Left 4 Dead Demo ImpressionsPosted by Eddy on November 13th, 2008
As many of us know, the Left 4 Dead demo dropped on XBox Live as well as Steam yesterday, sending gamers into a frenzy much akin to the virtual undead hordes that awaited bullet-pummeling. After a bit of a download time, I managed to nab the demo myself over XBL for the 360, and I couldn’t wait to get into my first game.
The thing that was curious to me from the menus and even once the game started was how much it felt like a game that belonged on the PC rather than the 360. Something about the controls, the HUD, the interface, everything about it screamed PC at me. Even hooking up with a party didn’t feel completely intuitive, though after a bit the matter was settled. So how was the gameplay?
Immediately what jumped out at me was the sheer speed that this game takes place at. You start off on a rooftop, making your way through a house that is already filled with zombies, lying in wait for your brains and whatever else it is that zombies want. The game just jumps out at you and the craziness just keeps ramping up and up.
Over the course of the demo you navigate through city streets, cramped hallways, basements and eventually subway trains. All the while you dodge, melee, revive your teammates and blast your shotgun endlessly. The swollen number of zombies coming at you is absolutely staggering, especially on the harder levels. Before you know it, the buggers can have you surrounded, screaming for help and popping heads with whatever weapon you’ve got.
The team aspect of Left 4 Dead is overall the most shining point of the gameplay. This is a game that punishes you for splitting up, and requires every member to work together. When you couple that co-op feel with the Director AI, you’ve got a really entertaining ride on your hands. I played through the demo 3 times last night, and each time was radically different. Sometimes, help would come soon in the form of ammo and weapons, and sometimes, the undead kept growing and growing, swarming over us like tidal waves of rotting flesh. Gross, I know.
While the game was incredibly enjoyable, and greatly so on the harder difficulties, I must say that I was disappointed with it over all. Perhaps that was my fault for expecting the game to blow me away. But sadly, it still didn’t, for whatever reason. The gameplay, as I said before, feels like it belongs on a PC. The 360 controller just didn’t feel right for the job. We’ll have to see how I feel after playing the PC version.
Another thing about the game, is that quite honestly, it seemed a little underwhelming to me after the joy of Horde Mode on Gears of War 2, which is much more intense and has much tighter gameplay. With all the zombies running at me, I just wanted a few more options besides holding the trigger down or meleeing with the left bumper. It seemed just a little flat, and made me wonder if the game would get old before a whole playthrough was completed.
All in all, the demo was great fun, though I am a little more hesitant about buying it after playing it. There are plenty of other great games out there vying for my 60 bucks, so I’m starting to wonder if this one will keep me playing for months on end. Then again, it’s Valve, and those dudes never do us wrong. I’ll probably end up going on their track record and buying it anyway.
What about you guys? What did you think of the Left 4 Dead Demo?
November 13th, 2008 at 7:32 am
Looks quiet awesome to me, cause I don’t know about the Gears “Horde mode”. It’s great to hear the AI Director is on the demo also.
How long did it take in one run? 10, 20 mins? less?
November 13th, 2008 at 10:27 am
Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the whole experience felt a bit hollow. You may be on to something about the sheer exhilaration of horde mode overshadowing it.
November 13th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
**** sorry for the double post but my laptop cut me off***
Hey Eddy
First off im a big fan of TLW, i love what u guys do there and its my favorite webseries.
Now onto the blog
Honestly, i cannot give valve enough credit for this game. This game is the new Half-Life. The gameplay alone is good, but when you throw in the massive zombie horde, the special zombies, the weapons, and of course the soundtrack. it is such a great ride
The Director AI makes this game. It completly makes the game nonlinear and different everytime you play it.
And then there’s the witch..
I dont know how to put this, but she scares the everloving shit out of me. Everytime im with my friends playing and i hear the crying i tell them to shut the hell up and we walk past it. one time i startled her by shooting a smoker and hitting her by accident. She doesnt like me.. But we have a love hate relationship..
Witht hat said i have to admit i have a little bit of a bias. First off i am on a PC and i am a huge pc gamer. CS,CoD1,Portal etc. and ur right eddy, this game was made for the pc because most companies are jumping on the xbox live bandwagon and have forgotten the pc base. And secondly i am a massive massive fan of everything zombie. From the George A Romero slow zombies Rage zombies from 28 days later ones i cannot get enough of them. and i can tell u that if u decide to play this on the pc u will have a ton of more fun..Especially when your shouting at people over TS and playing in a dorm room at 1 in the morning..
