Left 4 Dead Hands-on Preview.

[JamesBPK]

Left 4 Dead Hands-on Preview - Survivor Side

Left 4 Dead is absolute chaos. It is intense, fast-paced, thrilling, exhilarating, and exhausting. It is everything you could ever hope for a game to be and more - every single expectation I had for the game was blown away entirely. I was literally in awe over how fun and unique of an experience it offered and I have to say that it was honestly the best gaming experience I've had in my life.

We as gamers seem to hear this kind of sensationalism for unreleased games far too often, and believe me that I too have been the victim of such unwarranted hype - but I promise you that these are not empty words. This game is truly original and it offers up a pure gaming experience. Everything in Left 4 Dead is geared towards reaching that mindset of pure gaming bliss. It is challenging, and you will fail. You will scream, curse, laugh and cry, and love every single second of it.

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The goal of Left 4 Dead is simple: survive. You are one of the lucky few survivors of a new and highly virulent strain of the rabies virus that has spread throughout the human population, turning the unfortunate masses into rabid, bloodthirsty zombies. You must work together as a team if you want to have any chance of making it out alive. For those of you who don't already know, Left 4 Dead is a first person multiplayer co-op survival horror shooter built on the Source engine. Left 4 Dead pits 4 human Survivors against 4 human or AI controlled boss infected, which with the help of dozens upon dozens of the AI-controlled infected horde, try their hardest to make the Survivors fail. The four campaigns that will be released at launch are all of the "Survive and Escape" variety, where the group of survivors will have to battle their way through large, varying environments filled with boss infected and zombie hordes in the goal of escaping.

I have to point out a very important detail - THIS IS A CO-OP GAME. It is not Counter-Strike, it is not Unreal Tournament, it is not Doom, it is not Half-Life. I will repeat, it is a co-op game. Everything about it is catered to you and your three friends working together and trying to stay alive - you really don't have much time to worry about anything else! As I will explain in this preview, Turtle Rock Studios has taken a concept that seems so perfect for a game (co-op and zombies), and just about every imaginable feature you could think of and has turned it into an amazing, fluid, immersive co-op experience that has shaped up to be a truly unique and awesome game.

Hospital Level Runthrough

The hospital mission starts on the roof of an apartment building. We grabbed our guns (I took a pump shotgun), health packs and grenades and headed out. We opened the door and headed in. Right at the bottom of the stairs a zombie was waiting for us. Bam. I immediately noticed the amazing blood and gibs effects, and a smile came to my face.. oh was it beautiful. We continued on, killing many zombies in the apartment building, finally making it out. Everything was going great so far, a pretty normal experience..

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.. and then we made it outside. A large open area awaited us right after the alleyway, and what happened next will remain imprinted in my brain forever. To our right were a couple dozen zombies, all walking around like zombies do, some up close and others far away, and then one turned and looked our way. And then another. The music started to build and get more intense. In what has to be the most amazing scene in gaming I've ever laid my eyes upon, this mass of rabid zombies all turned and dashed right towards us, with incredible fluidity. Not only that, but on our left was a chain-link fence that another dozen or so started to climb over, hell-bent on killing us. This mass of zombies climbed over cars, fences, and came around buildings and it was so amazingly realistic and blindingly fast that I was quite literally stunned. My instincts took over and my shotgun started shooting, mowing down zombie after zombie, but they were far more in number and speed than I would have ever prepared for. With only 8 shells in the shotgun, they ran out fast.. fortunately for me, my teammates were right there beside me and we successfully defended ourselves against the zombie horde.

I need to stop my story here to really emphasize exactly how the horde moves. The zombies in Left 4 Dead are amazingly fast. I can assure you that whatever you have imagined, and certainly what you've been accustomed to in games past, doesn't come close to what the reality of the situation is. If you've ever seen 28 Days Later and the way the zombies sprint and attack like it's their only reason for existence, which really is the case in L4D, you might have a better understanding. They don't just run straight at you, either - they're very good at dodging one way or the other right when you want to shoot. I was really shocked with how great they looked running around corners, over cars and fences, and through doors and windows. The view and the sound and the environment really come together brilliantly to create a feeling of real fear and awe.

