By John Walker on October 29th, 2009 at 12:01 am.
The Left 4 Dead 2 demo is go. If you pre-loaded it on Steam, it should have unlocked now. (If it isn’t showing up for you, quit out of Steam and restart.) If not, get downloading. And then let us know what you think below.
29/10/2009 at 00:03 DJ Phantoon says:
Argh! Damn you Brits! I have to wait seven more hours!
29/10/2009 at 00:05 Lagmint says:
I’m really curious what people think of it. I’m really hoping they maps are as little like Crash Course as possible, because Jesus that’s a bad Campaign map. Too flat, not enough interesting details (jumping off the bridge into a narrow alley is the only interesting part I can even remember).
29/10/2009 at 00:26 Vinraith says:
Crash Course was thrown together in a couple of months, L4D2 has been in the works for at least a year, possibly more. I’ve no doubt the maps are better, even if I’m not interested in the game myself.
29/10/2009 at 10:31 Uglycat says:
Strange, I really love CC. It’s short and perky, and has witches and tanks, and doesn’t require 2 1/2 hours of non-interruptable time that the other campaigns offer.
29/10/2009 at 11:50 CMaster says:
I haven’t played Crash Course anything like enough to offer an opinion on how good it is overall.
What I would say is that it sure doesn’t feel like it’s built for versus. Almost every single rooftop or hiding position I wanted to get to as an infected was denied to me. The most ridiculous one being when the players are going under a bridge which you can see cars/trains (I don’t recall which) – and you aren’t allowed on top of it.
29/10/2009 at 00:05 DJ Phantoon says:
Scratch that, Steam just doesn’t work right on this computer. I’ll figure out why it’s telling me it’s not ready.
29/10/2009 at 00:08 kwyjibo says:
Delayed without explanation.
Great that it’s finally out, but I’d have thought that Valve would want to make Steam look a bit better than Xbox Live.
29/10/2009 at 00:09 Archonsod says:
Lost all interest in L4D2 after Borderlands :P
29/10/2009 at 02:13 Dave says:
I’m there. I wish the truly excellent games and game deals didn’t cluster so much around this time of year. But I figure maybe I’ll have cooled a little on Borderlands by the time there’s a big discount on L4D2. If I don’t manage to get hooked back on RFG or Torchlight in the meantime…
29/10/2009 at 00:09 El_MUERkO says:
not unlocked for me :*(
29/10/2009 at 00:10 TheLordHimself says:
But borderlands isn’t activated until tomorrow?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!
29/10/2009 at 00:32 Thrawny says:
my boxed copy of Borderlands turned up today, didnt require any activation that i noticed.
29/10/2009 at 00:12 Haircute says:
Damn it. I doubt I’ll be enjoying the demo at all. I love my girlfriend but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the thoughtful gift of preordering the game at Gamestop for me would most likely prohibit me from playing the eventual demo since I’m not getting it through steam now…
29/10/2009 at 09:49 Catastrophe says:
Ahwell, you’ve get more enjoyment out of playing the full thing when its released and you’ll enjoy it much more than someone who has slightly burned themself out on the demo :]
29/10/2009 at 00:20 Saul says:
Decrypting….
I thought Crash Course was awesome– much more dynamic, open design than the original campaigns.
And yeah, Borderlands isn’t out until tomorrow in Australia and Europe, after they promised Tuesday on Steam… so L4D2 demo still wins!
29/10/2009 at 07:28 Saul says:
I love it. It’s familiar yet at the same time entirely new. The weapons feel much more solid and the daylight gives it a completely different atmosphere. With the new weapons, items and specials and the more open maps, it’s much more of a variety show, which keeps you on your toes and prevents you falling back into the same old routines. The running climax is particularly cool.
29/10/2009 at 19:32 yutt says:
Valve pulled off a marketing miracle by convincing people a hacked together, unpolished, short campaign was somehow superior.
Truly is incredible how you only need a little savvy marketing-speak to convince people bad is good.
“Streamlined, fast-paced campaign!”
30/10/2009 at 15:05 Geoff says:
You’re so right. Entertainment is not really subjective, and only clever folks like you have observed the objective inferiority here. Also, $20 indie games are clearly inferior to EA’s $60 games, but the silly journalist conspiracy has convinced people they “like” these games.
29/10/2009 at 00:24 LewieP says:
I’ve played a fair bit of it earlier on today on the 360. A lot of fun.
People in the UK wanting to get the demo early without having to commit to preordering: Go to gamestation, preorder it, (without any commitment, or putting any money down) and then they’ll give you the code to unlock the demo early.
29/10/2009 at 00:29 Poindexter says:
Decrypting at 50%. I don’t know if I’ll get to it tonight or not. Hopefully it speeds up decrypting.
29/10/2009 at 00:44 CMaster says:
Wait, is this for pre-order people only? Because I can’t find a way to DL it over steam.
Beyond that, am not overly interested. I played L4D for about 3-4 months almost every day, then just stopped. Have barley been back. Even though it sounds like they fixed a lot of the things wrong with L4D1, it just doesn’t seem able to provoke anything other than apathy in me. A quick pick up of the 360 version an Eurogamer Expo only made that worse, with L4D2 being one of the “meh” games I tried.
29/10/2009 at 01:40 Tyshalle says:
Playing it 3-4 months every day doesn’t constitute a good game in your opinion? I can’t think of a single game I’ve ever played that often for that length of time. And I’ve logged a LOT of hours into L4D and TF2.
29/10/2009 at 01:55 lagmint says:
Maybe he means he’s bored of L4D1, and L4D2 looks similar to him? That’s my guess, heh.
29/10/2009 at 01:58 Tyshalle says:
Sure, and that’s valid enough. Though it seems to me that if you can get 4 months of daily play time into 4 campaigns, having 5 more released should give you a bit of fun too.
29/10/2009 at 09:38 CMaster says:
What? Where did I ever say that L4D wasn’t a good game?
It had it’s faults (crescendos, closet camping, horrendous matchmaking) and despite the time spent playing always felt a bit like questionable value, but I always thought it was a very, very good game.
But new campaigns don’t interest me. I’ve played crash course once. I downloaded Death Abroad and a couple of the other better reviewed custom campaigns. They’ve gone unplayed. I played the 360 version of L4D2 and walked away after 5 minutes feeling thoroughly uninterested. I’m not arguing that L4D2 is a poor game because of this. Just explaining why I’m not overly interested.
It’s perhaps also worth commenting that I was apprehensive when I bought L4D. About whether it was good value, whether it would last etc. I bought because of past good experience with Valve – that they made games that I routinely enjoyed (although I hadn’t at this point gotten in to TF2 – that came after for me) and that they were good at fixing up and expanding their other games. In the end, longevity came from Versus which Valve had apparently underestimated and while important exploits were fixed, we never really saw much in the way of expansion or development of L4D until the rather uninspiring Crash Course. While I’m in no way angry at Valve, the fact that they chose to fix the bigger gameplay problems through a sequel rather than tweaking up the old one was a little disappointing – made me feel a bit like paying to beta test – and I’m a lot more hesitant about taking the risk on L4D which I was wavering about than on L4D2.
Of course, it could well be that 12 months down the line I’m no longer burned out on L4D-style play and then there’ll be nothing stopping me picking up L4D2 – I’m sure it will sustain a good size community. Sorry this has gone on a bit long and vaguely – you were misunderstanding me and I’m just trying to explain where I am coming from.
