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LEFT 4 DEAD HYPE THREAD VALVE HORROR FIRST-PERSON SHOOTER PC/360 1-4 Player Cooperative/1-8 Player Versus HYPE LEVEL: AAA Watch the Awesome Game Intro Right Now The Unofficial Gamespot Left 4 Dead Steam Group
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REVIEWS
- Gamespot Review: 8.5/10
- G4TV: 5/5
- 1up: A-
- Giant Bomb: 4/5
- Game Infromer: 9.25
- Gamespy Review: 4.5 Out of 5
- IGN Review Coming: 9
- Edge Magazine: 9
- OXM: 9
- Team Xbox: 9.1
- The Exploding Barrel: 9.5
- NG4: 9.7
- Maximum PC: 10
The Official System Requirements
- OS: Windows Vista, XP or 2000
- CPU: 3.0 GHz P4, Dual Core 2.0 or AMD64X2 (or higher)
- RAM: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
- DISC DRIVE: DVD-ROM Drive
- HARD DRIVE: At least 7.5 GB of free space
- VIDEO: Direct X 9 compatible video card (Video card must be 256 MB or more and should be a DirectX 9-compatible with support for pixel shader 2.0)
- SOUND: Direct X9.0c compatible sound card
Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter being made by Valve (Developers of Half-Life). It pits four humans (referred to as survivors) against hordes of zombies (referred to as infected); The Infected are similar to the zombies seen in the film 28 Days Later. Left 4 Dead was a suprising hit at E3 08' and walked away with Gamespot's Editors' Best Shooter and Best PC Game awards. 
Structure of the Game
Left 4 Dead at it's core is get from Point A to Point B alive. In your way lies the infected and the bosses (More on them Later). The Game is being designed with replayability in mind. Every time you play the game will be a unique experience as zombies never appear in the same place twice (See AI Director). The game is comprised of 4 scenarios (referred to as movies), consisting of 5 maps, making for a grand total of 20 maps. The maps are linked together by safe rooms. Once all living survivors are inside the safe room, the next map in the scenario is loaded. While loading, the game will display stats showing the MVP in certain areas. For example, the player with the least amount of friendly fire damage or who killed the most infected. However, bad stats will also be displayed, like who inflicted the most friendly fire damage, or exploded the Boomer near teammates. Once the next map loads, any dead players from the last round will respawn and everyone will get a chance to restock on ammo and health.
The Last Map in each scenario is the finale. Instead of reaching a safe room, you usually hold down an area until some form of help arrives (in the case of the hospital scenario, a helicopter is coming to your rescue on top of the roof). If you survive long enough to make it on the chopper, you have completed the scenario. Keeping in mind the movie theme that Left 4 Dead has going, the "credits" will then roll, which happen to be the overall stats for the entire movie.
Lastly there will be moments in the game where zombies are spawned by triggers. For example, in one of the hospital maps, you press the call button for the elevator, which triggers an infected attack. These moments are referred to as Crescendo Events. One can take advantage of these events, since you control when the infected will appear, and can prepare yourself for the attack. Sometimes there will be gasoline containers you can place and shoot to create fire walls, or a near by mounted gun that a player may use.
Game Modes
Single Player
While Left 4 Dead is designed with multiplayer in mind; you can traverse the entire campaign by yourself with bots controlling your teammates. The Bots have been stated to be quite capable, but nothing beats playing with a buddy.
Campaign/Coop
While Playing Online with Friends in the Coop mode, the boss infected will be controlled by the AI. In this mode, dead survivors may spawn in locked rooms, and wait for their teammates to let them out.
Versus
Versus mode lets four more players enter the game as the Boss Infected players. This mode is designed to challenge even the most roughened survivors. The Boss Infected spawn much quicker than in the Campaign Mode (around 20-30 seconds). Survivors in this mode can only respawn in safe rooms, so when you die, you're out until the next map. The goal for the survivors remains the same, get to the safe room. The Boss Infected have to do their best to stop the humans from reaching their goal.
The two teams play a map until all the survivors die or reach the safe room. Then they flip sides, and play the same map. Once the new survivor team finishes, the score for both teams is displayed based on various factors and the game loads up the next map in the scenario. Once the End of the scenario is reached, the final score is displayed, and the winning team is announced.
THE AI DIRECTOR
The driving force in Left 4 Dead is referred to as the AI Director. The Director's influence is felt everywhere. Primarily it controls where and how many zombies spawn. It will react to how players are progressing through a map. So for example, a team of coordinated players will result in the Director throwing larger hordes at you more frequently. If the team is doing bad (Shooting each other, or constantly getting hurt), then the game will throw hordes at you comprised of less enemies. This does not mean Left 4 Dead is an easy game, if players expect to beat a map, they must work as a team, once things start to go bad, it's hard to recover.
The Director will also reward coordinated players with Dramatic Payoffs. For example, a scene was shown at E3 08' at a gas station. The Team who was doing bad had a battle with few infected, and moved on. However the next clip was shown of a team that was doing well, which resulted in a large horde attacking and subsequently the gas station exploded into a spectacle of flames and smoke.
The director has some influence over ammo and health placements outside of safe rooms, but there will placements that are always in a specific place. And again, to set the move theme, the Director is able to set the tone of the game by amplifying and changing the background music and post process effects. The main goal of the director is to adjust the pace of the game to create hills and valleys; resulting in moments of quiet suspense followed by adrenaline pounding action.
COOP EXPERIENCE
The game features Drop-In/Drop-Out support, meaning that if you start up a game by yourself, players can hop in and take control of an ai controlled survivor immediately. Likewise they can leave the game, and the ai will resume control. Another interesting feature is when a player goes afk, the AI will automatically take control of the player until he returns. You can turn this option on manually as well. It is unknown how the game will handle achievements when in this afk mode.
