I have a section in my Steam Library called "Shootie" where I put all of my "pick up and play" Multiplayer Online FPS both Steam and otherwise. This is my go to section for when I need to kill something be it with a friend or a friend that needs killing. I wanna take some time this week to talk about some the popular titles starting with the...
FOG Multi-player Co:op Round Up Part 1 : Left4Dead
First in the list is Left4Dead or L4D*. I'm gonna call it like I see it. L4D is either an Adaption of Zombie Panic or a Blatant Ripoff. I find it odd that the similarities aren't discussed any where but Valve promotes and hosts Zombie Panic on steam so I guess there's no bad feelings. At any rate it's production values alone qualify it as a separate game so I'll move along and dive into L4D.
L4D is a 4 player vs AI Zombie Shooter in which you and 3 teammates attempt to get from point A to Point B while traversing hordes of zombies and mutated larger special zombies which can do things like spit acid or crush players using their strength and size. Sounds pretty fun and intense right? Not so much. Get used to looking at the world from this position..
L4D is the equivelent of a 3 year old child whose just eaten a 1lb bag of sugar. It's fitful, it's whiny, there's zero direction. It just runs around in circles screaming at everything.
You start out making your way through Zombies standing around waiting to attack anything that comes near them then the game uses this thing called the "AI Director" to send waves of Zombies and special mutants to poop on your good time when it feels like you're getting too settled in. This in itself isn't an issue and could fun, the problem is that it doesn't direct fuckle. You just get hit with waves every 30-60 seconds and you spend most of your time under an annoying pile of zombie bodies.
Help I'm a worthless teammate whos lagging behind again and I'm too fat to get up!!
Another thing L4D does wrong is the special mutants. When getting from point A to point B you're constantly hounded by special mutants who rather then provide a decent scare or threat to you just come off as antagonizing and irritating. One jumps on a players back and rides them while making them incapable of defending themselves and forces them to wait for another player to come by and help. The same goes for the Hunter who takes a player to the ground and beats them to death unless a good samaritan comes along to help. This would probably be ok in an arena but remember in L4D you're constantly on the move every 30 seconds or so a player gets jujitsu'd to the ground (there's no avoiding this) and everybody has run back and pick him up. I say everybody because oh wait the Director is in a mood again here's 10k zombies. Rinse repeat every 50ft.
The straw that broke my back was the community. I spent a few hours trying to get through a few campaigns the other night and it was pure misery. I'm not sure what it is exactly with the community around this game but I could find a group of competent players in my several hours of trying. I ended up completing the L4D1 campaigns by myself with AI because I didn't enjoyed being trolled by my own team. I've yet to finish L4D2 because I can't beat it with AI and can't find anyone worth a shit to play with. Like Call Of Duty L4D is a game that actually seems plagued by it's own fanbase.
It has it's merits. It's a good looking game. There's a decent variety of guns, firebombs, Zombie attracting pipebombs and the occasional propane tank. There's 20 or so built in campaigns for 4 player vs AI, a Versus mode where players are split between Survivor and Zombies, a gas can collecting mode(joy?) and Survival where you just stay alive as long as possible or until you get bored. There's also custom campaigns you can download if you're patient enough to go work that out.
The truth is though you will get no enjoyment out of this game unless you play with very co-operative friends. You'll find playing with random people online at best a chore and at worst a hazard to your insanity. If I had to speak to Valve directly I'd say
"Please please take out the facehugger zombie crap and add better co-op direction so people don't have to replay a map a hundred times just to hash out their rolls."
For the time being though L4D gets a
4/10
I actually came into this with the assumption I'd give this game a decent score and a bronze award I spose, but my experience with the game in it's current state was just damning. If you're desperate to kill some zombies and are willing to try a F2P mod there are a couple of interesting alternatives I'd like to suggest.
No More Room In hell and Zombie Panic Source. These aren't exactly going to set your videocard on fire but they make up for it in good friendly communities with people that actually know how to play.