29/10/2009 at 12:43 Vandelay says:
I agree completely with CMaster’s apprehension about this sequel. I have no qualms about Valve releasing it, or it being a full sequel rather than an expansion, but I’m not sure whether it will hold my interest in the same way L4D did. I loved the original for about 4 months and thought it was money well spent, but I have had very little interest in returning to the game since. The release of Survivor mode brought me back briefly, but I felt that mode brought out the worst in the L4D players, with corner camping being the order of the day for every game. I only played Crash Course for the first time a few weeks ago and, although enjoyable, didn’t make me that interested in continued play. Basically, I’ve just burned out the gameplay and I don’t feel new levels will change that.
Having said that, some of the changes to L4D2 do look like they are going to be significant in many regards, but whether it is enough to make me play for even a month I don’t know.
29/10/2009 at 15:35 Tyshalle says:
Sure. I wasn’t trying to belittle your position CMaster, I was just saying that if you played the game as often as you said you did (daily for 3-4 months) then you got your money’s worth, and that if you were able to spend even half that time on L4D2 it would still be worth that amount of money. It sounds like you think you’d only play each map once or twice though, in which case I totally understand your apprehension.
Though I don’t understand why you didn’t like Crash Course. Personally I liked that map a lot, and felt like it addressed a lot of issues. It also helps that it’s shorter, IMO.
I do wish though that they introduced the Spitter to L4D1 though. Solving the terrible issue corner camping in a new game is all well and good, but not solving it for the original is almost certainly going to make that game fall to the wayside once the new one is released.
29/10/2009 at 00:51 VelvetFistIronGlove says:
I’m in more or less the same boat as CMaster. I burned out on L4D, and am only mildly interested in L4D2. I’m waiting to see the demo to decide if it’s worth my money (which is what I naïvely thought demos were for), but no, only the people who have already decided get the demo.
Game publishers: get your act together. By all means, give people who preorder something special. Preferably something physical and exclusive. But don’t give them the demo early, it’s got little value to them, and they don’t need to be convinced by the demo.
29/10/2009 at 08:09 StormTec says:
If I remember right, the demo for L4D1 was eventually made available to everyone a short time before its actual release. I’m pretty sure the fact that it said “preorder now and get early access to the demo” on the Steam advert for L4D2 strongly implies that the same will happen for this demo.
29/10/2009 at 00:52 Flobulon says:
Just had a run through with some randomers. Pretty much what I expected, in a good way. Didn’t manage to make me panic though, but perhaps that’s because I was only playing it on Normal.
Melee weapons are fun.
29/10/2009 at 00:53 supersheep says:
Pre-orders only. It was delayed for a day or so…
First thoughts:
Weapons are more solid than L4D1, though some of the animation seemed a bit off. Movement is a bit slower; feels less “Counterstrike-y” which I like a great deal.
The initial campaign felt odd, then I realised why – it’s the daytime lighting – looks bloody great though. The detail on the maps is *insane*, and there’s a good variety of areas (large open spaces, tight corridors, streets). The setting is pretty well realised, with lots of little touches.
The touted “gaunlet” style climax really works; I won’t spoil it for anyone, but suffice it to say it feels way more natural and enjoyable than the old style “press this button then get attacked a lot in one place”.
Seems faster on my machine than L4D1 was.
29/10/2009 at 01:05 Gabanski83 says:
I like.
29/10/2009 at 01:11 Po0py says:
So…when does the demo unlock for those of us who want to decide if they want to buy it or not.
Jeez, I thought that was what demo’s were for…
To be honest, all this pre-order shite is really getting on my nuts. Buy the game and get the demo FREE!. Pre-Order this and get free in-game content. RAH!
How ’bout I stand up from my computer and walk calmly over to that wall and start headbutting it.
How bout that?
29/10/2009 at 01:12 DarkNoghri says:
One week from now, as I recall. They did the same thing last year with L4D, and it made no sense then either.
29/10/2009 at 01:44 Tyshalle says:
It made no sense? What are you guys? Just bitter to be bitter? The Demo is getting released early for people who pre-ordered. It’ll get released in another week, bug free I might add (as currently there are tons of bugs) for everyone else, and if you like it you can still pre-order it and get the baseball bat or free blowjob or whatever they’re offering. So what’s the problem here?
29/10/2009 at 05:34 Elyscape says:
Free blowjob with preorder? Normally I’d say that’s a winning move, but considering that this is a zombie game…
29/10/2009 at 07:06 Vinraith says:
The early release demo for preorders, which I agree is an irritating tactic, is apparently more of a “let the fans debug the demo before releasing to the undecided public” move. In that regard, I suppose it makes a certain twisted measure of sense.
29/10/2009 at 10:19 Catastrophe says:
@Tyshalle
Have you not learnt from your earlier comment not to misunderstand peoples legitimate concerns/opinions and then have a fanboi-esque rant at them?
Releasing a demo early for a pre-order IS a silly tactic.
29/10/2009 at 11:33 Po0py says:
Well, my head is hurting.
29/10/2009 at 11:41 Clovis says:
I think y’all are missing the point here. The question isn’t whether this tactic is annoying or not, it is whether or not it is effective at generating sales. My guess is that it is very effective. I wasn’t planning on buying it for full price, but when I heard about access to the demo I suddenly wanted to order. I came to my senses, but I’m sure a lot of previous fence sitters will suddenly decide to preorder.
Now I’m excited about getting access to teh demo for free in a week or so…
29/10/2009 at 15:44 Tyshalle says:
Oh, my fault Catastrophe. When I made my comment I forgot to consult you first, since apparently you hold the final say on right and wrong with winning, thought-provoking arguments like simply asserting your opinion with no actual elaboration: “Releasing a demo early for pre-order IS a silly tactic.”
And as Clovis said, which I completely agree with, the demo being released early for pre-orders is very likely to have gotten many fence sitters to come over and pre-order. It’s a tactic that is very probably generating sales. So again I ask, what is silly about this?
And as stated before, the demo is riddled with game-stopping bugs right now, so if you didn’t pre-order, you’re not missing much. And if, in a week when the demo is released for everyone, you play it and decide to buy it, you can still pre-order and get the little extras. So what’s the problem?
29/10/2009 at 16:59 Catastrophe says:
My opinion at the end of my comment was purely my opinion and perfectly reasonable to add.
What I begun my post with still stands.
I’ll even go as far to state why I think its a silly tactic:
Demos are for demoing a game to find out if its worth your purchase, getting sales by showing people how good a smart chunk of your game is. I feel using it as some poor attempt to force some fence sitters into pre-ordering the game shows bad sportmanship and goes against the old school “demo” idea. Its also very little benefit to the actual people who want the game and pre-ordered it regardless.
That ofcourse is my opinion by which I did not force onto someone else and did not use it to belittle others, unlike yourself.
29/10/2009 at 01:12 DarkNoghri says:
Did they happen to have any sort of versus in the demo? Most of my issues from the first game stemmed from things in versus mode.
29/10/2009 at 01:45 Tyshalle says:
No versus. I imagine they’re going for a little taste of the game without looking for anyone getting any long-term fun out of it, thus forcing you to buy it if you like it.
29/10/2009 at 05:35 Elyscape says:
Especially since, with L4D1, they then killed the demo upon release.
29/10/2009 at 10:22 Catastrophe says:
Apart from the fact people who are playing the demo HAVE bought it.
29/10/2009 at 15:45 Tyshalle says:
Sure, but the demo’s going to be released for everyone else in a week anyway.
29/10/2009 at 01:20 Doomguy says:
Aye ’tis good fun.
29/10/2009 at 01:21 Alex-chan! says:
the two maps are fun to play, if a little short, i’ll need more time to get favourite weapons, as none of them feel as “safe” as the l4d ones. the boomer bomb is useless on a tank, and the spitter is dangerous even on easy mode. It’s a shame that the demo had release problems, i’d love to play with friends but they’ve all gone to bed…
29/10/2009 at 01:24 Flappybat says:
I’m not sure if I like it exactly. We played the hell out of Left 4 Dead and in comparison this feels like everything has been dialed up to 11 and it really might have lost something. L4D felt like a really ordered, tight experience which really got the atmosphere of the situation spot on.