Anyways, back to the hospital mission. I wish I could tell you that we valiantly fought our way through the entire scenario, through the subway, office building, another long street, a pawnshop and convenience store, outside and into a warehouse, down through the sewers, up into the hospital, onto the roof, battled our way through the finale and escaped happily ever after. I wish I could tell you that. The truth of it is though, shortly after the first outside area, we died. When all of the survivors die, you start all the way back at the beginning of the scenario no matter how far you have gotten. I also wish I could tell you that we learned from our mistakes and then survived. We didn't. A combination of the infected horde, Boomer and Hunter didn't let us go past the sewers - back to the starting for us. Third times a charm, right? Well, sort of.. we did make it to the finale, where we successfully dealt with wave after wave of infected attacks, but in the end, only one out of the four survivors made it out on the helicopter alive.

And that was on Normal....

OH CRUEL WORLD

The game is difficult. I know a lot of you have probably played competitively in Counter-Strike or other games and don't think a co-op game could really challenge you, and trust me, I know exactly where you're coming from. When the developers told us that they only make it out alive a quarter of the time, they weren't lying. Left 4 Dead is not and will never be a game that one person can dominate. The gameplay mechanics have been so finely crafted toward a co-op experience that in order to even have a hope of survival, you must work together.

Please do not misinterpret this as meaning that it is hard to work together. One of the most amazing features of the game is how easily people meld together as a single unit, thanks to the design. Mike pointed out to us how, without even thinking about it, we got into the habit of timing our reloads so that when someone had to, the other would still have ammo in order to fight off the infected. This is not a choice. The infected are so numerous and spawn in such ways that if you didn't work together, you'd be screwed.

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In this way, Left 4 Dead gameplay is really backwards from a lot of shooters. In most games, strafing is your friend. In just about every firefight in Counter-Strike you are strafing back and forth between shots, keeping your head out of the crosshairs of your enemy. Also in Counter-Strike, just about the only good time to duck is when you're spraying. In L4D it is entirely different. It didn't take too many times getting shot in the back by other survivors to realize that strafing is bad. If you're in the front of the pack, don't strafe around, and try to duck so your teammates have a better shot at the horde. It sounds like a pretty easy to understand method, but in practice, after years of other shooters and with a couple dozen zombies barreling toward you, it's another situation entirely.

'TIS BUT A SCRATCH

Why exactly are we afraid of the infected? They have no guns, they have low health, and they don't really hurt that badly - it takes about 15 or so swings from a zombie on normal difficulty to take you down. What they do have, though, is numbers. You may be able to take down a whole mob of them, but the problem is there always seems to be just a few too many. As careful as you can be they find a way to catch you off guard, and shortly after you realize they're coming you're already fully surrounded. Some of the most exhilarating moments are when you are being pinned down in the middle of a zombie horde, out of ammo and wildly swinging your weapon, clinging to life. If you find yourself in this situation without a fellow survivor nearby to help, in all likeliness you will soon get knocked down and face a horrible death at the hands of the rabid horde.

[JamesBPK]

TRUST

Left 4 Dead takes an enormous amount of trust to really be an effective team. Think of Counter-Strike, where as long as you play smart you only ever have to worry about one or possibly two locations that an enemy could come from. Now, try to imagine being vulnerable at all times from all angles - in front, to the sides, behind you, above you - everywhere. With the director doing everything it can to make your life hell, at any moment a few dozen zombies could come charging from anywhere. From experience, even while my computer was sitting right next to my teammates', it was incredibly hard to allow myself to be vulnerable and keep focused on covering where I needed to, especially the back. It's an extremely uncomfortable situation, like running up the middle of a game of de_dust2 facing backwards. It all adds to the fear and intensity of the experience, and it is exceptionally wonderful.

THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ

The Director, he or she or it or whatever you prefer to think of it as, is a vital part to the overall game and replayability. I don't think it has been stressed enough that every single time through a scenario is entirely different. Let me repeat that: every single time through a scenario is entirely different. It really messed with my head because I'm so used to games presenting the same challenge over and over. Even games like Counter-Stirke (and I know I might bring up this comparison too often, but as the most widely played action game it should be the easiest method to convey my message), conflicts and firefights only really occur in a few key chokepoints and bombsites. The Director insures that there is never a point where you are completely comfortable or feel safe, not even in the checkpoints (as we found out on a few occasions). You are always on the edge of your seat, hastily scanning every corner and opening just waiting for the inevitable rush of the horde.

This is really the reason why Left 4 Dead is such an exhausting experience - you're in a constant state of paranoia about what might happen. Mike Booth explained to us that the Director is entirely procedural. Not a single trigger or flag or spawn is placed by the mapmakers - the Director is smart enough to figure it all out. The Director takes into account the "stress level" of every individual survivor. It doesn't want anyone to experience a boring game, nor does it want someone to get a heart attack by having a constant stream of zombies, which would really make you numb to the excitement. Instead, there are peaks and valleys. There are times of incredible chaos and others where you won't see a single zombie for some time. Just like any decent horror movie, the moments of silence and uncertainty lead up to the most thrilling and satisfying moments.

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To give you an example, in the first three playthroughs of just the starting apartment building, we had three entirely different experiences. The first time, there were a few zombies spread out pretty thinly throughout the whole apartment, which was fine - it made you be active in each new room you entered. The second time there was barely more than a couple in the entire building, but the Director made up for it in the alley afterwards.. the third time it sort of built up and climaxed in the very middle of the apartment where it was a really awkward place to fight. The Director is a wonderful thing - it keeps you guessing, it makes every experience unique, and most importantly by changing it up it keeps you fully immersed and doesn't let you fall into the same boring pattern of play.


IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS

Okay, so I've at least tried to explain the basics of the feel and pace of the game, but now onto the important stuff - the detail. As I mentioned before, the hospital scenario starts on the roof of an apartment building. This has been explained by a few other previews, but I never really got a clear vision of what exactly it was like from their descriptions so I'll try to go into a little more detail for you.

You're on top of a building armed with a single pistol. There's a wooden table on one side and a door leading into the building in the center. On the wooden table are weapons, ammunition, grenades and health kits. Specifically, one pump shotgun, one Uzi submachine gun, a pile of various ammunitions, four health kits, four Molotov cocktails and four pipe bombs. By pointing your crosshairs at each of these items and pushing the use key, you pick them up. There are four survivors, so each survivor gets a main weapon, health kit and their choice of grenade (you can have either one Molotov cocktail or one pipe bomb). Picking up a grenade or health pack means you actually take the item - since there are only four characters, you'll always each be able to grab one, and then there will be none left. The shotgun and Uzi are different, as are all main weapons, in that when you pick one up the actual model on the table doesn't disappear. I'm guessing that this is so every character has a chance to pick one up and is able to switch weapons while in a checkpoint as many times as they change their mind.

This equipping stage is way better than buying from a menu and it really adds to the immersion level. It definitely gets you pumped and ready to kick some ass.

CHECK PLEASE

You will learn to love red doors. They mark the comfort and safety of checkpoints. As you might already know, the four scenarios in the initial release of the game each contain around 5 maps. These maps are separated by checkpoints, which are safe loading areas where there are usually weapons and health kits to restock on. As soon as your entire team is inside of the checkpoint and you close the door behind you, the achievements screen comes up and the next section of the map is immediately loaded. The way back is blocked; the one time I checked, a file cabinet had fallen in the way of the door so there was no way of backtracking. When the next map loads, every survivor that was dead comes back with half health.

