Left 4 Dead 2 demo impressions, or "Fight me like a man"

primesuspect

Left 4 Dead 2 demo impressions, or "Fight me like a man"

Koreish

I assume the demo wouldn't let you play as the infected. But did you notice anything different about the way they came at you or anything new from the older infected?

Winfrey

The game seemed like it had a pretty major graphic overhaul as well. Infected would dismember in more realistic ways, such as holes in their body or gibbed arms. I got chased by an armless infected, which made me think of a classic sketch in Monty Python's Holy Grail.

The game also seemed more difficult, zombies didn't just rag doll after you shot them, it was a trickier to tell if they were really down.

So far, with just access to the campaign, I like what I have played. I think versus mode will be really great with the new special infected, I have many great strategies already to put into effect on unsuspecting survivors

ardichoke

Augh... must finish shift and go play this!!!11!1

SirCandle

I HEAR A BITCH! The old infected acted mostly the same but the new ones are going to change versus drastically

RyanFodder

More lobby? they couldn't put in a new way of finding a server? This alone will make me hesitate to buy this game.

MAGIC

CannonFodder wrote:

More lobby? they couldn't put in a new way of finding a server? This alone will make me hesitate to buy this game.

OMFG i hope they make running a dedicated server for this easier than it was at the EPIC...
/slitwrists.

ardichoke

I don't know why everyone complained about lobby, I've never had a problem using it. Just finished my first run through of the demo. The only complaint I have is that you have to choose pistol or melee, you can't carry both. I love crushing some zombie skulls with the guitar though.

Winfrey

The way the dedicated server is set up for L4D (the first one) I don't know how people were expected to play the game competitively. What a PITA.

Hopefully Valve does a better job with L4D2's dedicated server, and connection to games in general.

Idiot_Slayer

Roving witch is even scarier, oh and don't hit her with bile, the horde doesn't arrive in time to keep you from getting torn apart (oh and while she is on top of you 40 zombies swarm around you so you're teamates can't shoot her or get you up)

_k

sniper rifle, i took her down with less than a clip. The SCAR takes almost a full mag.

Gate28

When I played the demo they had at PAX, the AI for the special infected was infinitely better than L4D, they actually worked together!

cola

Dude, I've played through expert three times while "fighting like a man," they didn't even stand a chance.

patrickcabenjamin

I want this golly gosh darned game right now

Shorty

patrickcabenjamin wrote:

I want this golly gosh darned game right now

I concur. Please now please.

karmicRetribute

I like the option to swap pistol's for melee, this should liven things up a bit, and the visuals... Who doesn't derive sick pleasure from wading through the innards of the zombie you just sliced open with your machete =P

Cyclonite

I finally played through again last night and got a hold of the machete. That is a freakin' sick melee weapon.

sunsin

Looks good, but I'm worried that L4D is going to be TF2'd, so to speak. Some of the additions seem like definite improvements and filling in obvious holes in L4D 1 -- the mobile witch and the melee weapons, more weapons in general, and a more open map space (which Valve initially said they had tested and had been rejected by the playtesters -- wonder if they just got different playtesters). However, some of it seems to be drifting in the jackass direction of many of the specialized TF2 weapons and addons, which in my opinion complicate the game in tiresome ways. The Smoker was already bending the game a bit in L4D 1, since his tongue goes beyond Tank-muscles Hunter-jumping improbable to ridiculously impossible. However, the Smoker performed a necessary function in the game and so his essential silliness could be overlooked. It looks as if with additions such as the Jockey, Valve has decided to max out the silly in the hopes of pleasing Generation ADHD. Adrenaline syringes laying around? Just reminds us how improbable the original health packs and pills were, and spoils the illusion (seriously, would YOU inject yourself with a syringe you'd found on the street? -- I can't wait for the mod where the characters get hepatitis or AIDS). And a defibrillator to revive dead players? Bullshit, unless they died of cardiac arrhythmia.

