Already preordered!

Looks like the polish on this game will be rather nice. Can't wait to get my Xbox fixed and back in time for this!

Well what's strange is L4D 1 is so lacking in content and the game play is incredibly predictable after a short amount of time. If servers were handled like other valve games (rather than how console games r traditionally done) then l4d 1 could have been really fun with lots of custom maps.

Another fundamental problem is that if you play with friends the game is incredibly easy (on pc)evan on hard settings , but if you play with random s its incredibly difficult due to the lack of communication that happens between on-line randoms and the tendency for people to rambo, I also find that the game play in terms of players doing well or bad is compleaty chance bassed. (I belive that the people that enjoy this game ether are not aware or don't particularly perceive of the core game mechanics that denote succeed fail outcomes I think for people who are aware of it the game becomes incredably frustraiting.)

I don't think its a bad game but I think valve have missed an opportunity to make a top 10 all time game , I think the reason why people like it is as a casual / social game it can play very well , but this should not blind people to an objective view of the core game play itself , after all most games can be incredibly enjoyable if you play them with friends in coop even games that are actually pretty pore.

I wish they could remove move more of the AI in multilayer and have a mode that is more pvp bassed , I think what would would be cool is if you added in an RTS element to the game play so a human is playing as game director + humans as the lead zombies. Or have 2 people V 30 zombi humans .

all in all There are so many ways I think valve could make this game into something absalutly amazing and cator to more player tpys (as well as the existing core that enjoy this game as it is)

At the moment its an above average coop game that I find is generally over hyped. I'm going to wait out to see if l4d2 is more of the same or if they have introduced more dynamic game play.

I hope that valve work out a way to better support community maps than they did for L4D , For me custom maps in l4d would have really spiced up the game and removed the predictability of it all. granted they added in support eventually but its really poorly implemented and the way users find servers is terrible for a pc game , more than suitable for a casual console game though .

Have you played it very recently? It's incredibly easy to jump on a custom map now.. it's pretty much like TF2 in that regard.

And yes the chance based randomness of it just makes it more fun to me, but I can see how some might feel it's unfair at times. The game's like a hand of poker, you have to do the best with what you're dealt.

Anyways, I'm constantly going in and out of L4D phases. I never leave frustrated and completely enjoy when I jump back into it. The game has a certain doom like simplicity to it... also in terms of the amount of bodies you get to pump shotgun shells into >: D

I don't necacerrly mind chance based randomness but I think that should be 20% of the game play , unless its a party game like Mario cart or wareo ware then it can be 100% traditionally in a way that is segmented from the core game play so players who worked hard win in one sense but the ultimate winner ( score board winner ) is a random choose basicly making the game inclusive regardless of skill.

the problem I find with l4d is that if you play it to be successful its really robotic its like playing pong at a slow speed , you know exactly what you need to do to win and you will always win if you do that same thing , the only difference is that you have team mates that don't stick to it it causes you to lose.

Same for the player if he devats from the pretty thin path of available successful game play then you will lose , ore require team assistance ,

The game just feals incredably artificail and cheep , I don't feal rewarded for winning and If I lose or die 90% of the time I can pin it on some random unavoidable game event , or a team member doing something stupid / getting owned by a random fixed ai event / failing to work as a team.

so I can only enjoy L4D if i approach it as a party m , the only problem with that is that the game is very predictable with a limited amount of levels and you can tell from its design that it was not intended to be a party game as manny of the core mechanics are quite serous and demand the player to abied by strict rules.

I think if the game had to be exactly the same what would boost its playablity and remove a huge amount of randomness would be a 2 player mode , rather than 4 , I often find it hard to get 4 people together that can comunicate with eachother.

