying that multipalyer makes up for it is just excusing the developers lazy ass design.

But of course L4D should be enjoyed in multiplayer at all possible times, what game isn't better with friends?

[Mueti]

Originally Posted by plmko

A game in its most basic essence has to have at least a tolerable and a some what enjoyable offline experience. Saying that multipalyer makes up for it is just excusing the developers lazy ass design.

No, not at all. How would you get such an idea?
Designing a game for people to play together is lazy? What about MMOs? What about Fighting Games? What about Quake, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike - or, case in point, Left 4 Dead?
If you really call all these games lazily designed because they only can be enjoyed with others then, well, that's just stupid.

[SageGaiGar]

I've had decent experience playing this solo. Can't exactly rambo your way through at times and it can get annoying waiting for your bots to get in position. It'd be better if I could get them to go or stay in certain spots. Otherwise it's make do and cover a spot that no one's looking at.

[-Sho-]

Well , bots can be useful , they got great accuracy They can see an infected in the forest that you can't see and they don't teamkill ^^ . yeah If you play in Expert , its mostly impossible to win . You'll be owned quicly.
Yeah , sometimes they are useless too XD they don't understand why you are dying lol
But some players are like that too and can be worse .
Of course , its better playing with peoples

[Cub-Sama]

Some of the funniest things I have seen playing Left 4 Dead versus is me pouncing someone as a hunter whilst his friend tries to get me off using a pistol (I took most of the guys health) and a tank saving my life on versus when there was a smoker on me. So yeah if you have idiots as team mates it can be annoying or if it is someone on the other team that is idiotic it can be quite amusing

[plmko]

Originally Posted by Mueti

No, not at all. How would you get such an idea?
Designing a game for people to play together is lazy? What about MMOs? What about Fighting Games? What about Quake, Team Fortress, Counter-Strike - or, case in point, Left 4 Dead?
If you really call all these games lazily designed because they only can be enjoyed with others then, well, that's just stupid.

1. Most of the games you mentioned are deathmatch games, as so obviously they cannot be played offline, that would defeat the purpose of the game.
2. There are lots of successful offline MMO like games, take Diablo or even the newer borderlands as an example. But again MMOs ala WoW wouldn't make any sense offline.
3. Many multiplayer games offer bot support, if you want a good example checkout Quake wars with possibly the best bot AI. So why can't other games have it?
4. Notice how all the deathmatch games have no context/ storyline etc, Isn't L4D inviting you to play it offline at the very least?
5. Fighting games do have offline gameplay, many offer a strong single player like Tekken. Fighting games also originate from single player.

Obviously we are taking in generalisations here, but in the context of L4D, I see it as a viable single player experience.