PAX 2008: 4 On Left 4 Dead
This past weekend at PAX, I was fortunate enough to score an appointment to see Left 4 Dead. Seeing as we had four GayGamer writers there, I was secretly hoping I could get us all on separate machines. Unfortunately that wasn't possible but the folks at the Valve booth allowed us all to go in and share one chair. We switched off so that everyone got a chance to play and I had each of the guys write up a quick paragraph of their impressions. So without further ado, I present to you: 4 On Left 4 Dead
Fruit Brute:
I had been looking forward to playing Left 4 Dead ever since it was announced. However every time I saw it previewed it was on the PC and being a horrific PC gamer, I decided (wisely) to wait until I could play it with a controller. When the opportunity finally arrived, it was an experience like no other.
The small room reserved for press was crowded with little groups hovering around each screen. I sat down and immediately noticed I had chosen the guy with the tattooed arms so needless to say I felt right at home. We started out in a safe room, collected our weapons (I chose a machine gun) and then made our way out into the fray. I saw a group of zombies standing around in the distance and figured I could pick them off one by one from a distance a la Resident Evil. Much to my dismay (and thrill), these are NOT shambling Resident Evil zombies. One shot was enough to attract their attention and send them running full tilt towards our little group. Suddenly they were swarming from everywhere and it was all we could do to take them all down. It was like playing with the zombies from 28 Days Later. They poured in from every opening eliciting screams and shouts from the other players. Some of the moments experienced while playing were truly cinematic. Once your character dies, instead of having a camera trained on your dead corpse until you respawn, the camera follows the remaining survivors. On two different occasions, there was only one party member left, clinging desperately to life. We watched as he spun around in a circle, attempting to mow down the zombies that had completely surrounded him. Truly a movie moment if I'd ever seen one. It was a blast to play and having everyone in the same room screaming and shouting in unison was an experience I've never had in a group game. I'm not sure if the exact experience can be duplicated over a headset but I am certainly more than willing to give it a try.
Dawdle:
At its heart, Left 4 Dead is a classic arcade game; the rabid enemies have more in common with insects or asteroids than their shambling zombie ancestors. Throughout the level, they poured out of open doors, windows, subway turnstiles and dark alleys, and we had little to do but run around, blasting them with machine guns, shotguns, or, when desperate, pistols. This may sound like a nice way of saying that the game isn't very complicated, but just because the gameplay isn't deep doesn't mean the experience is shallow. I felt a sense of dread and sick anticipation when I looked down a hallway and saw a group of zombies standing around, knowing that in seconds they'd catch my scent and come barreling my way. In a safe room, I picked up a bit of the game's story through writing on the wall, describing someone waiting days for other survivors, before venturing back into the infested world. Technically, the game performed about as well as Half Life 2: Episode 2 for the Xbox 360, although maybe a bit smoother, faster, and with more characters on screen at a time. The controls are functional but feel a little shoehorned to the pad, which is what you might expect for a game that started life on the PC. If you play with AI teammates, I can see how Left 4 Dead may seem a bit hollow, but if you get together with friends, the game is both tense and raucous fun. Even after death, watching our still breathing teammates struggle to survive provided some of my favorite moments. The most poignant scene of any game I saw at PAX found the last survivor, an old man in army fatigues, hobbling slowly towards safety, when he was snatched up by a hidden Smoker's long tongue and slowly strangled to death.
Make the jump to see PixelPoet and GameBoy's impressions too!
Game-Boy:
Just playing Left 4 Dead for a few moments has already redefined my view of Survival Horror games. No longer does the sub-genre mean having to endure tank controls and sluggish melee combat. This game is everything I would want out of a zombie movie: fast, gory, and deliciously scary. One of the more authentic surprises about the game was that it felt as if the players were punished when they broke classic horror movie rules like venturing out alone or leaving a safe house without picking up everything they possibly can. While I'm not sure if the other guys are willing to admit it, but the short demo got more than a few jumps, gasps, and yelps from yours truly. With zombies crawling out of every crevice imaginable, the tension was heightened with three other players doing the same. I'm still not exactly sure that this type of multiplayer magic can be recreated with strangers over Live with headsets, but I can easily see Left 4 Dead becoming the de facto party game at any PC LAN party.
PixelPoet:
So I was the last of our quartet to saddle up to the game, and as the strategist I am, I spent the many minutes watching zombies feasting upon my compatriots trying to decipher the best plan of action for when I would take up the reigns. So as my turn came, I started in the safe room picking up the machine gun, a med kit, and some ammo. One downside to the game (at least the part we played) is that the only real weapon choices offered were shotgun and machine gun. I like my action quick and just as deadly from afar so the machine gun was my new friend. I played it cautious, surveyed the areas, strafed to find zombies waiting for us and then picked them off from afar before they could do damage. It seemed easy, like cleaning the kitchen floor of peanut shells; nevertheless, while moving back a bit away from the onslaught of a few zombies amassing on the rest of my crew, apparently I forgot that the area behind me was still unexplored. Before I knew it, it was less like cleaning peanut shells off my kitchen floor and more like swimming on the peanut-laden floor of Texas Roadhouse, and I was the super-stuffed sweet potatoes. Then it hit me, as careful and as strategic as I was trying to be, the random placement of enemies and the swarming nature of the mobs in this game always keep you on your toes and make every co-op journey with your friends a new suspense-horror film where you don't know what's behind the next door. That's what is impressive about this game, it's a shared movie experience with zombie slaying added on top; what more can you ask for in a game?
Fruit Brute
Posted to Hot Stuff, Video Games on 4 September 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: left 4 dead, pax 08, pc, turtle rock studios, valve, xbox 360
Name: Dave
Great impressions guys! Just makes me that much more excited for this game.
I soooo want to play this with my zombie-loving partner, but lack of local coop makes it highly unlikely that it will ever happen. Guess I'll be on the couch next to him while he plays online with our gaming friends. :(