June 2, 2009

• Left 4 Dead 2 at E3

  

  I know most of you who followed E3 already know this.  Left 4 Dead 2 has been announced to be released on November 17!!  I was super excited to hear about it then after I saw the trailer and some gameplay videos, I’m feeling a little bit disappointed.  I loved L4D, we play it constantly ever since it was released up until we got all gold in survival mode.  We never got into Death Toll and Dead Air versus, it felt weird and it wasn’t as fun as the other two.

  My first reaction upon viewing the gameplay vids is that…”Hmmm, does it look a bit cartoony or just me?”.  Then I asked a few friends who I’ve play L4D with about it and they agreed.  The cartoony look takes away the frightening elements of the game.  I admit that after playing many many games of L4D you get use to the zombies and what not.  But they still should of left it the way it was for some realism. 

  They also introduced melee weapons.  Axe, frying pan, baseball bat, and chainsaw.  Frying pan?!?!  C’mon, the last thing I want to kill a zombie with is a frying pan.  I guess they put it in as a humor item.  They say melee weapons possess one-hit kill towards general zombies, isn’t it a bit too powerful?  I could see myself just mainly use it and save my ammo for the special infected and crescendo moments.  I don’t know if you still get a pistol because I haven’t seen it in the vids or read about it.

  Special items like the incendiary bullets that set zombies on fire when you hit them.  What?!?  Even though it’s only a temporary boost item still sounds too helpful.  L4D was always about challenging yourself and teammates.  Choosing the best moment to throw the molotov or pipe bomb can win or lose the game.  Items were scarce and you learn to use them wisely.  I wonder what other special items are there.

  They also changed how crescendo moments and the end of a campaign works.  It’s nice to see that they don’t want you to hole up somewhere anymore, instead you have to battle your way to safety.  We all know currently it’s boring and easy to camp out, so I’m looking forward to try my skills.  Also a new special infected have been mentioned, Charger.  He’s like a mad zombie bull that will tackle you if you’re in his way; he also can grab and pile drive you to death.  In the new day time level the witch wonders around and if you’re not careful during the heat of the battle you can accidentally make her mad.  We all know that a mad witch is not fun to deal with, think of your gf/bf/mom nagging at you for playing too much video games.

  Even though it’s being previewed at E3, it still is an almost complete product.  Six months to continue testing and fix bugs before it’s released.  There are some thing I like and dislike about it, I just hope it all works out well mixing the new with the old.  Six months….I wish I was at E3 giving it a whirl right now.  L4D is one of those games that you just can’t put down and perhaps I will say the same for L4D2.

  Articles/screenshots/vids here, here

  What do you think about the improvements?  Sweet or meh?

  • 2:53 pm
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