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Post Date: 15:16 01-03-2009
Rating: 10
Author: weehut
Comment: Left 4 Dead seemed like the light at the end of the tunnel. The Source engine made for creating great FPS games like Counter-Strike: Source and Team Fortress 2 was slowly starting to grow obsolete, and VALVe was just about to scrap it when this game seemed to pop up out of nowhere. All players playing VALVe games started seeing ads for Left 4 Dead, and the intriguing hand with four fingers.
The open demo then came out- a few days of playing all of the game for free. Those few days were the best of my computer life thus far. Left 4 Dead is entirely based on co-op, for example, you can"t do anything without your friends, or the AI playing as your teammates. If you fall down, you can"t get up because you"re injured without friends. You can heal friends. You can help friends fight of hordes of zombies, most importantly. No longer can you find so many hordes of monsters rushing forward trying to attack you, but the satisfaction of killing them all is too great to pass up in this game.
This brings me to the next point- the AI.
In all modes, an AI, dubbed "The Director", controls level pacing and item spawns, in an attempt to create a dynamic experience and increase replay value.
The Director also creates mood and tension with emotional cues, such as visual effects, dynamic music and character communication. Valve has termed this dynamic set-up "procedural narrative".
In addition to the AI Director, there is a second Director that controls music. It was created as a way to keep the music interesting throughout the game. The music Director monitors what a player has experienced to create an appropriate mix. The process is client-side and done by a multi-track system. Each player hears their own mix, which is being generated as they play through the game, and dead players watching a teammate hear their teammates" mix.
This was basically the most advanced AI I"ve ever played against in a co-op game. The hard mode is nearly impossible because the zombies mold to your gameplay. If you start jumping around and shoot to make it harder for them to attack you, they"ll start jumping around. If you start sniping way back, the zombies will start hanging back and hiding to kill the sniper. Just amazing.
Rendering and artificial intelligence were also scaled up to allow for a greater number of enemies who can navigate the world in better ways such as climbing, jumping, or breaking obstacles. You can use almost any object in this game. See that propane tank? Place it in front of a doorway and shoot the tank when the zombies come. Yum, zombie barbecue! See that bottle of pills? Yeah, take one, lower your stress, my man! See that ladder? Yeah, climb it, move it up!
Overall, you simply shouldn"t be allowed to go through life without playing this game. No two matches are the same, it"s amazing to play with three other friends laughing as you burn zombies with Molotov cocktails, and it"s the greatest co-op game ever created.
10/10.
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