Hope this helps
November 13th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I’ve played the demo. It’s so f***ing sweet!! I love it! the gameplay is pretty good, the co-op options are great, and the Special Infected are a true challenge. I’m going to buy L4D, and that’s a fact ^^
I’ve never played it on the 360, but it does feel more like a PC game, and the 360 version must be a little… off.
November 13th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I pre ordered L4D at the discounted price. $10 off. If you pre-ordered you got the demo last week. I have now played it several times on multiple difficulty levels both single player and over the internet. I have to laugh at the comment “…it felt like a game that belonged on the PC rather than the 360…” As a PC gamer I have seen MANY poor ports of console games to the PC. Turn about is fair play for once it seems. The PC control layout is pretty much standard faire and I only reassigned a couple of keys otherwise it was intuitive out of the box. Thus far I am quite happy with L4D. The great variation between difficulty levels and the Director AI making changes every time you play it means that this game will have re-play value. And when a game costs over 50 bucks, the ability to replay is a good thing. I am looking forward to the full release, and plan to sit in the dark with my headphones on and kill me some zombies!
November 13th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Oh, man, the demo is awesome! I grabbed it on PC because my computer gaming buddy hates the XBoX. It definitely feels good on the PC. I haven’t tried the 360 version, but I imagine the UI won’t look too different.
I love all the little touches Valve put on this game. The loading screen that looks like a movie poster, or the tiny horn kick that comes in before the zombie horde bursts onto the scene.
My friend and I tried it on Advanced, and it took us about twenty minutes to get through. There’s not a huge jump from normal to advanced, but there were some points where I seriously doubted if I was going to make it through. (On one playthrough, I actually died during the last stand.)
Seriously cannot wait for Tuesday!
November 13th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
I find it ironic that you say it feels like a pc game, when on the l4d forums most people complain that it feels like a console game -.-
November 13th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I would have to say, I disagree with this to a small extent.
I grabbed this demo on the 360 on the day it came out, and I’ve played through it now, maybe 8 times. The first time I played it, I was thrown off by the control scheme, but I’m sure that will be customisable in the full game. For all I know, you can change it on the demo. I would agree that the menu is very PC friendly, but it’s not too bad on the Xbox. The graphics also had me a bit concerned, but I looked in the options and there was an option to crank up the film grain (which I had wanted), only it wasn’t available in the demo.
I played through it on normal at first, and the size of the two maps worried me, it took maybe 10-20 minutes to do Apartments, and 25-30 on Subway. But the maps themselves felt quite big, and while I know it’s linear, every playthrough I’m finding more little hidden rooms, which are interesting, despite having nothing in them. Advanced, in my opinion like Gears 2’s Hardcore, is the way the game is meant to be played. Difficult enough to have you overwhelmed, while not turning out to be a total rapefest. I honestly find Tanks scarier than Witches, to be honest I don’t have much time to be scared before I iz cut. The bitchiest thing The Director ever did was put the witch right in front of the engine room’s controls.
I’ll admit, I was less pleased with this than Gears of War 2, but that’s because I expected Gears to be good, and it was amazing. I expected L4D to be amazing, and it was , so I was less pleasantly surprised.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I was amazing with the demo on the PC but I have not played the 360 version. But, if its an option get left 4 dead on the PC valve has great modder support (as im sure you know) and I am sure there will be some awesome mods out there that will greatly increase the replay value
November 13th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
If u think advanced is hard o man…lol its tons of fun on expert…it took us at least 3 hours to beat it twice…thats it twice in 3 hours…im def looking forward to the full game. i hvnt had this much fun since Half Life
November 13th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I was worried that the game might me be to fast paced for my liking, but it turned out to be just right.
It’s fast and oozes adrenaline. the atmosphere is tense enough to slice it. and with the right buddies the co-op experience is just a rollercoaster-ride of pure awesome
I played in on the 360, didn’t have any difficulties with the controls, and i did like the UI. I am definatly going to buy that one!
November 13th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Really? You were disappointed? I downloaded the 360 demo and found it to be everything I expected. And with Horde mode, L4D is a lot more open, since Gears 2’s Horde is on a relatively small map, and L4D is a very large area. I’m fairly psyched, although you’re right. Valve is better at making PC games, but they did a nice job with the 360 controller. L4D looks sweet, but it’s probably not going to be my FAVORITE game this year.
November 15th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
i thought it was good. the game wasn’t tense or scary. instead it’s crazy. they havn’t botched it like many other zombie games by trying to be scary. they’ve gone for the nuttyness that, in my opionin, makes valve great. they can do a very serious game like halflife and then give you something daft and hilarius liek TF2.