On first impressions, Left 4 Dead is Heat, Left 4 Dead 2 is Transformers.
29/10/2009 at 01:27 Lilliput King says:
Go for it.
29/10/2009 at 01:34 Mike says:
I have to say, I didn’t love the setting that much. I think possibly it’s the graphical delivery – it’s very bright and colourful, which I suppose it should be. But things like the Spitter acid look like they’re from a console game a decade ago – gaudy, detailless masses of green, and… I dunno, it’s still fun. It is fun. But it’s not as cold or atmospheric as Left4Dead was. Maybe that’s not why people played it, but I think I’ll miss that.
29/10/2009 at 01:36 smeghammer says:
has anyone worked out how to play as infected?
29/10/2009 at 01:41 LewieP says:
Does anyone else think that the source engine is really starting to show it’s age now too?
29/10/2009 at 01:47 Tyshalle says:
Nah, still looks great IMO. Valve does faces better than anyone else out there too, especially facial animations. It’s not exactly as if they’re using the original HL2 engine anyway. It’s supercharged! But seriously, I think it looks great.
29/10/2009 at 02:59 cubed2D says:
source has been updated an awful lot since halflife 2 first came out, its designed in a modular way so they can upgrade parts of it easily. valve games might not be the very top of what you can do graphicly nowerdays, but i think thats more of a concious design choice than any real comment on the age of the engine. they want to sell alot of copies, they have hardware data from steam, they damn well make sure the game can run on what most of there customers have. sure, it might not end up looking as good a crysis, but there games still look pritty damn good.
29/10/2009 at 05:27 jalf says:
Yup. Of course you can think up dozens of excuses (as a few people have already done), but at the end of the day, it is starting to look pretty ‘eh’.
Then again, it is what, 5 years old by now? It’s held up prettty well, but it’s hardly cutting edge any more.
29/10/2009 at 11:53 Tei says:
“Then again, it is what, 5 years old by now? It’s held up prettty well, but it’s hardly cutting edge any more.”
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_Engine
11 years old.
Borderlands last released game that use a Unreal engine.
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake
13 years old
L4D2 last released game that use a Quake based engine (Source)
How old is a engine, is a opinion. Valve did a “almost a total rewrite-ish” with HL. And a good face-lift with HL2.
I don’t know about Unreal, but I am sure has suffered a few “total rewrites”.
As people say, Valve has made “Source” very modular, so theres already lots of incremental and mayor enhancements. Probably a few more to catter with XBox and these crap. What is probablly not changing, is how the engine is still a “BSP engine”…this affect collisions, rendering, and netcode. And impose limits on these 3 things. And it still use the philosophy of “entities”, that are object with attributes, that the mapper put on the map. func_door is 13 years old, and probably theres lots of func_door’s in 2009′s L4D2. One can think that this philosophy add another limits, but is also very handy.
29/10/2009 at 15:48 Tyshalle says:
You know though, I suspect that Borderlands’ graphics aren’t nearly as good as they look. I think that the rotoscoping hides (very effectively) what might be very average graphics underneath it.
29/10/2009 at 01:51 TCM says:
It looks and plays sweet.
There’s a couple weapons that seem to be different purely for visual variety (Chrome Shotgun vs. Pump Action Shotgun), and the shotgun’s been nerfed to heck and back, but overall a very satisfying demo. I also noticed some activity from director 2.0, changing routes and lighting and such, but it was very minor. Still a nice touch, and since the demo only covers two maps, I’d expect it to be used more extensively later. Campaigns also seem to have continuity based on the opening, and the characters are both likable and memorable. Lots of great incidental dialogue too, and some pretty cool reactions.
Overall, highly satisfied with my purchase, looking forward to full game.
29/10/2009 at 01:53 TCM says:
Cont’d slightly.
Also curious about “realism” mode. Unless I’ve missed something in the coverage (admitedly likely), this hasn’t been announced.
29/10/2009 at 01:59 TCM says:
And a couple more notes:
It is REALLY REALLLY buggy. At one point, my friends and I noclipped through everything that wasn’t the floor.
The special infected are AWESOME.
The gauntlet is amazingly intense.
Difficulty has been upped significantly, which is a good thing.
29/10/2009 at 03:37 Dagda says:
Some press people noticed it as an option a few weeks back. Sounds like it’s basically a level above Expert.
29/10/2009 at 08:16 Maniac11919 says:
Realism mode revealed today, here:
http://g4tv.com/videos/42356/Left-4-Dead-2-Realism-Mode-Walkthrough/?quality=hd
I’m not sure, but I think the differences are only headshots (and melee hits maybe?) kill zombies, and people don’t go down, but die instead, only able to be revived w/ a defibrillator.
Other than that I didn’t see too much different in realism mode…
29/10/2009 at 01:53 lagmint says:
Have fun trying to play online ;)
Me and 18 steam friends are 2 for.. well, several hundred tries each. And yeah that’s two total connects.
29/10/2009 at 01:54 TCM says:
I never failed to play on a dedicated server, 5 games with 4 people.
29/10/2009 at 01:58 lagmint says:
Sorry, that was a reply to the Borderlands comments… weird. Anyway, heard good things from my friends about L4D2 so far. good thing, given that I can’t play Borderlands multiplayer (how amusing is that, haha) we’ve been playing L4D at work. Looking forward to new stuff!
29/10/2009 at 01:56 Tyshalle says:
First impressions are: Wow, this is buggy as hell. My first playthrough I didn’t have any troubles, but I’ve tried playing it like three or four times since and it’s hella buggy. My shotgun randomly disappeared from my arsenal. Also, the melee weapons are supposed to replace your pistols only, I believe, but it replaced my shotgun. Maybe that’s intentional, but it only happened once and I haven’t been able to duplicate it since.
There’s a lot of other bugs too, which I won’t go into.
It’s entertaining, but I’m not in love with the new characters. I’ve been on the fence more or less up until this point, but now I’m pretty sure I’m just not a huge fan.
The new special infected are awesome. The old ones in this game kind of suck by comparison, though maybe it’s just the newness of the new ones that’s doing that.
I’m not in love with the weapons. Any of them. Except the machete, which is spectacular. The rest of the melee weapons suck (though I’ve only seen the frying pan, the baton and the guitar), and the other weapons suck too. None of them are particularly accurate nor damaging. The best so far is the three-shot burst machine gun, and to be honest the three shot burst really limits it. Despite the fact that I like it the best, I found myself going back to the regular old pump action shotgun.
The crescendo finale was pretty good. I really liked that it seemed like the infected would keep on coming and coming and coming until you got to the end, so there was no point in getting into a hole and waiting it out.
As far as the rest of it goes. I’m not in love with the daylight. Definitely took some of the atmosphere away. Maybe I’ll feel differently once I get the full game and get more used to it, but initially I’m just not in love.
The new grenade is awesome. It’s not as effective as either of the other grenades, but it’s kind of got a bit of both in them, in that it’s long lasting like the cocktail and highly distracting like the pipe bomb. It’s only real downside is that it won’t actually kill very many infected by itself, requiring you to mow them down and use ammo. But hey, that’s why you’ll still be picking up the other two occasionally too.
29/10/2009 at 09:47 MonkeyMonster says:
I am at a loss as to how the frying pan can be crap… Its vic and bob in their finest hour against zombies. Its win all the way.
