Anyone played it? It's very, very addictive (which is why I'm up writing this post instead of sleeping). Basic premise is that it's a film in which the apocalypse has arrived, humanity's infected, there's a small group of survivors who have to escape, each campaign (there's about four in total) is centered around a theme, one being about escaping from an airport, one from an apartment complex and so on
It is great, the action only ever lets up to let you heal (and you're going to need it...) There is ONE flaw however. It does get frustrating, for instance at the end of a few sections, you'll come up against a Tank, which is basically walking mass of muscle that can kill you with...about two punches.
Played it, and although impressive, I just didn't like it. I found it just a bit too samey, and just all came down to firing blindly down a corridor, or across a street.
Tycho from Penny Arcade says my views better than I can:
I like it, but I'm not sure I'll be picking it up after all. I've heard it's too short, and while the story changes every time it's not really different enough to make it worth the full price buy.
The dynamic play is really clever though. One part where I got swarmed on my first playthrough was totally devoid of unlife the second time. I've only been through the demo a few times and each one has had the "oh crap" moments moved around.
But it doesn't actually make that much difference - everyone plays like a single player game, so they frequently strafe in front of you, resulting in them losing health when you shoot them and you getting marked down for it.
I watched my mate play it, heard it was based on the Source engine, which is a worry. But yeah, it looks good. If I have the spare dosh I may consider purchasing it.
Have you tried multiplayer? People on multiplayer usually crouch when they are in your front so you can shoot the enemies instead of shooting your friends, also I suppose people don't like to be shot so crouching is kind of obvious specially in closed places.
Every time I played the maps they were completely different, and sometimes a lot surprising too, like when a witch appeared on the start of the map or a tank hidden behind a wall thus killing everyone before we even noticed him.
Also, Tank smashing the cars is just awesome, almost nobody survives on Expert lol. I love the witch.
And if you think things are going too easy for you and your team just go smash a car and its alarm will warn every zombie around lol I love doing this, my friends usually die after that
PS: Have anyone seen my screenshots?
I didn't get it, don't you like the Source engine? It's one of the most amazing game engines and most reliable I've ever seen, also the best optimized and the easier for a computer to run, Source is getting even better with new game releases from Valve and can be used for almost everything, from a first person shooting game until things you wouldn't even imagine like a online racing derby (D.I.P.R.I.P.), a RTS (Half-Life2: Wars) or even a funny comics game (Weekday Warrior), every of them and much more games completely different in everything, using the same engine: Source.
I have a Intel Pentium D 2.8Ghz (bought it in 2004) and can run it incredibly fine this is just incredible, 1680x1050, AA4x, AF16x, everything maxed out running at 40~50FPS even with the pc calculating hundreds of infected people on the screen. My computer just can't run 20 AI's in LFS singleplayer as good as it runs 1000 objects colliding and breaking with each other in Source (for those who don't know, in the first scene in Half-Life2: Episode Two, there's a fully constructed bridge where the game begins, you start into a broken train wagon (is it wagon?), you will walk through it and then get out of the bridge, you meet up with Alyx and after a portal storm the bridg ... ted real-time in the game, and when I played it last year with a FX5200 it ran a lot better than I could actually run LFS :tilt
Those scenes in HL2 are kind of 'pre-physics-rendered'. They build the bridge, and then the development team destroy it in non-real time using a physics engine far more advanced than you could run in real-time, and record the deformation. This is then played back in-game so looks very realistic, but is 'non-interactive'.
Granted, there are a lot of normal physics objects in the scene too, just not the major parts.
I have it, it's great fun!
The thing is, the whole game is set up as a singleplayer experience in a multiplayer setting - this is really the only thing that stops it from becoming boring after one playthrough. The idea is that you play the game with 3 friends and just have a good time in a good game, it's not meant as a "you beat the game, now it's over and your $49 is used up" - heck, I played the demo alone for about 10-15h, and that's basically 15 minutes of gameplay.
It might seem short, but saying that is a bit like saying TF2 is short because you can play a match on every level within 3 hours, or saying LFS is short because there are only 15 tracks (or however many there are ;p)
The replayability comes entirely from the multiplayer aspect mixed with the AI director, not the duration of the campaigns themselves.
It depends on how you play your games. I find multiplayer games get very samey and dull very quickly, because I tend to play games not to 'win', be it against the computer or other players, but for the story and immersion. For example, I play LFS to pretend to be a racing driver, the 'trying to win' thing just happens to be an integral part of the experience. It's the realism and immersion I like, not the winning, hence why I can't stand arcade racers, as they have none of the immersion. I find most multiplayer games, especially FPSs very dull, however a good, immersive story-driven FPS (like HL) I absolutely love.
L4D is an awesome game, I'll be one of the first to admit, it's just not for everyone.
EDIT: haha, l just reread that and saw how many times I'd said 'immersion' - I'm like Will Wright and 'procedural'
I was so sick of her patronising tone after Episode 1, that at the start of Episode 2 when she says "Oh no! Look! Gordon! Look at the bridge! We spent ages developing this effect, look at it! Isn't it spectacular?" I deliberately turned to face the other way. Nope. Sorry, not looking at the bridge.
She still held my hand all the way through the rest of the ****ing game though. Christ she's annoying.
I'm bored with Source engine. It's crap in my eyes, and always will be crap. I've got DoD:S, COD:S, HL2, most of the HL2 mods, Garrys Mod (the only fun one) and like yeah.
I like Alyx so much, the game would not be the same without her.
Cool! Well if you have the original (yes-steam) Half-Life series you can play it multiplayer, it's exactly the same campaign as in single player but with friends, as many friends as you want... download Synergy in your game tab (it's one of the plenty games you receive when you buy a Source game), start a server and call friends
I played the whole campaign with friends a lot of times, it's really fun, and we're finishing the game another time too
Playable Half-Life games online: Half-Life 1 (non-source): Sven Co-Op Half-Life 2, Episode One and Episode Two: Synergy Opposing forces and blue shift: I don't know, try the same as hl1's and see if it works. If not, take opposing forces' and blue shift's maps, sounds and files from the .gcf and put into Sven Co-Op's folder and see if it works (it will work but I don't guarantee there won't be bugs because they were not supposed to be running that way).
I play synergy a lot in my free time so if you want to play just add me on steam: Antonio05
Back on topic: when I first saw Left 4 Dead I thought it was a bit expensive comparing it to other games, but after playing it I saw that I was wrong, the game is amazing IMO.
PS: YAY I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, HALF-LIFE 1 is 93% OFF just until tomorrow, everyone can buy it at US$0,98
Actually, the engine is updated with every new game that Valve releases and with new updates for those games. Left 4 Dead uses the new Source system with dynamic lights and shadow for the environment and a lot of new improvements including optimization, it's now Source build 47 if I remember correctly and has pretty much changes.
Since CS:S came out I've always thought the Source engine seemed quite a poor choice for multiplayers. It feels a bit... I don't know, "floaty"? It's difficult to place yourself and others in the world, it just doesn't feel as substantial as the original Half-Life engine did.
Having played TF2 a fair bit I still feel the same way.
(for those who don't know, in the first scene in Half-Life2: Episode Two, there's a fully constructed bridge where the game begins, you start into a broken train wagon (is it wagon?), you will walk through it and then get out of the bridge, you meet up with Alyx and 