I just hope they don't turn this game into the sort of clown car that TF2 has become. Oh wait.... clown car?.... gaah....

primesuspect

Let me get this straight...

You want... realism...

in a ... zombie game...

Winfrey

Are you just pointing out various improbabilities in a game that is centered around an apocalyptic world caused by a zombie creating disease?

Obsidian

Well there is a newly announced realism mode. Doesn't do much to solve your issues though.

Basil

sunsin wrote:

Adrenaline syringes laying around?

There are more common than you might expect.

Adrenaline (or epinephrine for you foreign savages ) autojets are prescribed for anaphylaxis.
Though fairly dilute chances are you could find an anapen/epipen or two somewhere after the zombie apoclapse.

Anon

I gotta be honest. I just got down playing through the demo, and I was sort of unimpressed. I /loved/ the first game, but the second one just seems... lacking. First of all, I love all the new infected and they way they blow apart and the graphics, all awesome. But the characters are just so one-dimensional. Where's the love/hate relationships and quirks and etc from Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis? And the other thing that was a big let down was the melee weapons. Honestly. Dual wielding pistols, I can fire them both like a machine gun, and take down almost anything before it gets to me. And if it gets to me, I can melee it with my pistols. The melee weapons are cool and all, but if I have to choose between that and the pistols, pistols are much better. Suppose I'm ranting at this point, but I gotta say, had my hopes up, and pretty let down by this so far. One last note, it is just me, or was this game way easier than the first?

ardichoke

Kind of hard to pass full judgment based on only the demo. The characters seemed quite 1 dimensional in the original L4D demo as well. It wasn't until you played the full version that they were really fleshed out and became amusing characters. As for the melee weapons, sure you could melee zombies with the pistols however you had to do that repeatedly to actually kill them. With the melee weapons, however, it actually kills the zombies with a single whack. That makes them quite useful especially if you get boomered and swarmed. I can take down a swarm that's all around me a lot quicker with an axe (or guitar, or machete) than with a pistol. Though yes, the pistols do offer a different advantage, the melee weapons are much stronger up close. As for the ease, I'm definitely going to have to disagree there. This one remains challenging even after I've played L4D tons over the last year. If I were playing 2 having never played L4D, this would be a way more challenging game than L4D was for me originally. The fact that 2 challenges me as much as 1 did when I first played it suggests to me the game has been made at least marginally more difficult. Anyway, that's just my 2 cents.

ben

To Anon above - I found the demo much easier than the original game, yes, particular Advanced, which is now a walk in the park. Expert seems just as tough as always, which is good news.

ardichoke

Anyone who says that the new one is easier than 1 after playing the full version is nuts. I teamed up with one of my usual teammates from work to hunt zombie tonight. We can usually blow through a campaign on Advanced easily even with 2 strangers or 2 bots. After 3 hours we were still not able to complete a single campaign. We turned the difficulty down to normal and were still having a hard time of it. They have definitely cranked the intensity knob up to 11 on this one.

_k

I would say the game is easier ardi. After a few server crashes I ended up playing with one friend that is what I consider above average for l4d and we were screwing around a lot and wandering all over the map. In each section everyone was being downed at least 2 and we just kept rolling through. To me it feels more aggravating because the pump shotgun has fewer rounds, campaign has fatigue now, and when you blow off a zombies arm they don't always die which is currently screwing with my play style.

ardichoke

So... its easier yet more aggravating. If it's aggravating you, it would suggest to me that it is, in fact, not easier. If it was easier you should be breezing through without any frustration, aggravation, etc. Also, it may have been the campaign I was playing I suppose... the section of pitch black sewers followed by the car lot with all the alarms is a bitch.

_k

aggravation != difficulty

ardichoke

I'm aware of that. I was saying that aggravation is often an indication that the task at hand is difficult.

_k

eh If you talked to Ridick I think he would say I have the zombie killing part of the game down.