29/10/2009 at 10:34 EaterOfCheese says:
Hmm, done a few runs through on advanced and expert – no bugs per se, getting good randomisation of enemies, wave timings, weapon and special item drops. Also getting pulled in to the atmosphere, want to see more.
Hanging out for the full version. The gauntlet crescendo was cool.
29/10/2009 at 02:03 Tyshalle says:
Oh, and one last thing. The common infected are much more difficult to kill now. This is a combination of two things, I think. The first is that the weapons seem to do less damage, but that might not be true. The bigger thing is that unlike the first game, if you blow a limb off of a zombie he’s not necessarily dead.
The scary thing about this is that if you shoot one, they very well might get knocked off course, stumble over and fall, and leading you to believe that they ARE dead. So you’ll walk past them while they’re laying on the ground thinking everything’s okay, only to have the zombie stand up behind you and attack!
The other thing is that the uncommon common infected (or whatever the hell they’re called) are a big pain in the ass. I only remember seeing one, the SWAT team guy or whoever. He’s basically fully armored and, as far as I can tell, completely invincible from the front. You have to figure out a way to get around behind him to shoot him in the back, which seems to me like it’s requiring a great deal of teamwork to perform. Pretty cool, but honestly it’s very frustrating facing off against one of those guys. I’d kind of been under the impression that the SWAT ones were going to just require you to shoot them more times, I didn’t expect bullets to literally bounce off of them. This is especially frustrating in expert mode, as during the time you spend shooting them ineffectively, they’re really easily able to get the five hits or so it takes to kill you.
29/10/2009 at 02:04 TCM says:
If you shove them a couple times, they turn around.
29/10/2009 at 02:08 DJ Phantoon says:
A melee weapon kills the Security Guards dead. Like, dead dead. Not zombie dead.
29/10/2009 at 08:21 Maniac11919 says:
DJ Phantoon, only some of them do, actually. The machete does absolutely nothing to them unless you hit them in the back…
29/10/2009 at 10:50 Catastrophe says:
I like the ideas behind this, sounds interesting.
29/10/2009 at 02:07 DJ Phantoon says:
Nick is my favorite character. Upon hearng the Witch he said, “Hey, I think that’s my ex-wife!”
29/10/2009 at 02:13 Fenchurch says:
Did you guys read the graffiti in the safe room? The accusation that the Immune are, in fact, the Carriers spreading the disease to new Safe Zones? I actually got a little shiver of horror at the idea.
29/10/2009 at 12:15 Starky says:
That is sheer brilliance, I love it.
29/10/2009 at 02:32 The Innocent says:
I didn’t know if I’d like it that much, but I’m enamored. My biggest problem with L4D1 was that even with the director changing things up a bit, things got so samey so quickly. Every time I’d have a crescendo moment, my team would hide in the same place; every time we got to the better guns, it went from a choice of two to three viable weapons; every time we’d hear the boss infected coming we’d react the same way (and they couldn’t handle a group of tight-knit corner-campers).
From the demo, it seems like things are changed up rather well now. The melee weapons force you to make a choice between a longer-range pistol that you’ll have to reload, or powerful swiping tools of hand-to-hand doom, and there were a few times I wished I had one or the other (particularly the machete). The weapons are more diverse, which is also nice — and none of them seem as overpowered in a given situation. I even like the tradeoff between pills and adrenaline. And that gauntlet crescendo really surprised me. I had stayed above about 85% health the whole time with no real problem, even with the new boss infected (which did break up some of our L4D1 close formations a couple times), and that crescendo almost dropped me. It was great.
29/10/2009 at 02:45 Rohit says:
If the demo’s going to be deactivated weeks after it’s publicly released, I’m not interested.
29/10/2009 at 02:52 Shadowmancer says:
I’m experiencing some extreme framerate drops with the demo, I far exceed the requirements and my pc plays all the source games flawlessly, everythings up to date. As for the game the new weapons and zombies are cool but the core AI for the team is still terrible, at the end of the day L4D2 can’t shake away the feel that all it is is a glorifed expansion pack.
29/10/2009 at 03:18 vagabond says:
I’d like to try the demo, but I’m getting some very odd behaviour out of the steam client (repeated ticket expired errors, and server too busy stuff). Since this has happened before when they’ve had a “free weekend” I think it’s a server load issue.
29/10/2009 at 03:27 Y3k-Bug says:
29/10/2009 at 03:28 Y3k-Bug says:
Here’s what Tom Francis thinks of it (note: he doesn’t think its very good):
http://www.pentadact.com/index.php/2009-10-29-the-left-4-dead-2-demo-is-here-and-subpar
29/10/2009 at 03:53 Phase says:
I find the AI in Left 4 Dead 2 has really been upped. The Jockey in particular seems to calculate where to steer the survivor to balance damage and separation from the team, and one time a Charger managed to obliterate our entire team by waiting to strike until we were clustered too close to a Witch.
In my opinion? 5/5 GotY Two severed thumbs way up.
29/10/2009 at 03:54 dmauro says:
I can’t figure out how to make good use of the melee weapons, and I’m not too into the levels in the demo. They’re pretty short, a little flat, don’t have enough indoor areas. And I’m not so hot on the daytime thing either. I’d almost just rather have some variations on the old levels because I liked them so much, but I’m sure some of the other levels that ship with L4D2 will be better. It’s too bad the demo doesn’t give us a taste of the new game modes because I’m a little curious about those.
29/10/2009 at 03:57 Fat says:
Thought the game was great, the demo was a bit bloody tightarsed though, didn’t give us a finale map OR versus? Come off it. The delay was a bit pants too, i would have rather played a buggy version for a day then patch it later, tbh. Felt like a bit of an anticlimax with the 2 short levels we got.
29/10/2009 at 04:27 Aisi says:
Can anyone rationalize in a reasonable way demos to preorders?
29/10/2009 at 04:53 invisiblejesus says:
Sure. Preorder customers are presumably people who’re already committed to liking the game. You’re already working up a demo to convince others to check the game out. So why not release an early version of the demo to preorder customers? You make those preorder customers happy because they got a first look at something they already figure they’re going to like, you get essentially some free beta testing, and you still release a better-tested version of the demo in time for those players who need to be convinced to buy. I realize that could be taken as flippant, but it isn’t; I preordered L4D2, and while I’ve had some issues with how the franchise has been handled I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy it. The demo was buggy, but I liked it for the one playthrough I’ve done. And if me and my friends playing the demo helps Valve test it a little better, then bonus. Everyone gets something they want, and no one really loses out. It’s not like potential customers were going to get an unpolished version of the demo no matter what, and it’s not like Steam preorder customers were going to change our minds and decide not to buy the game.
If anything, I question why Valve took the L4D demo down after release, and why they presumably will do the same with L4D2. That seems stupid to me, and well worth questioning.
29/10/2009 at 04:55 DJ Phantoon says:
And to add to that, pre orders will be willing to deal with bugs.
29/10/2009 at 06:32 Aisi says:
What if they release the same exact versions to preorder and general public? Then the argument is nonexistent, and said actions become absurd!
I kind of wanted to play this demo thing, since I’m not into buying FPSs with fourish weapons and mostly identical enemies and tactics.
29/10/2009 at 04:51 Frankie The Patrician[PF] says:
MUST…RESIST…and NOT..buy it… I know I will broke down and fail horribly again, Valve has its way of getting me, I have every Valve game so far :)))
29/10/2009 at 04:52 Freaky says:
Realism mode turns off the glow effects and rebalances everything to be more hardcore; instakill witch, hardier normal infected (aim for the head!), etc. Interview about it.
29/10/2009 at 07:10 Vinraith says:
Now there’s something that might have added a little more replay value to the original game. It’s a shame, really.
