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Windows XP |
| List Price
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$49.99
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$39.99
(Save 20%)
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| Published by | Electronic Arts |
| Release date | |
| ASIN | B000PS4X7S |
| Availability | Usually ships in 24 hours |
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Set in a modern day survival-horror universe, the co-operative gameplay of Left 4 Dead (L4D) casts four "Survivors" in an epic struggle against hordes of swarming zombies and terrifying "Boss Infected" mutants. Developed by Turtle Rock Studios and Valve, creators of the Counter-Strike and Half-Life games, the latest AI technology allows for multiplayer games of one to eight players.A new and highly virulent strain of the rabies virus emerges and spreads through the human population with frightening speed. The pandemic's victims become grotesquely disfigured widely violent psychopaths, attacking the uninfected on sight. As one of the "lucky" few apparently immune to the sickness, you, unfortunately, are also trapped in a city crawling with thousands of the bloodthirsty Infected. Alone, you're dead. But together with a handful of fellow survivors, you might just fight your way to safety.Players can play as a Survivor or as one of four types of Boss Infected, each of whom possess a unique mutant ability, such as a 50-foot tongue lasso or a giant belly full of explosive methane gas. The gameplay of L4D is set across four massive campaigns. The zombie population of each mission is choreographed by an AI Director that monitors the human players' actions and creates a unique and dramatic experience for them on the fly.
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Customer Reviews - courtesy of Amazon.com
If my wife can enjoy it... it's a GREAT game!
Usually speaking, if I play Counterstrike my wife sits back and says "this is so boring, I don't know how you enjoy it."
When I first got Left 4 Dead (off of Steam, right through Valve the BEST way to do it!), she watched me play and before long, she was pointing out the smoker, to watch the corner for the hidden zombie, and was shrieking with delight when the 'horde' came after me and the 3 other players. I usually play with a headset, but having her there I turned on the speakers, and she was shouting "Get them, get them!", or "Watch out!", or "Nice hit!".
When my wife can appreciate the game I'm playing, it's a DAMN good game. And not because she appreciates it, but simply because I can play without getting too much flack about it. That said, the game is insanely fun, and it's different with every group you play with so just get in there and HAVE FUN! New levels seem to be cropping up by the players, so it should be replayable for some time, and given the setup, I can see long term single maps come up too, in the same realm as "use map settings" maps from Starcraft, that eventually spawned Tower Defense and others.
Get this one folks, it's a blast to play, make sure you have a microphone and KILL THE HORDE!
Fun to play, Multiplayer only, not enough maps
This game is fun to play, not really a story but that's a good thing as we've all seen the movies and played the other games and know the story anyways, why waste our time rehashing it?
The graphics are pretty good as well, with Valves strengths for me being the environments and the movement of the characters, especially the zombies. It's really fun not knowing where the next rush of zombies is going to come from and just picking off the ones that are aimless. It's a blast to see them all running at you in huge numbers and just blasting away. The details in the environment are well done also like scrawlings on the wall from previous survivors and the details of a hospital or house interior. The sound is also pretty good, with the zombies making different sounds and the witches crying. The weapons sound pretty realistic as well. Your AI teammates have a variety of things to say that make sense based on the situation, they yell at you if you accidentally shoot them and call out where the zombies are coming from.
One of the things that was nice was there was no real directions given, no map, nothing other than if you wander the wrong way you'll eventually hit a dead end and then have to explore until you find your way. When you get close to an important point it does a good job of letting you know you are there and what you need to do.
The things I didn't like were the lack of more than 4-5 standard weapons, a flamethrower, bat or other option would be nice. Granted it does give you the major type of weapons but I'd like to see more powerful and different ones. Also the bots can get in the way at times and lag behind you too much. I didn't have a problem with the save system but if you were playing with others it could be a problem, essentially you can't save wherever you want it has to be at a safe house.
Another bad thing was that I don't play co-op online and this is what this game is for really. I want to stay a casual gamer and going online really is a time consuming thing as well as some of the people can be obnoxious. I've played through all of the 4 maps on single player and am interested in playing them again but it's just not enough to really pay full price for.
So make sure you are willing and able to play co-op if you get this game, otherwise it is not worth it. I think the plan is probably to come up with new maps and sell them online through Steam or have the modders generate them because even with multiplayer I could see this being too small an area to keep coming back to again and again.
You have been left... Left 4 Dead
Suprisingly enough, I wasn't very enthusiastic towards Left 4 Dead. I knew it was going to be a big hit, and it combined 2 of my most cherished/favored elements, Zombies and Co-op gameplay. Perhaps it was due to the massive amounts of Co-op Zombie Mods on Steam, but believe me, this is a game that is well worth your time and hard-earned money.
Left 4 Dead isn't so much a game, as it is an experience. Echoing screams rattle through corridors, you can see the terrified looks on your companion's faces, and hordes of carnivorous undead will strike your squad at any minute. What makes the game so good? Well in typical Valve tradition, you NEED to work with your team to survive and make your way to a "Safe Room" where you can equip weapons and refill ammo. Say you wander off from your party, well if your attacked by a Hunter (The only way to remove them is if a buddy comes to give him a bullet filled suprise) well then, your in trouble.
L4D is home to some truly good sound design. Every character seems to have the voice to fit that look, and the music always kicks up at just the right time to up the adrenaline.
The Graphics are also fairly good. This is running off the same engine that powered Half Life 2, so you know what to expect.
The Bad? Well the game is a bit on the short side. Its split up into about (I believe 4) Stages, each with multiple chapters that take about 30-45 minutes to complete. However, that is no big issue at all. Each Stage/Chapter is highly replayable, and the AI Director makes sure things never get to hard or easy.
The AI director basically alters just about everything in the Chapter the second time you play through. If you breezed through it without any real challenge thats fine, just don't expect a cake-walk the second time through.
The game sports a very "Tounge in Cheek" style to it. The stages are set up like movies sporting a "Grindhouse-esque" title. Each character is cliche'd (The biker, the teen, the War hardened Veteran,etc.) and when one of them fails to make it to the end, that movie becomes dedicated to them. It works very well, especially because the game never tries to make itself to dramatic or to horrific, this can be easily detected by the characters spouting sometimes hilarious One Liners.
If you like Zombies, get it. If you like Co-op gameplay with a deeply terrifying atmosphere, get it. If you own a PC (Or 360), get it. This deserves every gamer's attention.
An "old" dude's opinion ...
This is probably one of the finest FPS survival-horror games I have played, and I am playing this on an older P4 XP computer with a GT7600 card (a few settings at "medium").
It looks and plays great ... very smooth. It might be sensless crazy action ... but, hey, it is extremely fun and entertaining, especially co-op play. I give this game ... Five missing thumbs up! Recommended.
Mindless killing - Mindless buying.........
I think this game is a over-hyped, been there-done-that kind of thing. Really, where's the strategy in all the mindless killing of zombies? Yeah, if you just want to shoot something over and over its fun but if you want more in the way of game content and innovation then look else where. Valve games are all over hyped with HL2 as the exception. I have been playing PC games for years and I can't believe so many fan boys here buy into it. There is so much more to PC gaming with Fallout 3 being a great example of a real game. My honest opinion about LFD is that it's nothing but a updated version of last years "Hell Gate London" but done better. Good Luck.
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