Left 4 Dead

[Airmoran]

I can tell you that after 1 hour of PainKiller gameplay my head is about to explode from trillions of dumb pixels.

The zombies in L4D are fairly intelligent, at least as far as their underpinning AI goes. Yeah, they follow zombie-like rules (such as standing around mindlessly until a disturbance happens), but they express a pretty wide and dynamic range of actions. Setting off a car alarm, for example, will attract attention. The way a horde forms around you is also pretty well done. They also move around intelligently, clamoring over low obstacles and so forth.

Basically, Valve isn't using zombies as an excuse for bad AI. These zombies are mindless, but believably so. They're not just simple obstacles whose only routine is to rush towards players but "realistic" zombies that behave "realistically". The game also does a great job of having zombies attack you in unexpected ways. Much of the fun is manipulating the zombies' behavior to your advantage. You know it's safe to pick 'em off one by one, but all it takes is one unexpected event before the rules change and a "safe" situation quickly turns into a massive battle.

You know what I don't like? You can't see the dynamic light casted by your teammate's flashlights. Nor the dynamic shadows that their flashlights cast.

This is obviously nothing but pure speculation, but I sort of like the one-beam thing. Human players are a pretty spastic bunch and having 3 other beams flying all over screen might be cause for a seizure or two.

On a side note, I believe there's an engine limit of only one lighting source for dynamic shadows.

 

[Fuzzle]

The hunter, boomer, and smoker have pretty decent AI as well. They will try to stay out of your view while getting as close to you as possible. It's pretty cool when you hear a sound behind you, and when you turn to see you only catch a glimpse of the hunter retreating around the corner.

 

[KaL976]

Apparently there was an update yesterday that has broken hosting/finding/joining games.
There is a server browser though & servers you've already played on are still listed.
Edit the game's launch properties [Steam/My Games/L4D] adding -console to the start up parameters,
then in-game type openserverbrowser in said console

Hopefully they'll fix it soon.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

You know what I don't like? You can't see the dynamic light casted by your teammate's flashlights. Nor the dynamic shadows that their flashlights cast. Kind of sucks when you're in near pitch black rooms and the only light you see is from your own flashlight, DESPITE having three teammates who also have flashlights.

I guess it's a bandwidth and/or processing issue though. Calculating dynamic shadows is taxing enough for a single light source, but having to do it for four light sources that are moving in real time is probably just too much to ask for.

Still though, it's something that I wish to see in future games.

Exactly what I said a few pages back. It's probably the only really aggravating thing in the game.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Apparently there was an update yesterday that has broken hosting/finding/joining games.
There is a server browser though & servers you've already played on are still listed.
Edit the game's launch properties [Steam/My Games/L4D] adding -console to the start up parameters,
then in-game type openserverbrowser in said console

Hopefully they'll fix it soon.

Yeah, I basically can't play the game online anymore. It was perfect before!

 

[KaL976]

Working again now. 1.8 days remain

 

[Glider of chaos]

If you think the game is repetitive, play on expert.

I played on expert for the most part and I think it's pretty repetitive.

The replayability isn't groundbreaking - it's just dynamic monster and powerup spawns - but it keeps you watching your back and exploring, as opposed to running a fixed route between the powerups while throwing grenades down corridors you know are gonna spawn that boss and such.

So it ends up running a fixed route to check usual powerup spawns along with watching your back and staying with the team.

Sometimes it may get interesting when a boss combo sneaks on someone during the fight with a horde, or when tank is followed by boss spawn, sometimes you may get a surprise witch aggro... But it's all really rare. Don't make mistakes and it will be a walk in the park. Make a few and you may still get away with it.

I'd rather go play monsterhunt actually =)

 

[Fuzzle]

The "usual powerup spawns" are so diverse that you end up checking the entire map anyway if you want to clear them all. You really end up exploring the whole thing if you really need those painkillers or pipe bomb.

It still sounds like you need to try it on the harder difficulties if you find it all a walk in the park.

 

[213]

The "usual powerup spawns" are so diverse that you end up checking the entire map anyway if you want to clear them all. You really end up exploring the whole thing if you really need those painkillers or pipe bomb.