29/10/2009 at 07:34 Pantsman says:
I wouldn’t be surprised if we ended up getting it for the original. Fingers crossed.
29/10/2009 at 09:21 Vinraith says:
I’d be amazed if we got anything for the original after L4D2′s release beyond perhaps a patch or two.
29/10/2009 at 12:07 Clovis says:
I would have been amazed if Vinraith hadn’t responded exactly like that :-p
29/10/2009 at 16:44 Pantsman says:
Really? Does Valve have a history of dropping support for games when their sequels come out shortly after? I find it hard to imagine they do, as that’s not a situation they’ve been in before, is it?
29/10/2009 at 16:50 CMaster says:
CS and DoD are the obvious ones here.
I’m pretty sure Valve stopped doing any work on either of those once the sequels came out. That said, both of those were orginailly available for free if you had HL so…
29/10/2009 at 20:53 Vinraith says:
@Clovis
What can I say? Naivete is an itch I’m compulsively compelled to scratch. :)
Hopefully I’ve horribly underestimated Valve in this regard, but I don’t think there’s an real chance of it.
29/10/2009 at 21:47 Funky Badger says:
No Mercy on Expert has plenty of replay value. Too much, you might say.
29/10/2009 at 21:53 Vinraith says:
@Funky Badger
For you, I’m sure it does.
30/10/2009 at 01:59 Pantsman says:
@CSMaster: Those occured to me, but
a) neither of those games were originally developed by Valve,
b) their successors came out much later than the originals, not just one year, so you could say they were due for an end to updates, and
c) their successors were straight ports to a new engine, not proper sequels, so in a way it makes more sense to stop support of the old ones. It would be like still “supporting” CS 1.5 after 1.6 came out.
All of which appear to me to be pretty significant differences.
29/10/2009 at 05:08 Isometric says:
There is so much satisfaction in giving a Tank the killing blow over the back of the head with a frying pan.
Best moment for me so far.
Anyone else had any amusing melee moments?
The Uncommon Infected give the vital variety to mix situations up and i like the implemention of them i must say.
The demo was short (shorter than the L4D demo it seems) and i want a chainsaw, oh please, give me that chainsaw but i cannot complain. Had this predordered for a while.
Great zombie whacking times ahead me thinks.
Oh and thanks for the info about realism mode, I was really wondering about that too.
29/10/2009 at 05:14 GGX_Justice says:
We’d spent far too long trying to deal with a Wandering Witch who was slowly doing everything in her power to make our little jaunt difficult, so were low on health and ammunition. At last we overcame that little obstacle, (complete with mandatory horde) when the Tank himself showed up.
Long story short, everyone was incapped bar I, who was on red health, with only an adrenaline shot keeping me moving fast. Everyone had resigned the game to a loss, as I’d ran away from the group, and was out of ammo, with the towering inferno of the tank after me. Yet a few straggling zombies blocked my path, who were quickly dispatched with my last weapon, that trusty frying-pan. With the tank and I circling, I actually managed to kill him with a strong *whack*! Very, very cool moment.
I prefer the machete though :3
29/10/2009 at 05:33 Isometric says:
Fantastic desperation story!
That is where i feel the melee weapons really come into their own, in that zombies have hit the fan and ammo is low/depleted. Really gives the feeling of that last chance hope in being able to hit zombies really hard in the face. It has added a much needed layer i think.
The machete is my favourite too i must admit :)
(may change my mind when i’m introduced to the chainsaw).
29/10/2009 at 05:09 GGX_Justice says:
Myself and three mates are thoroughly loving the demo, replaying it constantly. The gore has really been ramped up and feels visceral, absolutely fantastic. Expert is giving us a lot of fun, and there’s enough in the little demo that we can tell the full game will be incredibly varied.
Haven’t run into any bugs, which makes Tom Francis condemnation not quite as applicable for our little group. As for the gore not being noticeable, just throw a pipe-bomb and look at the remains – no longer do they turn into a cloud of red, phew-whee!
We’re getting an insane amount of enjoyment from this, although I am confused why the demo starts with the last campaign… considering all others feature night-time environments and such, it seems it’d be a better selling point for people put off by the day-time maps.
29/10/2009 at 05:46 An Innocuous Coin says:
Oh, god, the Jockey.
29/10/2009 at 06:20 Lobotomist says:
Boycott this. Seriously
29/10/2009 at 06:34 Aisi says:
Let’s do it!!
29/10/2009 at 09:23 Vinraith says:
Anyone that is, is. Anyone that isn’t, isn’t. It’s a dead issue.
29/10/2009 at 08:27 teo says:
I don’t like the designs of the new boss infected with their screwed up proportions and whatnot
29/10/2009 at 09:11 pignoli says:
The specials seemed to be holding back a bit on the couple of playthroughs I did last night. They never really felt like they were going to stop us… even with pubbies. I guess it could just be that I'm accustomed to the brutality of versus.
@ teo: Yes, because the old specials were so thouroughly grounded in reality weren't they?
29/10/2009 at 09:43 CMaster says:
I think it’s just being used to versus. The specials in the L4D when controlled by AI weren’t opportunists – they just spawned and went straight for you from wherever they were.
29/10/2009 at 16:30 Pantsman says:
With the exception of the tanks, the original specials did have more realistic body proportions. There are people out there who actually look like them, more or less. Not so for the new ones.
29/10/2009 at 09:14 Heliosicle says:
Its super buggy, exiting the starting cinematic crashes it, and there are quite a few glitches
the 6 delays seem to have done nothing…
29/10/2009 at 09:48 Alex McLarty says:
If they implement a rating system, I’d get L4D2.
I was a huge fan of L4D but rage quitters slowly eroded any love I had for the game. Needs to be some form of ranking or matching system. Too many games ruined half way through when players rage or leave when it’s not their turn for infected.
29/10/2009 at 09:48 Mort says:
Pre-order= Demo early access. Which is what we’re seeing now (albeit a day or so delayed)
Free demo coming soon, 3rd nov or something?
29/10/2009 at 10:27 Tei says:
I think that “demo for pre-orders” is a way to sell more L4D2 copys or sell early.
I suspect the data show that with this way you will sell more box’s, since some of these people will not buy the data, If hace access to the demo / have already buy a different game / have read poor reviews / bad word of mouth. It seems to work for MMORPG games, that give access to the “Closed Beta” to people that pre-order.
I am surprised (seems) there are bugs.
29/10/2009 at 10:32 Binni says:
Feels like more of the same with shiny new bells and whistles. This is an expansion pack, not a full game from first impressions, so I am a bit annoyed that I shelled out money early to buy it, I should’ve waited for the inevitable 50% price drop. Also something is very much off about playing this game in daylight. The zombies just look silly and the game seems to have lost most of it’s sinister horror feel and now feels more like Shaun of the Dead, which is a great movie….but I’d rather be playing 28 Days Later.
Demo verdict: finished game needs to really show some cool set pieces and innovation for it to be truly a new game, because first impressions are that this is just a addon with a few new enemies, weapons and a different setting. Team Fortress 2 has brought more interesting new stuff in free updates over the last year so I’m a bit annoyed that I am paying full price for this.
29/10/2009 at 13:52 Gutter says:
How about not buying it and pretending that L4D3 is really what you wanted L4D2 to be? Like that everyone is happy, and we don’t get to read rants about that anymore.
29/10/2009 at 14:34 Tom says:
L4D1 had a sinister horror feel?!
29/10/2009 at 16:32 TCM says:
L4D wasn’t half as scary as RE4, which failed to even surprise me.
It was like…negative scary. It was cheesy B-comedy horror, hardly sinister.
29/10/2009 at 10:49 Demikaze says:
My favourite moment so far – I threw a pipe bomb, it explodes killing around 15 zombies, and viscera flies everywhere. I walk forward. Four full seconds later, a torso lands at my feet with a sickening squelch. Brilliant.
