Left 4 Dead

February 29, 2008 - We've written quite a few previews on Valve's Left 4 Dead,
explaining the core gameplay concepts and generally how everything
works, so we'll try to trim out most of the basics for this one. Just
in case you've been hibernating in the Arctic wastes for the past year
or so, here's a quick refresher. Left 4 Dead is a cooperative
first-person shooter that pits four players against hordes of zombies,
called infected. Each stage is set up so the survivors must move from
point A to point B while fending off waves of zombie attacks. As a
twist, you can choose to play on the infected side, spawning as one of
four types of boss zombies with special powers.

Since most of our coverage has focused on the four survivors and their
various firearms, we'll talk about the infected, who've undergone some
changes since we last saw them. As you might expect, your main goal
while playing on the infected side is to kill the humans. To do so,
you'll get quite a few special abilities depending on which type of
boss you're playing as.

In the build we played, we couldn't select the specific kind of boss
zombie we wanted. Instead, the game's "director," an AI that determines
the flow of action on a map, makes that decision. Unlike playing as the
human survivors, you're on a regular respawn cycle with the bosses. The
timing is still being tweaked, but right now it's at about a minute or
so, which felt a little long. The time waiting could have been filled
with text or voice chat with zombie teammates to develop attack
strategies, but we lacked a headset.


Left 4 Dead has some thrilling moments.

While
we had a great time testing out all the boss' special abilities, to
really be successful in stopping the survivors it would seem strategic
planning and teamwork is required. This is mostly because three of the
playable boss zombies, which happen to be the types cycled through most
frequently, die extremely quickly, whereas the band of survivors can
take quite a bit of punishment.

The three main types of boss zombie are the hunter, smoker, and boomer.
Previously hunters used to be able to turn invisible, but that ability
has been removed. This way, players using this type of zombie will be
forced to think much more about what kinds of spots could work as
cover. Since the game's maps are generally linear, there'll be a
predictable route the survivors must follow, letting you get ahead of
them to set up an ambush.

Hunters' main ability is a pounce, something that charges while
crouched. Valve is still working on the UI, but right now the charge
meter is represented at the center of the screen as a small icon that
slowly fills up. When full, the pounce can be triggered. You'll need to
be careful, though, as a full icon also causes the hunter to emit a low
growl audible to survivors, potentially giving away your position, and
almost certainly making them more wary. The pounce itself has a
surprisingly large effective range. You have to think about the pounce
like you were throwing a baseball, since the hunter will actually arc
through the air instead of flying directly at someone's face. If a
survivor is standing pretty far away, you'll need to aim your reticule
higher above their head to account for the distance traveled.


Not an ideal situation.

After
a successful pounce and pin, you can then rip away at the trapped
survivor with your claws, at least until one of their teammates hops in
and melees you off, instantly killing you. For this reason it's
important to communicate with infected teammates to ensure they can
distract the other survivors while you make your pounce, giving you
more time to slash.

The smoker plays like the hunter in that he must lay low and wait for
the survivors to pass by, but differs in his method of attack. Instead
of throwing himself from the shadows directly at the enemy and almost
certain death, smokers shoot forth a slimy tongue that wraps around
survivors' heads like a noose and yanks them back. Such a tactic is
useful for snagging survivors while perched on a rooftop to effectively
hang them, or snatching them from the protection of their group to the
area where you and ideally a few other boss infected are waiting.

Then there's the boomer, the obese monstrosity you may have seen in
screenshots. In the build we played he still had his belch ability,
which vomits noxious ooze a short distance forward when triggered,
coating any hapless survivors that happen to be in the way. If coated,
the survivor is then treated to a near-instantaneous assault by a wave
of infected, which can really make things difficult for them if they're
already engaged with a group of enemies.

Boomers explode when shot, which, when we played the infected side last
year, only did splash damage. Now, if a survivor is close enough, he'll
get coated with ooze after the monster detonates. Suicidal players can
use this to their advantage. As Valve showed us, boomers can hop from
high perches and rooftops and blow apart upon impact with the ground.
They're pretty much a filthy water balloon in that sense, where if
tossed upon the heads of survivors passing underneath will bring
throngs of zombies running.

