Hardware Geeks

And now for something completely different:

“I’m recording this message so that if I don’t make it, at least somebody- anybody who finds it will have an idea of what the hell they’ll face getting through this nightmare.  Our original party was four: Bill, Francis, Zoey, and me, Louis.  We were trying to make it to the top of Mercy Hospital, but I’m the only one left, and I don’t know if I can do this alone.  Bill was the first to go.  We had just cleared a horde of zombies and he stopped to patch himself up while the rest of us went ahead a bit to scout...a muffled scream was the only warning we had.  By the time I blew the smoker’s head off its tongue had already crushed his windpipe.  Zoey was next...she was a cute little thing.  A boomer threw up nasty green liquid all over her and a hunter shredded her before Francis and I could clear the mass of Infected from around her.  We made it into the subway tunnels alright, but Francis ran off into the dark when he heard a woman sobbing...thought it might be another survivor.  I heard the Witch scream, but I didn’t turn around.  Wait, I can see a heavy metal door at the top of this room...it’s a safehouse!  I might actually.*thud thud thud thud*..wait...what’s that rumbli- Oh God noit’saTanknonoNONONO *ROOOOOOOOAR* *gunfire* *crunch crunch crunch*” - Audio recovered from a mangled tape recorder by unidentifiable remains.

Hit the jump for more prose and less agony.

With less than a week until the official release of Left 4 Dead, a demo has been posted on Steam that allows players the chance to engage in pulse-pounding zombie killing within a limited environment.  Players are allowed to take control of the survivors for two parts of the stage “No Mercy,” utilizing a slightly culled selection of guns and explosives to make their way through an apartment building, some dark alleyways, and a series of subway tunnels leading into a warehouse.

Left 4 Dead doesn’t stand out too much as a straightforward first-person shooter, but as a co-op game it brings some very interesting mechanics to bear.  Right now the demo only offers the options to play through the two chapters as the survivors in either single-player (offline) or campaign (online) mode.  Playing as the survivors will be very familiar to veterans of the FPS genre, as you are required to run and gun your way through the areas in order to reach “safe rooms” where you can restock on ammo and health.  Left 4 Dead throws in kinks in that unlike Counterstrike or some other online FPS’s, anybody who runs ahead too far or lags behind is likely to meet with an unpleasant end.  Teammates are also required to revive each other if a survivor reaches 0 health, and while each character can hold one of each healing item, it is up to the possessor of the item to decide whether it’s worth more to heal up a wounded friend or hoard it for later use.  Healing items are incredibly important in Left 4 Dead, as after a character is knocked down and helped up, they will continue to bleed out, losing health at a slow but steady rate, unless a health pack is applied.  Generally it seems like a good idea to keep your teammates healthy, however, as firepower appears to be the main component of survival.  The Infected roaming the environment have various techniques at their disposal to incapacitate the survivors, leading to a quick and messy death if one’s teammates aren’t nearby to lend a hand.

While playing through the two chapters feels a little bit stale after several hours, the fact that only 1/8 of the game can provide hours of entertainment is promising.  In addition, the final product will add a whole new dimension by allowing players to control the Infected in Versus mode.  There are some small questions of balance at this point as the AI Director, who controls the zombies in Campaign mode, seems to take it relatively easy on players for the first three difficulty settings, but turns on an insane amount of heat on the final Expert setting.  Zombies become faster and tougher and survivors take much more damage from attacks, both enemy and friendly.  I understand that “Expert” mode should be very difficult, but after the Director through the same impossible series of zombie attacks at our team six tries in a row it didn’t feel like it was really adjusting to our (lack of) skills.  Hopefully, the full complement of weapons and opportunity to play against human opponents will be a balanced and exciting.

Interested parties can download the 3 gigabyte demo through Steam, but hurry - it will only be good until the game’s actual release on November 18th.

Post Tags: gaming  pc  steam  left 4 dead  valve 

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