29/10/2009 at 20:45 mrrobsa says:
Pipebombs are now double awesome. PHYSICS!
29/10/2009 at 10:56 Heliocentric says:
I don’t mean it in an angry boycotter way, but this does seem more expansion than sequel. I mean, hardcore mode would be easy to port to l4d1.
Nevermind the inevitable 50% sale, i’m holding out for 75%.
29/10/2009 at 13:50 Gutter says:
Yes, any particular changes could have been done in L2D1, but all of them at once like that? It would be a new game… Oh! Look at that, it is.
29/10/2009 at 13:56 TotalBiscuit says:
Oh not this fucking nonsense again.
29/10/2009 at 11:07 Demikaze says:
With the gibbing system, the new guns / melee weapons, the new infected, overhauled gauntlets, different characters, voicework, variable routes and extra items / pickups, I can’t see how it can be argued that this could be an expansion. You’d be shoe-horning elements in that just would not gel with the existing gameplay.
29/10/2009 at 11:09 HybridHalo says:
I was surprised to have enjoyed the L4D2 demo as much as I did. As I played through with some friends I realized that my favorite moments of L4D1 weren’t when I was scared of something – those moments vanished within the first day of play as I evolved into a grizzled zombie killer. My most memorable moments in L4D1 were moments that I laughed.
And I laughed a lot during the L4D2 demo. I think the new infected are great, especially the Jockey and the Melee weapons really add a hint of insanity to proceedings. My favorite moment of the demo so far occurred when passing through an early section of the demo I suddenly heard loud rock music playing from a building I had just exited. The howls of distant zombies only providing me a moments warning to a large rush of the undead, falling back whilst unloading into the crowd I re-enter the building and in the chaos turn to check on my friends…
One of them is smashing zombies on the head with a guitar, the other is slowly jerking his upper torso back and forward mock headbanging stood next to the Jukebox. Providing absolutely no helping hand in the carnage he had provoked.
I laughed until I cried.
Also love the new gore, and a map in the daytime is interesting – though there’s no guarantee it will stay that way given the Director can now control weather. I am sure some of the other (noticeably darker) maps will have their scares too. Other highlights include : Pretty much every time a charger appeared and the hectic running battle finale.
-Matt
29/10/2009 at 14:16 Jesse says:
Awesome! Thank you!
29/10/2009 at 11:12 The Fanciest of Pants says:
Oh jeez… the australian version is TOTALLY neutered.
Forget dismemberment.. the infected don’t even visually catch fire whilst burning.
This is just plain sad.
29/10/2009 at 11:18 MonkeyMonster says:
:(
29/10/2009 at 11:45 Out Reach says:
It is good. so very very good.
29/10/2009 at 11:57 Dave Gates says:
I know its going to be amazing (safe bet with valve to be honest) but god the lag at the minute is absolutely appauling. Not their fault but while you’re trying to turn an alarm off and everything starts to sound like a fat boy slim song (“Get the alarm o–o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-off”) its does take away from the game mechanic slightly.
29/10/2009 at 12:16 Brandon Castro says:
Binni says:
October 29, 2009 at 10:32 am
Feels like more of the same with shiny new bells and whistles. This is an expansion pack, not a full game from first impressions, so I am a bit annoyed that I shelled out money early to buy it, I should’ve waited for the inevitable 50% price drop. Also something is very much off about playing this game in daylight. The zombies just look silly and the game seems to have lost most of it’s sinister horror feel and now feels more like Shaun of the Dead, which is a great movie….but I’d rather be playing 28 Days Later.
Demo verdict: finished game needs to really show some cool set pieces and innovation for it to be truly a new game, because first impressions are that this is just a addon with a few new enemies, weapons and a different setting. Team Fortress 2 has brought more interesting new stuff in free updates over the last year so I’m a bit annoyed that I am paying full price for this.’
Congratulations, you win the most pretentious comment of the year award! L4D had a sense of humor. You’re the kind of person that reads Persepolis and complains about all the humor and jokes about serious political history, aren’t you?
I like how you complained about the game being more of the same- but the complained about the game being different.
You also specifically said they kept TF2 fresh and original by adding more post release stuff. And then went on to say that L4D2 looks like more of the game.
I wasn’t aware it was post-release-
for some reason my copy of L4D2 isn’t unlocked!
Quit your bitching, they did more to change it up than MOST developers/publishers that come out with sequels every 1 and 1/2 years or so. Did you play through it twice? Did you realize that the environment can change dramatically? Or see that there are about- 10 new campaigns?
Yes, 5 years-10 years ago, this would have been DLC/expansion pack. But by the current days standards for a sequel, this goes WAY above and beyond. Especially for a multiplayer game- you really can’t do all that much with that, can you?
29/10/2009 at 12:32 Hmm-Hmm. says:
Dude. He just voiced his opinion. He wasn’t being pretentious and what you are showcasing above I’m not putting a name to, ’cause I’m not into starting flamewars. But like Dave says, chill.
29/10/2009 at 12:46 Catastrophe says:
I sense some anti-boycotter defensiveness there.
29/10/2009 at 12:57 Flobulon says:
RPS Comment Threads – The Home of Disproportionate Rage.
29/10/2009 at 13:00 Dave Gates says:
That is entirely the point, if you are, or not impressed then that is fine. It does not however give you carte blanche to be rude to people. Just play something else instead. Lets be liberal for gods sake, i’m not a fan of MMORPG’s but it doesn’t mean i’m going to be unpleasant to them. I thought PC Gaming was supposed to be open minded…
29/10/2009 at 23:40 Lagmint says:
What the hell is Persepolis?
30/10/2009 at 20:56 wds says:
@Dave: “Being liberal about things” isn’t about not voicing your opinions. It’s about accepting that other people have optinions too and not getting your panties all in a twist when you notice they like voicing it.
I feel like I should tell someone to shut up as a comical counterpoint to my argument, but I shall resist the temptation.
29/10/2009 at 12:20 Dave Gates says:
Woah, we all need some chill cake. Mmmmm chill cake.
29/10/2009 at 14:12 MonkeyMonster says:
Chilled Monkey Brains… No, not mine – not much to eat tbh :D
29/10/2009 at 13:09 Binni says:
Wow Brandon Castro. Since when does an opinion I have about a video game demo pidgeonhole me as a certain kind of person? I could easily say that you sound like a easily excited internet super fanboy ….but I’m not going to.
I am not impressed by the demo and I voiced my opinion about it. You do the same dude
29/10/2009 at 13:12 Dave Gates says:
Just step away mate, your opinion is as valid as the next man. There is no point trying to fight bile with a decent arugment. Just enjoy it when it is fully unlocked and if you don’t then fair enough.
29/10/2009 at 13:30 Binni says:
Yes, of course….but but..someone was WRONG on the internet :)
29/10/2009 at 13:35 Dave Gates says:
Really? BURN THEM! arf
29/10/2009 at 13:19 Leeks! says:
New graphics=pleasing. New damage models=pleasinger. New music that uses what my uneducated ear wants to call a “Louisiana jazz” riff on the original generic (but still well done) zombie movie discord=Pleasingest.
29/10/2009 at 13:25 Dave Gates says:
Hardly an uneducated ear, I think thats what they were going for.
29/10/2009 at 13:21 Demikaze says:
The music really is quite the beautiful thing.
29/10/2009 at 13:45 Naug says:
Much ado about nothing this demo. 2 short maps, no versus mode to test out the new infected, no scavange mode. No wonder this feels exactly like L4D1, they omitted all the new stuff!