All living survivors have to be in the checkpoint for the next map to load. This provides for some pretty interesting situations. When only one survivor is left, all he has to do is get to the next checkpoint to revive his fallen comrades. The problem is, the Director doesn't play nice when you're in a weakened state - it gives you the same number of infected whether all four of you are alive or if it's just you on your last leg. We personally experienced a few of these moments, and it is great fun rooting on the last survivor.

Once the red door is open, not only can the survivors enter, but also the infected. This results in a Security Breach demerit for whatever idiot let it in. Just incase you were wondering, yes, Tanks can indeed make their way into checkpoints - and no, it is not pretty.

[JamesBPK]

AND THE WINNER IS..

So, what happens when you make it to the end? In the case of the hospital scenario, the location is on the hospital roof. It's a giant building and the roof has many structures and openings for zombies to come around and through. On one side of the roof, there is a large storage facility with a sort of lookout/guard tower on top (see image on right and below). If you climb on top of the storage facility and then go up the stairs of the tower, in the top room there is a window with an attached machine gun. Also in the facility is a radio for calling in the rescue helicopter and a few gasoline barrels for spreading around. On the opposite side of the roof is the actual helicopter pad where the helicopter will come and rescue you.

The finale works like this: The four of you (survivors) have battled your way all the way to the roof. As soon as you get to the storage facility, the Director lets you get prepared by stopping all zombie horde and boss spawns. For once you are actually safe! Take this time to spread out the gasoline containers (when you shoot them, they ignite and cover the ground with fire just like Molotov cocktails), get positioned and make sure a person is on the machine gun. When ready, somebody will use the radio to call for the rescue helicopter and the finale begins!

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A countdown timer appears on the screen that lets you know how long until the helicopter arrives. This is when the real fun starts. The next few minutes are spent defending yourselves from wave after wave after wave of zombie attacks, and it really offers some of the most intense and scary moments of the game. To give you an example of what happened to me, I was on the roof of the storage facility with the M16 mowing down the horde, and everything seemed to be going great. Suddenly, without warning, a Smoker tongue darted right for my neck from a nearby roof. I was caught! The tongue yanked me off the roof and I lay helpless and injured right where the zombie horde had been coming through. I screamed for help. A fellow survivor ran out from the facility, trying to beat the next wave - right when he got to me, we heard the oncoming threat. The machine gunner did all he could to cover us, but a few of them still made it past. My rescuer stopped helping me up, swung his gun, pushed back the zombies, and blasted them right in the chest. With the current danger over, he finished helping me up and we both made it safely back to the storage facility to get ready for the next wave.

For most of the scenario, you only ever have to face one Tank at a time. In the case of the finale, though, two are spawned at once! This unpleasant feature brought some of the most intense and heart-pounding events that many times led to death for at least some of the survivors (such as myself). It's hard enough when everyone is focusing on one Tank to take him down before he does any real damage, but for two, it's near impossible. The one tool that does give you at least a chance of destroying them is the mounted machine gun. The machine gun has unlimited ammo and never needs cooling down, so it spews out a constant stream of bullets that do major damage to whoever is in the crosshairs. The weakness of it being that it is mounted and has a limited range of vision. Smart Tanks will do best knowing where they can avoid it, and even smarter Tanks (like the one I had the pleasure of meeting) will decide to take the fight right to the machine gun room. Flaming Tank + Small Room = One Really Bad Day.

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Okay, so maybe you actually survive until the helicopter arrives. The landing pad is on the entire other side of the roof (pictured above), which means you and your team will have to abandon your fortifications and venture across it. This is a whole different danger, as boss infected will be ready and waiting since you're going into their territory. More than a couple of times we had our dreams of escaping snatched away at the last moment, like the time I was heading toward the helicopter ladder when a Smoker yanked me from the landing pad all the way into a mass of ravenous zombies (it ended badly for me). Once you actually do climb up the ladder and board the helicopter, there is another mounted machine gun waiting for someone. The helicopter takes off, flying around the building allowing you to see and shoot at the infected horde. When you finally have this experience with all four survivors still alive, words can't describe the feeling of victory and accomplishment.