Team work is vital to success in Left 4 Dead. Aside from the fact that more survivors means more guns shooting infected, there are situations in the game where the players must cooperate to save someone in jeopardy. Once a player reaches zero health in left 4 Dead, they fall to the floor. While on the floor, Players are unable to move, but they can still fire their weapons in a prone like position. These downed players only have a certain amount of time before they bleed out and die, but if another survivor comes and picks them up; they can continue to play. A player may only fall down three times without using a health pack until they die.
While the characters themselves possess no abilities that set them apart, the weapon load out that each team chooses will serve to give them specialty roles. The hunting rifle is useful to take down infected at a distance and is more suited for rural, open maps. Likewise, the shotgun is a good choice in enclosed spaces, such as the hospital scenario. Every survivor is able to carry just one medkit at any given time, which may be used on themselves or their friends.
To encourage good sportsmanship, the game's ai monitors everyone's actions, and at each safe room/check point, the game displays various stats. Such examples are who shot the killed the most infected, and healed the most teammates. On the other hand, the game will also display who did the most friendly fire damage (Friendly Fire is ALWAYS on with the exception of easy mode) or shoots a boomer near teammates. These stats are permanent like TF2, and players will easily be able to view these stats and see who is worth teaming up with or not in the matchmaking lobby. While in game, there is a voting system in place that allows players to kick players out or block them from using explosive weapons like the pipe bomb if they are incapable of using it properly. Up to this point, you may of been thinking this formula may get old quick, but don't forget about the...
BOSS INFECTED
HUNTER
The Hunter lurks in the shadows. He crawls around the ground when crouched, and waits for the Survivors to draw near. His special attack allows him to pounce on a single survivor; pinning him to the ground. While pinned to the ground, the Hunter slashes at his victim. The only way the survivor can escape is if another survivor deals damage to the hunter. The Hunter is similar to smoker in his intended role of encouraging Cooperation and Separating survivors from the group.
SMOKER
The Smoker is able to blend in with the horde. When killed, the Smoker explodes leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke. The Smoker's Special Attack allows him to shoot his tongue out at survivors. If a survivor is hit, he or she is dragged towards the Smoker while being suffocated. If the survivor is hit, he has a few split seconds to shoot the Smoker himself before being dragged and choked. Otherwise like the hunter, the only way a survivor can escape is if another survivor deals damage to the Smoker. The Smoker main role is to literally separate survivors.
BOOMER
The Boomer is the fat man. When the Boomer is killed, he explodes covering survivors in Vomit, attracting the horde towards you while impairing your vision. The Boomer's Special Attack allows him to vomit, covering Survivors in Vomit at a range. The Boomer's role is basically to cause chaos, and was created since he is the only exception to the rule of Shoot Anything Dead...well maybe besides the Witch.
TANK
The Tank is a mountain of Muscles. He is the strongest of all the infected, and will not go down easily. The Tank's Special Attack allows him to hurl debris at a survivor causing massive damage if it successfully hits. The Tank's main attack will basically launch survivors into the air, dealing massive damage and separating them from the group. The Tank is able to change the pace of the game, and can bring a well balanced team to its knees.
WITCH
The Only Boss that is unplayable in the versus mode; the Witch is a crying infected woman, who curls up in a fetal position on the ground. I cannot stress this enough, Avoid Her. If the Witch is disturbed by Gunfire, Flash Lights, or Simply the Presence of a nearby Survivor, she will stand up and KO the offender in one hit.
Scenarios/Movies
No Mercy-
No Mercy is an Urban Campaign that ends on top of the Hospital. It takes you through Sewers and a Subway Station.
Blood Harvest-
Blood Harvest Is a Rural Campaign that ends at the Farm House. It takes you through the Woods and into a Dangerous Cornfield
Dead Air-
Dead Air is an Urban campaign that ends on an Airport Runway. It takes you through a construction site and into the airport terminal.
Death Toll-
Not much is known about this rural scenario except it involves murky countryside and a water filtration plant. Judging from the Achievement for completing the scenario, you escape on a boat.
General Info
-Steam Cloud will launch with the Left 4 Dead Demo on November 6.
-Left 4 Dead utilizes a matchmaking system, and is the first appearance of a matchmaking system on Steam. It could potentially be used in games like Counter Strike Source and Team Fortress 2.
-The survivors are Bill- The Veteran,Francis- The Biker, Zoey- The Girl, andLouis- The Black Guy
-Loading Screens will be stylized as Movie Posters, to fit in with the B-Horror Film atmosphere
-Left 4 Dead will feature over 8,000 lines of dialogue
-Will receive regular updates and downloadable content like Team Fortress 2
-Designer's Commentary mode allows gamers to go "behind the scenes" of the game
-The 360 Version looks nearly identical to the PC version, and plays just the same (Infected AI and Attributes are not changed). There is a quick 180 degree turn bound the Right Bumper, and there is a slight auto aim included
-360 and PC has Splitscreen coop, and supports up to two players. Your friend may play online with you as a guest
-There is No Cross Platform Play between the 360 and PC
-The 360 version will have dedicated servers hosted by Valve. Valve also promises to ship post-release content on the 360 faster than the TF2 content
-A separate game company named Certain Affinity is handling the Xbox 360 version. Certain Affinity is a small game developer founded in November 2006 based in Austin, Texas with about 16 employees. Their first product was Halo 2's Blastacular Map Pack for Bungie and Microsoft. Certain Affinity is led by Max Hoberman, a 10-year Bungie veteran who was multiplayer lead for both Halo 2 and Halo 3.
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