Slasher on 16/11/2008 at 17:33
According to Steam I've spent 16.6 hours playing the demo since I downloaded it four days ago. Ouch.
I haven't tried the singleplayer mode yet, but I can't imagine it being very fun or useful beyond practice purposes. Maybe later when mods come out for the full game, singleplayer can be expanded on.
As mentioned before, the zombies are definitely of our 21st century variety; they shamble around moaning mindlessly only until provoked, whereupon they start running their undead marathon. If the zombies were slowed down to a more traditional pace, I think the developers would have to compensate by either upping the number or strength of all targets. The players would also likely be nerfed, either in health or ammo. As it stands, Left 4 Dead feels like it leans more towards Serious Sam/Doom style gameplay than the survival-horror genre.
I can agree that it lacks the old fashioned, zombie-flick atmosphere. The enemies are fast, bash doors down, climb, and even seem to try to flank you. Ammo, at least in the demo, isn't a big problem, pistol ammo is unlimited, and fully automatic weapons are available from the start. Resident Evil Multiplayer this is not.
Also, I hate Smokers. Creepy bastards.
Gaph on 16/11/2008 at 19:18
Quote Posted by Aja
Well, I tried the demo, knowing next to nothing about the game (didn't follow previews, trailers, whatever). I think I need a better computer to run it, because on the recommended settings it became a slideshow every time a huge pack of zombies appeared (but it was smooth in between, so I dunno, I hate fucking with video settings).
I've never seen a zombie movie but man why do they have to run so fast? Not especially immersive, either, but I suppose that's because it's a multiplayer game... but then again it's also a zombie game so it should have a very distinct atmosphere, instead it felt kinda... unfinished? Like okay don't worry we'll add stuff like ambient sound and objectives and storyline later but at least we have the coop and shooting parts and pressing E to pick stuff up, we got that down for now. I did like how when I shot a zombie with a machine gun he jittered around with every bullet and blood splattered everywhere. Pretty satisfying, that part. But then they move so fast that it's kinda hard to enjoy it, especially when you have to just fire blindly into a million of em.
Maybe the crux of the game is the AI Director, the function of which was not made entirely clear from my playthrough.
I'll try the xbox demo later and report back.
For not following the game and not ever seeing a zombie flick you sure seemed to have some preconcieved notions of what a zombie game should be like.
Aja on 16/11/2008 at 20:15
Well of course I do. It's not like I live outside popular culture. And Dead Rising does it better: "ZOMBIES are stupid and slow"!
N'Al on 16/11/2008 at 21:20
Well, ever since 28 Days Later, they're not anymore! This is where someone butts in and tells me there were plenty of other movies with 'fast' zombies before 28DL.
Speaking of movies... watch (
http://cinema.lycos.com/movies/night_of_the_living_dead) NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, now!
june gloom on 16/11/2008 at 22:11
I liked HL2's combination of fast and slow zombies. (Yes I'm aware they're not traditional "zombies" but you know what I mean.) It made for some variety.
Angel Dust on 17/11/2008 at 00:01
I've been playing it a bit over the last few days and I quite like it. Too hard to tell with the levels the demo has to offer on whether or not this game will really come together but it was much much better than I expected. This is coming from someone who though all the previews looked like shit and was never a fan of the fast zombie style which, I think, really works for this game. I'm really tempted to pick it up.
Yakoob on 17/11/2008 at 01:44
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
I've been playing it a bit over the last few days and I quite like it. Too hard to tell with the levels the demo has to offer on whether or not this game will really come together but it was much much better than I expected. This is coming from someone who though all the previews looked like shit and was never a fan of the fast zombie style which, I think, really works for this game. I'm really tempted to pick it up.
Same here. I hoped for an atmosphere, tactical, scraping for every little resource SURVIVAL horror game. What the previews showed, however, was a serious sam-esque, strategiless, zombiespam shootfest. And that's exactly what the game is. However, it's a surprising very fun and engaging serious sam-esque, strategiless, zombiespam shootfest. And although it does not have the atmosphere I hoped for, it nonetheless has atmosphere. Despite what I hoped for, the game never really tries to by anything else than what it is, and it does that very well.
So yea I pre-purchased it on steam already.
Muzman on 17/11/2008 at 02:23
zombie don't try to eat you and tear you to pieces in this though do they? Or do they just beat you down first? (I can see why straight out flesh rending might be hard to impliment).
EvaUnit02 on 17/11/2008 at 02:28
They just beat you down, period.
