Left 4 Dead`

[Veho Nex]

So steams got the demo up for another 4 days only. By far best zombie survival game I've played in years. Since the arcade Rez evil.

So who else has played the demo so far?

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Played it and quite enjoyed it, although it was very short. I might need to invest in a head set.

[Xiahou]

Ok, I got the demo- definitely a cool game, but I got a couple gripes. Zombie spawns seem nonsensical to me. I can clear a room, check for exits, finding none and move on only to moments later have a horde of zombies sprinting at you from the rooms you just cleared while you're engaged in the next firefight. Outdoors, I would have no problem with this but it is just counter intuitive when you're attacked by 3 dozens zombies from a room you just cleared that had no entrances or exits.

I totally understand the need for zombies to spawn throughout the game, I just hope they put a little more thought into how they do it when they actually release the game. :shrug:

My only other complaint would be that it almost seems too hard for someone to get themselves killed, but I might be able to fix that problem by upping the difficulty. It almost seems like I could keep a zombie around as a pet and let him gnaw on me without losing significant health.

On the bright side, the environments and sound are great and the zombie animations are perfectly creepy. :2thumbsup:

[Crandaeolon]

Demo's very promising, and by looking at the cvar list there seems to be a plenty of room for customization. Zombie spawn amounts, distances, directions etc are tweakable, as are variables like zombie health, damage, speeds, alertness and so on. Should be no problem to make the experience less "swarmy" and individual zombies much more dangerous.

[TB666]

Ok, I got the demo- definitely a cool game, but I got a couple gripes. Zombie spawns seem nonsensical to me. I can clear a room, check for exits, finding none and move on only to moments later have a horde of zombies sprinting at you from the rooms you just cleared while you're engaged in the next firefight. Outdoors, I would have no problem with this but it is just counter intuitive when you're attacked by 3 dozens zombies from a room you just cleared that had no entrances or exits.

I totally understand the need for zombies to spawn throughout the game, I just hope they put a little more thought into how they do it when they actually release the game. :shrug:

That's because of the AI director which reacts to how the team works.
If the team is doing well, the AI director will start spawning zombies or special zombies like smokers to keep you on your toes.
This is to ensure that every playthrough will be different.

My only other complaint would be that it almost seems too hard for someone to get themselves killed, but I might be able to fix that problem by upping the difficulty. It almost seems like I could keep a zombie around as a pet and let him gnaw on me without losing significant health.


Up the difficulty level to max.
You will have a hard time staying alive then.

[Veho Nex]

Played hardest last night before I went to sleep.

I had 2 good buddies and one random guy. We played through the two levels stoping at each 'defensible point' we found and waiting for four or five rushes. The only part I wish is that there was more to kill :/

[Ramses II CP]

Snagging it now, I'll give it a shot later. Hadn't been paying attention to it since Synergy has been so much fun.

:egypt:

[Crandaeolon]

The only part I wish is that there was more to kill

Should be no problem if all players have decent computers. Try studying the l4d_cvar_list pdf file (available here: http://www.left4dead411.com/l4d_cvar_list.pdf and modifying values such as z_background_limit, z_common_limit, z_mega_mob_size and so forth to your liking. (There are some more under the "z_" prefix.)

You could also try searching for .cfg file "mods" that adjust zombie amounts and difficulty.

[Ramses II CP]

Evidently the recent patch has caused a lot of server issues lately, but eventually I was able to get in some good games. As with others, I was surprised at how relatively easy expert was for a decent team. We didn't finish it (A very clever smoker grabbed our gunner right at the end, and tanks stopped us about 4 other attempts) but we weren't getting manhandled as much as I had expected. The cooperative AI is surprisingly strong too, so if you're down a man you aren't hurting too much.

Witches are the best part of the demo. Very creepy, and near certain death for the unfortunate team member who disturbs her. Alas, the death is generally only temporary since she doesn't go after the rest of the team after downing one, but it can be awesome to watch.

The immediately obvious pros are that the action is very well paced and unexpected, you can never be quite sure where or when you're going to be horde rushed and this makes you look at every single section of terrain for it's defensive spots. Sound design is very well executed IMHO.

The cons are that, at least in the demo, it's easy. Graphics are the gray muddle you'd expect, and lighting is merely adequate (I don't have my settings cranked to max, just whatever it defaulted to, so take that with a grain of salt).

The best feature, IMHO, is the randomness. Sometimes you get attacked from a direction or in a spot where you've never been hit before and you just want to try to run forward or back to that place you know... where there's another horde waiting. Getting tank smacked is fun a few times too.

:egypt:

[Veho Nex]

Yeah, my friends and I have upped the difficulty beyond expert. We've been doing rush rounds and if you die no rezzing. Its been insane. (Of course there isnt a setting for it, you just have to make sure you dont die.) Well if anyone would like to join me one day you can always check my comment for my Xfire I'm usually always on unless Im out of the house.

[Xiahou]

I've played around with it a little more, and to me, it feels more like a mod than a proper game worthy of it's $50 price tag. I still love the visuals and excellent shambling zombie animations, but much of the game feels phoned in.

I complained about nonsensical spawns before and they continue to grate on me. The worst recent offense took place just after coming down from the beginning roof and clearing the apt below. I had just cleared the next set of stairs going down, when I turned around and saw a whole conga line of zombies come running at me from a room with no doors or windows that I already knew to be empty. I think that's just lazy- I'm very disappointed.


Zombie spawn amounts, distances, directions etc are tweakable, as are variables like zombie health, damage, speeds, alertness and so on. Should be no problem to make the experience less "swarmy" and individual zombies much more dangerous.Good to know. My personal preference would be less zombies and less sprinters, but have them be harder to kill and do more damage. But really, the game breaker is still the stupid spawn points. I appreciate the need for the game to spawn zombies and have them come at you from a variety of directions- but it has to be believable. Seeing 50 zombies coming at me out of a linen closet that I verified as empty minutes before is just too goofy. :dizzy2:

I'll wait for reports on the actual release, but after playing the demo a couple days, I feel no need to spend $50 on the full version. I feel more or less done with it. I had really been looking forward to this game too... :shame:

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

Yeah, I feel this would be a good title to pick up maybe in a few months if they put it on sale some weekend or something.