29/10/2009 at 14:24 Hug_dealer says:
who would want to play this when you have borderlands to fill your co-op needs. Any hectic madness in this is totally outclassed by any hectic madness in borderlands. Best part is the guns are actually meaty and fun.
29/10/2009 at 15:08 Sam Bigos says:
Why chose one when you can have both!
29/10/2009 at 15:38 Jad says:
I played Borderlands co-op for the first time last night and I had a lot of fun. However at certain points I was hungering for the simplicity of L4D. Its so frantic while being relatively complicated — there’s all these weapons dropping everywhere with attributes that may or may not be better than your current gun and you need to make that choice on the fly and there’s quests with descriptions and voice overs that you can’t read/listen to because one of your buddies is in trouble and is yelling over your headset. Maybe it was our fault and we should have been taking a more deliberate pace, but that seems out of context with the game.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the game, but L4D does offer a somewhat different experience than co-op Borderlands.
29/10/2009 at 23:37 Lagmint says:
I’ll let you know when/if I can ever connect to someone in Borderlands. So far I’m 0 for 153 tries. On three computers. On three networks.
31/10/2009 at 03:34 Psychopomp says:
“who would want to play this when you have borderlands to fill your co-op needs. Any hectic madness in this is totally outclassed by any hectic madness in borderlands. Best part is the guns are actually meaty and fun.”
Well, me for one. Also, the guns in L4D2 feel *really* good especially the magnum.
My favorite gun by far
29/10/2009 at 14:54 Hypatian says:
Bile useless on a tank? Hunh. That’s not my experience. We got creamed twice by tanks on expert, until we finally managed to light one on fire, *and* hit it with puke, *and* then run around and shoot the crap out of it.
I think the key thing is that while the bile bomb won’t kill off a tank easily, it will slow him down as the commons come in and mob him. That’s a very significant advantage, assuming you have the means to pour some damage on (i.e. set him on fire first, shoot him a lot) and clean up the commons after the bile wears off (i.e. pipe bomb.)
For an added bonus, land the pipe near the tank so that there’s a chance it’ll blow up on him before he gets clear.
29/10/2009 at 14:56 Tom says:
Far to small/early/locked to say anything really but LOL, the gore! What fun. Shot one zombie in the stomach and the bullet just opened him up. Repeated hoping to see the affect again and his intestines went blasting out his back!
Pipe bombs are awesome again. GORE!!! Oh so much gore, flying through the air, fully physicalised – can only imagine what the chainsaw’s gonna allow you to do.
Amusing dialogue.
Graphics have seen a bit of a bump, which is nice. Love the day setting.
The enviroment’s a little bit more interactive in amusing ways. Was stuck in some little dinner/coffee shop and spotted a juke box. Went over and flicked it on. Just at that second a horde appeared and we ended up fighting with some pretty cool rock music blaring away. There’s more than one track in that box. Some for comedy value. Some for LETS ROCK!!! value (think Aliens).
New specials look like a laugh, but this lead me back to Valve being incapable to releasing a good demo. Why, oh why, oh why is versus unavailable?! It’s the meat and bones of L4D. Bizarre.
More items. The de-fib’s gonna be a game changer for sure, and getting your own back on a boomer’s highly satisfying. AI’s clearly capable for far more.
The guitar… :) Garenteed LOLs right there. Starts out playable. Doesn’t end that way.
Gore.
If the intro cinematic and what I’ve seen is anything to go by… it’s gonna be awesome.
29/10/2009 at 14:59 Tom says:
Don’t play it on anything other than advanced or expert – it’s the only way.
29/10/2009 at 15:18 vash47 says:
lol @ the valve zealots getting mad at honest opinions.
29/10/2009 at 15:29 Ffitz says:
I think the point of the jukebox is that by switching it on, you summon a horde. Rather like shooting an alarmed car, but easier on the ear.
29/10/2009 at 15:30 Scott says:
100% Agree.
29/10/2009 at 15:45 StalinsGhost says:
Apples and Oranges I guess. They're both aiming for totally different experiences, even if they're both coop FPSs.Or at least I'd guess as much, Borderlands still hasn't unlocked for me yet (another 8 hours :F)
As for L4D2, I'm totally loving it. There's a few niggles – poor FOV/removal of bodily awareness, but for the most part it's the coop zombie FPS we know (and presumably love), just with more stuff and better characters/a more carefully conceived setting.
And blood. Lots more blood.
29/10/2009 at 15:57 Hug_dealer says:
depends on what you think graphics are. if they are strictly high poly, hi res. then yes crysis beats TF2. But if you take into account other factors, like style, and use to create atmosphere, then no.
Same goes for borderlands and for l4d1/2. Thier use and style 100% works in the game, even though they might not be cutting edge top of the line badass.
I will say from experience that borderlands graphics are awesome. There isnt much cooler than an incendiery bouncing betty. It might look slightly comic bookish, but it isnt, the textures are way more detailed, giving it a hand drawn look like you see put into artwork, not the minimalist seen in comic books, or tf2.
29/10/2009 at 16:37 Theblazeuk says:
Congrats, YOU have now posted the most pretentious post on RPS.
(Well after the RPS guys themselves natch :P)
29/10/2009 at 16:58 Pantsman says:
All this is very interesting, but how are the new characters?
29/10/2009 at 17:09 TCM says:
Coach and Ellis are highly memorable, Nick and Rochelle not as much.
But it’s only a short segment of the game, and there is a lot of incidental dialogue.
29/10/2009 at 23:17 abhishek says:
I actually think that the dialogue delivery of the new survivors is a bit flat. Toneless, expressionless… As if the actors were bored when they recorded their lines and couldn’t even bother to put in inflection in their voices.
29/10/2009 at 17:20 plugmonkey says:
I’ve played it through a few times and I’m loving it. I was initially sceptical about the melee weapons, but they fit in quite nicely and finishing off a hoard with makeshift weapons after all the ammo has run dry is an awesome experience.
The gauntlet run is awesome fun as well. We abandoned our cupboard hiding tactics long ago anyway, but to tackle something so different was very refreshing and the running battles feel far more terrifying than the L4D1 sieges ever did.
I’m not really sure what more anyone could expect from a sequel really: new characters, new weapons, new modes, new enemies, new environments, new play mechanics. Isn’t that what you normally get from a sequel?
29/10/2009 at 17:22 Pantsman says:
I think what people most expect from a quality sequel is a few years between it and the past release. L4D2 contains more content than L4D did at launch. It’s just the sense that this doesn’t add much gameplay-wise and may have been a rush-job, but then most sequels don’t add much to the original mechanics.
29/10/2009 at 17:25 Ffitz says:
You know what? I didn’t take to the characters when I played for an hour this morning. I’ll probably play Nick the most, simply because I like his suit, but they just felt… inconsequential.
Not nearly as iconic and archetypal as Bill, Zoey, Louis and Francis.
Maybe they’ll grow on me when the game arrives and we learn some more about them. I hope so.
29/10/2009 at 17:28 Ffitz says:
And actually, that suit comment sums it up. There was no “I want to play the Old Vet” or “Cool, a biker dude”.
My first thought was “nice suit.”
29/10/2009 at 17:40 Cooper says:
Has anyone had any problems with the matchmaking/lobby/server finding system? Or has it been working well?
I was sorely dissapointed with L4D when I got it as, and hardly played it at all for the first few months. I was constantly being put in very laggy servers and had almost no control over the matchmaking system.
The current system in L4D is much, much better. And I rarely have problems just being able to drop into games. So I’ve actually spent more hours playing it the past few weeks than I had done since I got it.
I’d like to see L4D2 up the game on this. L4D is great with friends, but for me to want to buy for longevity it’s got to be able to provide a good experience for just dropping into lobbies or games with randomers.