>> ^westy:
I don't necacerrly mind chance based randomness but I think that should be 20% of the game play , unless its a party game like Mario cart or wareo ware then it can be 100% traditionally in a way that is segmented from the core game play so players who worked hard win in one sense but the ultimate winner ( score board winner ) is a random choose basicly making the game inclusive regardless of skill.
the problem I find with l4d is that if you play it to be successful its really robotic its like playing pong at a slow speed , you know exactly what you need to do to win and you will always win if you do that same thing , the only difference is that you have team mates that don't stick to it it causes you to lose.
Same for the player if he devats from the pretty thin path of available successful game play then you will lose , ore require team assistance ,
The game just feals incredably artificail and cheep , I don't feal rewarded for winning and If I lose or die 90% of the time I can pin it on some random unavoidable game event , or a team member doing something stupid / getting owned by a random fixed ai event / failing to work as a team.
so I can only enjoy L4D if i approach it as a party m , the only problem with that is that the game is very predictable with a limited amount of levels and you can tell from its design that it was not intended to be a party game as manny of the core mechanics are quite serous and demand the player to abied by strict rules.
I think if the game had to be exactly the same what would boost its playablity and remove a huge amount of randomness would be a 2 player mode , rather than 4 , I often find it hard to get 4 people together that can comunicate with eachother.


If you don't like chance, play Quake Live.

Can't wait for this. I love the slide guitar version of the original intro theme.

Meh, I'll be waiting for a sale.

Funny, back in the day, this would have been an expansion pack. Some new weapons, a few new monsters, new levels, same engine, same story. Sounds like an expansion pack to me. Besides, I'm knee deep in Fallout 3 GOTY, so I have plenty of game there to keep me occupied until Valve prices this correctly.

Westy,

Every once in a while I get a guy who screams orders over the mic.. go here.. stand there.. jump here.. pick that up.. throw that.. shoot it now.. shoot it after... They usually crack me up because once one little thing goes wrong they freak.

For me the fun of L4D is the team. 9 times out of 10 I find people I can work with, I just finished two awesome games tonight. The second team we had enough fun that we did a second campaign. And that for me is the charm of the game, figuring out who's the sharpshooter, who knows what they're doing, who needs to be watched and working through the game with everyone.

The only time I've not played expert is in VS, or a few times when I joined a RL friend. Expert seems about right to me. One screw up and you'll pay for it, you just gotta stay sharp and work with your team.

And indeed VSBM, Fallout is freaking awesome. I highly recommend the wanderer's edition mod and some of Arwen's Tweaks (if nothing else her AI tweak module is WELL worth using. Some of her other tweak modules conflict with Wanderer's edition) if you're playing on PC. Those two mods alone up the immersion greatly and makes the game MUCH more balanced and challenging, but in no way unfair.

Valve's absurd ideas of regional versions keep me rather sceptical of this one. For instance, the German version doesn't include the baseball bat, but instead five weapons known from Counterstrike.

IT could be a skill thing i think if your moderately good at FPS and you have abunch of mates of simular ablity then you will probably enjoy it.

For example i Have never felt tense in L4d , but i have watched people play and they seem to get very tense and feal under pressure its as if they are unaware of how predictable the game is or how obvious it is if its a win or lose situation , l4d never feals like a fight for me its always a blatant win or lose situation.

I used to play Alot of q3 Unreal tournament , and Instagib cs 1.6 Dod And red Orchestra I also love driving sims Rfactor Iracing LFS . It could just be the case that i find the core of LFD to easy and thats why for me the other aspects are emphasized. I realy like games that are incredably difficult but 90 -100% fair in terms of win lose scenario.

This could also be why Manny people i think enjoy it more on the 360 , due to the way the 360pad limits the players ability to move around it would probably make the game play more suspenseful if i ever get a 360 ill give it a try and see if it makes it more enjoyable for me as im pritty terrable at console FPS games , Bar golden eye on the n64.

The whole thing is im convinced that L4D is a casual game. that's not a bad thing I just think its almost ashamed that its a casual game , Id probably enjoy it more if it was a bit more out Like say showing points gained each time you shoot a zombie say points multiplier for getting head shots (and showing this during game play), that way players who have more skill at the fps element could really strive to get head shots and be rewarded for it.

I think the reasoning valve have not made scoring more transparent is that they want to try and make it emersive but i find the immersion in L4D quite comedic its certainly not a scary game , also they could just have the score eliment in some of the Multilayer modes not the traditoinal cmpagns.