FOG Multi-player Co:op Round Up Part 1 : Left4Dead
First in the list is Left4Dead or L4D*. I'm gonna call it like I see it. L4D is either an Adaption of Zombie Panic or a Blatant Ripoff. I find it odd that the similarities aren't discussed any where but Valve promotes and hosts Zombie Panic on steam so I guess there's no bad feelings. At any rate it's production values alone qualify it as a separate game so I'll move along and dive into L4D.
L4D is a 4 player vs AI Zombie Shooter in which you and 3 teammates attempt to get from point A to Point B while traversing hordes of zombies and mutated larger special zombies which can do things like spit acid or crush players using their strength and size. Sounds pretty fun and intense right? Not so much. Get used to looking at the world from this position..
ROFL Rolling on the floor losing.. FOR THE 5TH TIME!!
L4D is the equivelent of a 3 year old child whose just eaten a 1lb bag of sugar. It's fitful, it's whiny, there's zero direction. It just runs around in circles screaming at everything.
You start out making your way through Zombies standing around waiting to attack anything that comes near them then the game uses this thing called the "AI Director" to send waves of Zombies and special mutants to poop on your good time when it feels like you're getting too settled in. This in itself isn't an issue and could fun, the problem is that it doesn't direct fuckle. You just get hit with waves every 30-60 seconds and you spend most of your time under an annoying pile of zombie bodies.
Another thing L4D does wrong is the special mutants. When getting from point A to point B you're constantly hounded by special mutants who rather then provide a decent scare or threat to you just come off as antagonizing and irritating. One jumps on a players back and rides them while making them incapable of defending themselves and forces them to wait for another player to come by and help. The same goes for the Hunter who takes a player to the ground and beats them to death unless a good samaritan comes along to help. This would probably be ok in an arena but remember in L4D you're constantly on the move every 30 seconds or so a player gets jujitsu'd to the ground (there's no avoiding this) and everybody has run back and pick him up. I say everybody because oh wait the Director is in a mood again here's 10k zombies. Rinse repeat every 50ft.
Oh another jockey humping the back of my head this is so much fun I think I'm gonna shit myself!
The straw that broke my back was the community. I spent a few hours trying to get through a few campaigns the other night and it was pure misery. I'm not sure what it is exactly with the community around this game but I could find a group of competent players in my several hours of trying. I ended up completing the L4D1 campaigns by myself with AI because I didn't enjoyed being trolled by my own team. I've yet to finish L4D2 because I can't beat it with AI and can't find anyone worth a shit to play with. Like Call Of Duty L4D is a game that actually seems plagued by it's own fanbase.
It has it's merits. It's a good looking game. There's a decent variety of guns, firebombs, Zombie attracting pipebombs and the occasional propane tank. There's 20 or so built in campaigns for 4 player vs AI, a Versus mode where players are split between Survivor and Zombies, a gas can collecting mode(joy?) and Survival where you just stay alive as long as possible or until you get bored. There's also custom campaigns you can download if you're patient enough to go work that out.
The truth is though you will get no enjoyment out of this game unless you play with very co-operative friends. You'll find playing with random people online at best a chore and at worst a hazard to your insanity. If I had to speak to Valve directly I'd say
"Please please take out the facehugger zombie crap and add better co-op direction so people don't have to replay a map a hundred times just to hash out their rolls."
For the time being though L4D gets a
4/10
I actually came into this with the assumption I'd give this game a decent score and a bronze award I spose, but my experience with the game in it's current state was just damning. If you're desperate to kill some zombies and are willing to try a F2P mod there are a couple of interesting alternatives I'd like to suggest.
No More Room In hell and Zombie Panic Source. These aren't exactly going to set your videocard on fire but they make up for it in good friendly communities with people that actually know how to play.
*I'm not gonna refer to L4D and L4D2 as separate entities because they are not. Same deal. They are fairly interchangeable gameplay wise and look nearly identical. If you own one you might as well own the other.
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