29/10/2009 at 18:40 Dan says:
Does anyone feel like the characters just dont fit in with the game? With L4D 1 i loved all the characters but with L4D 2 i dont like any of them :(
29/10/2009 at 19:39 Railick says:
I actually didn't like the characters in L4d and I don't like the characters in L4d2 any more or worse than then. Also playing L4D gave me nightmares so if this is suposed to be even scarier ect I don't think I'll be able to handle it. Even Shawn of the Dead makes me sick :P
29/10/2009 at 21:55 Vinraith says:
So here’s a question for the L4D2 demo crowd: are the bots any better? Is there any way to give them orders? Or is this still “4-player co-op” rather than “up to 4 player co-op?”
29/10/2009 at 22:08 TCM says:
The bots are…well, they don’t die as easily on the higher difficulties, and they gnerally know not to do horribly stupid things. Still no order giving, unless the dialogue wheel can do that (haven’t noticed).
29/10/2009 at 22:12 Vinraith says:
“Still no order giving, unless the dialogue wheel can do that”
That’s a real shame. Something as simple as a “stand here/follow me” toggle would do wonders for the 2 and 3 player game. I’m unsure why Valve seems so intent on making the game hostile to any group of less than 4 players playing on a fun difficulty setting.
29/10/2009 at 22:56 Railick says:
I still remember one time on Left 4 Dead the F@#$@# bott fell off a 1 foot high board and hung there for like forever while the other two bots kept trying to save him and the zombies were destroying us all (like one would bend over to save him and a hunter would pounce him the other would save that bot then go help the one falling) Then that one would get a smoker pulling him off and the first one would shoot him free and go help the falling guying :P
29/10/2009 at 23:04 Jim Manico says:
even single player is lagging terribly for me. crap.
29/10/2009 at 23:24 Kewyshik says:
@ Jim Manico: A lot of people have monster lag problems with the default settings. Try going through your options and doing the following: disable Steam Cloud, disable Multicore Rendering, set Shader Detail to low/med, set Audio Quality to low/med, change Full Screen to Borderless Window mode.
They seem to be the big five options that the default settings cause the most problems on the client side. 99% of the time altering those settings works for people in my experience with both L4D and L4D2 demo.
Oh and for what it’s worth, I think the L4D2 demo is absolutely brilliant fun, particularly with a few good friends. It’s short, but then I wouldn’t want too much in the demo in the long run anyway, as it would spoil the full release for me.
30/10/2009 at 01:15 JKjoker says:
im feeling a bit confused over here, does “demo for preorders only” make any sense for anyone ? arent demos supposed to get you to “buy” the game ? whats the point of giving them to ppl that already bought the game and risking they dont like it and cancel the preorder and not to those that are waiting to see if its worth the money ?
30/10/2009 at 02:32 Psychopomp says:
The demo right now is a buggy mess.
It’s called an *early* demo for a reason. It’s not done yet, still needs some bug testing. Everyone else gets it when it’s done.
There you go.
30/10/2009 at 05:33 Matzerath says:
You know — I hate the Left4Dead series because I love it. It’s a great idea. It’s just unfortunate that it made me realize what I actually hate is the asshole aspect of the gaming community. I just can’t deal with them. Certainly not on a ‘cooperative’ basis. It’s the antithesis of fun.
30/10/2009 at 06:04 Psychopomp says:
It’s normally fairly easy to organize a game in the RPS chatroom, FYI.
I can’t agree with you enough, playing with randoms is a *nightmare,* the past half year. I remember only pubbing when I first got it, and everyone was a fucking dream to play with.
Something terrible happened.
30/10/2009 at 09:45 Tei says:
Valve is doing this wrong (???).
To sell this game to me, and maybe other people, has to make me care about these characters. Currently I don’t know anything about then. So, I don’t care about then.
I need a “Meet the…” video, but just a text with the motivations of every character will be enough, maybe a few jokes here, and there… some “spice”.
#Wen in a Zombie Apocalypse, get friends. I am not friends of these characters. I don’t even know his names.
30/10/2009 at 13:29 Brandon Castro says:
…what rage? I think he’s an idiot because his opinion is marred in ignorance.
Anyways, if the whole point is that we can voice our opinions, then what’s wrong with me voicing mine? I see no reason to sugar coat my bullshit. For all I know he’s a pretty alright guy, but he said some really dumb shit. So my response was angry. That’s all.
I just think he’d be better off not bitching about Valve- the only developer left that’s actually doing something for the PC crowd, because they’re releasing a sequel that he is making totally invalid complaints about. I wasn’t aware that DISAGREEING with someone makes me “wrong” (“b- but someone was wrong on the internet!” dolt.) or means “disproportionate rage” (because I was definitely pounding on my keyboard as I wrote that).
No, I guess this is the internet though. Everyone make sure you’re as politically correct as possible so as not to offend anyone- this is serious business!
31/10/2009 at 01:56 Victim says:
I hate the lobby system in both L4D & L4D2- Being from New Orleans was delighted with the theme from ‘The Parish’ – but they really missed the mark. The supposed ‘cajun accent’ of the boat captain is as Fail as most movies- they really should have paid someone from Louisiana to read that short script.
Don’t understand why they changed N.O.P.D. to police and dropped the logo from the barricades- the real ones are much more attractive. I cannot disable multicore rendering, and the intro movie lags so badly the audio can’t be understood because of it. hell, even the Valve intro lags because of it- I will definitely NOT pay for a game that seems to not be able to run on my system correctly despite the supposed option to configure it. Three cheers for content, four thumbs down for execution. Also don’t get why they didn’t schedule the release for Oct 31′st rather than Nov 17th. Bad Valve, no cookie.
31/10/2009 at 02:12 Psychopomp says:
As far as the logos go, I believe you have to pay licensing fees for that kinda stuff.
I think.
01/11/2009 at 14:21 dave says:
I hope they announce L4D3 the day after the game releases.
01/11/2009 at 14:25 Psychopomp says:
You’re an original one.
01/11/2009 at 16:09 Richard says:
i was way impressed actually, more of the same with shiny bells and whistles, if it aint broke.. :)
anyway it was getting darker so it will probabally end up being night, that was just part of a campaign
01/11/2009 at 20:59 Victim says:
You may be right, Psychopomp- normally I think that’s the case- but I think usually commercial interests protect their logos. Not sure if a police department or a city would try to do so regarding a reference in a videogame. It doesn’t really matter all that much- They did a really good job on the balcony railing props- but the signs are seriously fail. When I saw ‘fresh crab’ I lol’d. Fresh seafood would have been more appropriate to the theme. The river should have been more dominant though- and there’s no dock like that around here- They did a great job on the horse statue in the park plaza- none of the layout was even close, but I’m sure if they tried to be more realistic in physical terms it would have diminished gameplay severely.
02/11/2009 at 16:42 ryan says:
They implemented a ranking and awards system
04/11/2009 at 02:35 Dwane Wilson says:
Get off your PS3 and play the original in versus mode, I mean REALLY play it! Learn the team work of the, “infected”. I highly doubt you have actually played the original game to the extent and complexity of which it was meant to played.
You stated only more, “bells and whistles”…. Really? You played the, “demo” which in my opinion has a very limited bit of events and gameplay experience. As a result you boast only your ingnorance. As a dedicated gamer of the original title, I am confident the, “demo’ and it’s simplicity is only the tip of the ice when it come to the actual depth of L4D2.
I bought the original just over a year ago, and until I played the game on-line in versus mode I had the same, one-sided opinion. If there is one thing Valve is missing the mark on, it is a tutorial to learn the versus mode.
10/11/2009 at 02:00 haha says:
lol australian fail