Its weard actually if it was presented more a casual game i think i would really enjoy it I love stuff like Peggle , Mario cart , Mashed ,

Yeah, the game's not scary at all. I have one acquaintance who wont pick it up because he hates scary games and I assure him he has nothing to worry about. The game's set at night, that's about it's most scary element.

Difficulty for me in L4D stems from when I get pounced by multiple specials at once, especially if a hunter gets added to a scenario where I'm dealing with some other special. But again, the fun for me is working with the other players, making sure I'm sticking with them in case I get incapacitated.

It is definitely a casual game, the boss fights are all about finding a safe corner to hide in and managing through the waves of zombies (even then though someone often will make a dumb move leading to some form of hilarity). There is a little bit of strategy in that if anyone touches a mini-gun the tank will stop whatever it's doing and go after the person who touched the gun. This hiding in the corner element is supposed to be addressed in the sequel, there wont be a spot you can just crouch in and ride out the fight (or so I read a few months back). The rest of the game is shoot stuff, don't get pounced, help friend when they fall on the ground.

In the end we're in agreement on this game more so then not. I just find it fun due to taste mainly because of the co-op which is missing from just about everything else out there not counting mods. There's party based elements you don't normally see outside of an RPG, granted they're very simplistic, but it's still uncommon in a MP shooter.

I've done a fair share of death matching.. I LOOOOVED quake 2 and all it's mods (Q-Ball, lullz), and TF2's still a blast. L4D's kinda refreshing for me -in that department- of just pick up the mouse and keyboard and start shooting stuff. My real love's for more SP focused immersive games.

yah , I do hope valve do a better job on the level design , for example I don't understand where there rnt more situations where a player litraly has to retreat and lock themselves in a room , having say a large house with loads of wooden doers would be really fun

fuck yeah mother fuckers. can't wait

We should get some VideoSift games going

>> ^Drax:
Have you played it very recently? It's incredibly easy to jump on a custom map now.. it's pretty much like TF2 in that regard.
And yes the chance based randomness of it just makes it more fun to me, but I can see how some might feel it's unfair at times. The game's like a hand of poker, you have to do the best with what you're dealt.
Anyways, I'm constantly going in and out of L4D phases. I never leave frustrated and completely enjoy when I jump back into it. The game has a certain doom like simplicity to it... also in terms of the amount of bodies you get to pump shotgun shells into >: D


same, can't play it steadily like TF2 that's for sure.

I understand that diversifying the zombies makes the game play more interesting. But what the hell is with the: "incredibly long tongue" zombie? I think that started in silent hill maybe?

I know I'm being picky but for some reason I find that very irritating.

EDIT: and stupid...

Holy fucking shit that was incredible!

Left4Dead is possibly the most mind-numbingly boring game I have ever played. Then again, I'm mind-numbingly bored of the entire genre. It's like vampire shows for pre-teen girls.

Oh, and playing on "blahblah" skill level is still boring, only it becomes frustrating AND boring. Like Expert on Doom 3.

Alright, all "lame cliché zombies"-comments aside; at 1:52 there is a zombie with a clown mask. Seriously, can it get any scarier than that?

Apparently there's an achievement on the 360 for tweaking the clown's nose I really can't wait for this.

L4D has been one of the best value games I ever bought and I have played it every week since I first got it. I've never seen the emphasis on teamwork so well designed - too often in gaming people go off and do their own thing. Here the whole premise underlines the value of teamwork and the gameplay design makes it happen. Personally I can't wait for the frying pan - gonna be great!

I sincerely hope they don't fuck it up too much by kowtowing to the lunatics who thought they should support L4D for five years with free content. I'm a console gamer and paying £37 to get a refined version of the game with new levels is a bloody bargain in my opinion and I'll be playing it rock-solid til they release the next one.

What PC gamers should be getting upset about is what IW are doing to dedicated servers in Modern Warfare 2. That to me is an egregious move.

*blocked

This video has been flagged as having an embed that is Region Blocked to not function in certain geographical locations - declared blocked by calvados.