It still sounds like you need to try it on the harder difficulties if you find it all a walk in the park.

I stand by the fact that this game is in the realm of "Ninja Gaiden Hard" difficulty. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/08/

 

[Glider of chaos]

The "usual powerup spawns" are so diverse that you end up checking the entire map anyway if you want to clear them all. You really end up exploring the whole thing if you really need those painkillers or pipe bomb.

It still sounds like you need to try it on the harder difficulties if you find it all a walk in the park.

Well.. "so diverse" and "may randomly be placed in every corner" are kinda different things IMO. And it's not exploring when you know the layout. You just go and check this bench. And this corner. And that vent.

Expert is the toughest there is. And I think that problem is the whole concept of "you won't get into trouble while you and your team are together and paying attention". When the team is slit up it's actually more fun but it's beneficial to stay together (except for the tank encounter) and there's no reason to split. The game doesn't seem to try and distract me, doesn't try to break the team apart, so it turns into monotonous zombie shooting.

 

[togmkn]

The replayability isn't groundbreaking...

Yes it is, Valve did it.

 

[213]

Any chance any BUF'ers are looking for another to run Versus with?

 

[Capt.Toilet]

Well I am a little irked. I finally get around to getting steam installed and I find out that valve pulled the demo. Seriously I have never heard of a company slashing a demo because the full game is released. Damn dick dicks

 

[Sir_Brizz]

I think they were afraid too many people would play on the demo and not buy the full game... still lame.

 

[evilmrfrank]

The demo does have tons of replay value and is pretty addictive online Should have still kept the SP part of the demo up though...

 

[Al]

I bought it off Steam yesterday

 

[SirYawnalot]

I think the difficulty needs ratchetting down a bit - I'm finding it ridiculously hard to survive the finale of some campaigns even at Normal skill. On top of that, I'm finding the campaigns a bit too long - I can only really stand around an hour at a time of a frenzied FPS, and Left 4 Dead campaigns can take more than double that.

I'm also very much looking forward to the inclusion of more enemy types, weapons and (hopefully?) characters.

 

[Thrash123]

Well I am a little irked. I finally get around to getting steam installed and I find out that valve pulled the demo. Seriously I have never heard of a company slashing a demo because the full game is released. Damn dick dicks

My feelings too. I decided I wanted to check it out, but I'll be damned if I drop a chunk of change on a game I can't even be sure will RUN properly on my machine.

Bastards. It looked like it might be fun, but I'm not wasting my money on a gamble.

 

[dragonfliet]

My feelings too. I decided I wanted to check it out, but I'll be damned if I drop a chunk of change on a game I can't even be sure will RUN properly on my machine.

Bastards. It looked like it might be fun, but I'm not wasting my money on a gamble.

As for if it will run: If you can run TF2, you can run L4D. It's a source game so it looks surprisingly good on meager systems. My computer is fairly decent, but not great. e6550 with an 8800gts 320mb and it runs everything on highest settings with 16xAF, 16xQ CSAA and with V-sync without going below 60fps.

It IS weird though they yanked the demo when the game came out.

~Jason

 

[ilkman]

I want more weapons!

They seam to be tiered in some respect. Uzi - M16, single pump shotgun - auto shotgun, molotov - pipebomb, single pistol - dual, etc. The only one that does not seem to have a second type is the hunting rifle.

I'm trying to think of some next tier weapons, and some new ones, that would be cool but not break the game. Some weapons that would be game breaking would be a minigun, or grenade launcher. Due to the enclosed nature of most of the levels, these weapons would trivialize a lot of encounters.

Still the game is pretty fun.
I surprised myself last night. I was looking through the achievements and thinking some of them would be kind of hard to get. Jump Shot is headshotting a hunter as he leaps at you or anyone. I thought, man that would take some pure luck to get that achievement. It just so happens that luck was smiling on me. A few minutes after thinking about all this I happened to randomly headshot a hunter, with the hunting rifle no less. It wasn't an aimed shot. A bunch of zombies were swarming and a hunter was there too. I popped up the scope and fired randomly and I unlocked the achievement. Super!