The fourth type of playable infected is the
tank, by far the most powerful infected. This guy is pretty much the
same as before, able to drop survivors into a near-death state with a
swat of his massive arms and tear up parts of the ground and hurl them
through the air. Whenever the director AI chooses, selected infected
players will receive a countdown timer pop-up on their screen. Once it
reaches zero you will assume control of the tank.

To give you an idea of how powerful these guys are, we were able to
take down all four survivors within the span of a minute or two. Of
course Valve may have been letting us win, but nevertheless it proved
how dangerous these monsters can be against an unprepared or
uncoordinated team of survivors. It seemed the best strategy to get rid
of the tank is to spread out as much as possible, set the tank on fire
with a Molotov, and never stop shooting.

There is a fifth and even deadlier type of boss, called the witch, but
she's not playable. Appearing onscreen as a disheveled young woman, the
witch will weep and rock back and forth on her knees with head held in
hand while left alone. As long as survivors keep from drenching her in
flashlight flare or making loud noises, she'll stay put. If disturbed,
she can kill in only a few hits. Otherwise she acts more like an eerie
atmospheric device, as her sobs and moans are clearly audible when
nearby. Like the rest of the zombie assaults and boss infected
placements on maps, the witch, who appears only on the hard difficulty
setting, is placed wherever the director AI sees fit.


Is she drunk?

When
actually spawning as one of the three primary boss infected types, you
get to pick the exact location to warp in. Initially you're a kind of
zombie ghost, and can run around a stage looking for the ideal spot for
materialization. It has to be a certain distance away from the band of
survivors, though. You can't just spawn in on their heads and start
clawing faces.

We got a chance to check out a new map this time around, which takes
the survivors through a series of abandoned warehouses, fields, rural
mountain paths, and ends in a farmhouse standoff. Each section of the
campaign took place during a different time of day, from sunset to deep
night, and the environments made for some unnerving zombie battles.
While playing as the survivors, it was quite a thrill to creep along
abandoned train tracks until zombies bounded from behind a shadowed
tree line or tumbled down a rocky mountainside.

During the farmhouse defense section at the end, we found ourselves and
team crowded into a dimly lit second story. The team attempted to
barricade itself in the upstairs hallway, closing all the doors leading
to bedrooms. The monsters started to stream in from downstairs, and we
picked them off as they vaulted upwards with shotgun blasts, rifle
bursts and melee swipes.

After a while we noticed one of the bedroom doors was starting to
splinter. A hunter was smashing it through with his claws, and by the
time we'd focused on stopping him, the door was already broken. Leaving
our team behind, we walked forward into the bedroom to make sure it was
clear. Our mistake. As we approached a window to look outside, a smoker
perched on an abandoned car in the driveway darted out his tongue and
ripped us right out of the second floor, flinging us to the ground
below. A tank, which was on fire at the time, then rumbled out from a
Molotov blaze on the house's veranda and smashed us across the face,
killing us.


Impressive visuals.

Anyway,
the game's an absolute blast to play on the survivor side. The gunplay
feels solid, the gameplay quick, varied and fluid, and the sound crisp.
There's also a definite sense of mood, greatly augmented by the
strikingly expressive facial animations of the survivors. Their faces
when injured look genuinely concerned for their lives, so much so we
couldn't help but feel sorry for them. This was probably the most
memorable aspect of the play session. We went in expecting generally
mindless zombie blasting, and emerged from the experience with a
lingering emotional attachment to the game's characters.

Playing infected is a dramatically different experience, and has a
definite learning curve. It's a lot less frantic, since you spend quite
a bit of time as hunters, smokers, and boomers climbing up walls and
trying to set up the perfect ambush. Is it better or worse than the
survivors? We'll have to play more to let you know.

Finally, a quick note for online matches. Valve is setting it up so if
a player drops out in the middle of a campaign, they'll immediately be
taken over by an AI. Should another player join up afterwards, that
they'll take the AI's place, ensuring a game will continue on even if a
majority of the players leave the game.

Left 4 Dead is currently scheduled to ship around the third quarter of this year for PC and Xbox 360.