L4D

[AntiFreze]

I really want to play a good zombie survival game. I loved the demo, but can't validate the what.. $50 or $40?

How long is the full game in terms of hours?

Are there custom maps and such already?

Do you have to pay for valve release packs?

 

[Rakewell]

I love the game. Great for playing only a half hour, or six.

The game itself is pretty short, but the replayability is fantastic online... The AI director keeps the levels different every time you play them.

I would wait until it goes on sale, though... Circuit City may have it going out of business, if you have one near you.

Here's a place that has it for $42:

http://www.superduperclub.net/pcs-ela-9855.html

 

[SlitheryDee]

Originally posted by: AntiFreze
I really want to play a good zombie survival game. I loved the demo, but can't validate the what.. $50 or $40?

I dunno. I played it for longer than I played many $50 games. I think it was worth it overall.

How long is the full game in terms of hours?

There are 4 campaigns that each take about an hour to finish, so it's technically 4 hours long to see every level in the game. Considering that 2 (at the time I last played) are available for vs. you can add 2 more hours for a total of six. Multiply that by the dozens of times that you're likely to play each level and you get something north of eleventy-billion hours total play time. So there's not much variety, but what's there is fun every time.

Are there custom maps and such already?

I believe that the level creator software is supposed to be released sometime soon, so I'm assuming there's not.

Do you have to pay for valve release packs?

This I don't know for sure as far as L4D is concerned. I do know that valve did a pretty large overhaul of TF2, adding quite a few features, at no cost to owners. I consider it likely that they'll do the same with L4D.

 

[TidusZ]

L4D was a lot of fun for a while, but I don't play it any more. If you have a few friends who will play with you consistently you can have a lot of fun doing campaigns on expert and the versus mode is good, though not as good as campaign. I probably got about 50 hours of play out of it, it definitely does get boring and repetitive, and if you aren't playing with friends you'll likely get a lot less funtime out of it. Some people may say that more maps will breathe new life into the game, but I tend to disagree. I beat 3 campaigns on expert and didnt even touch blood harvest, and I'm bored of it. New maps aren't gonna entice me back. I probably got my moneys worth out of it, but just barely, and I had 3 friends to play with pretty consistently. I find playing with 3 randoms not very fun at all and I've only done it a few times.

If you have a weak cpu, the game doesn't require much so that could be a selling feature I suppose. It was 25% off around the new year too, I'm sorry to tell you.

 

[PingSpike]

It needs the SDK and a good number of bug fixes bad, not to mention a few more levels. But the first two are coming at some point along with a new "mode".

Its thin on content and there seem to be some really unacceptable oversights and bugs with how the server browser/match making works but it is an excellent base and the core gameplay is very enjoyable.

As some one who was starved for some good zombie blasting action I bought two copies. I'd recommend you search out a hot deal, I got my second for $30 and first for $45. $50 is honestly a little steep for what is included, but each man has a different price point.

 

[Pheran]

You should understand that L4D is made for multiplayer - that is its whole point in life. If you are thinking of buying it just for single player, don't even bother, you will be disappointed. There is no real story or plot, it's all about teamwork.

 

[RPatrick]

I think it is worth every bit of $50.

Many aspects of the game are just incredible.

- The different ways things explode or die
- The voice acting
- The physics
- Top notch sound effects
- Finely tuned, great looking and sounding weapons
- Replayability
- Smooth running network code
- Built in voice comunication that works
- In-game tutoring for beginners
- Excellent artwork and animation

There has been a ton of investment and development that went into making this game, and it shows. I think there are many details people take for granted that valve worked very hard on. Obviously there are bugs that need to be worked out, but the current product is highly playable and enjoyable. Not long ago a coop game like this was not even possible to make. They deserve their $50, but try to find a deal if you can.

 

[lsman]

They said its very hard to do a co-op game...
Its fun. The normal is too easy. The expert is too hard. That's about it. LOL.

 

[Maximilian]

Yeah its worth it, i dont play much anymore but really who buys a game then plays it non stop for months on end, everything gets boring eventually. However its in my pile of games that i can see myself going back to at some point. Especially with the new free versus campaigns being released. Versus was awesome.

Oh yeah and what Pheran said, its all about multiplayer, if you hate multiplayer... well dont buy L4D.

 

[Lonyo]

I haven't played it probably at all in 2009 despite getting it on release. I barely played after I got it either. It's not got enough variety, and it was always difficult to get people together who wanted to play (plus you need to set aside a lot of time if you want to do a full run through, like 1~2 hours).
I haven't tried it since they fixed versus, and maybe the additional content will make it more worthwhile, but I would advise you to wait for the new content because (if Valve do their normal thing) they may very well offer a free weekend to showcase the new stuff, like they did with DoD:S and TF2 etc.

 

[zerocool84]

Not worth the price. I got bored it of it after a month. No where near the amount of content for a $50 game. It was really fun at first but there is only so much the built in AI can do to change it, which isn't much. They are finally going to come out with some stuff to expand it but it still doesn't seem like it's going to add too much either. The SDK is coming out for people to create stuff for it but it's still months away as well.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

Originally posted by: AntiFreze
I really want to play a good zombie survival game. I loved the demo, but can't validate the what.. $50 or $40?

First of all, these are fast moving zombies, and you are not in danger of getting infected - only overwhelmed and devoured. Single player game mode is more escape (get point A to point B) instead of fortify and defend. Dont need head shots to kill them. To me the campaigns are interesting, but the versus is where the fun is at.

How long is the full game in terms of hours?

you could play through each of the four levels on easy or normal with bots in ~4hrs and seen most of the content. replayability comes in from trying to beat these same levels on expert with friends, or the versus mode. i have likely logged hundreds of hours in vs.

Are there custom maps and such already?

Some people have been developing them, but no developer/modding tools have been released and the game is still relatively immature. Tools should be released in the expansion.

Do you have to pay for valve release packs?

The first expansion pack coming in march will be free. Includes a new mp mode and enables versus for all 4 levels

This is the first game since WoW that I have really gotten into. I got it for relatively cheap in the valve complete pack, but worth every penny.

 

[Frodolives]

It's been well worth it to me. The replay value has been very high in both campaign and versus, though some clearly do not feel that way. I'll enjoy having the other versus campaigns for sure, plus looking forward to community maps.

The down sides for me are twofold. First, I am unsatisfied with the lobby/matchmaking system. This has been discussed a lot already. Secondly, pretty much the same thing you can say for most online games where you try and enjoy public servers, it's impossible to avoid encounters with trolls/griefers/punks. As I said, I realize that this is just an aspect of public servers in any online game, but an improved lobby system would help.

I'll repeat what I said in another thread. A versus campaign is a pretty decent investment of time, so it would be good to have a more discriminating choice of what games you are joining, instead of immediately being whisked away into a server before finding out that you are the only one on your squad that is on voice chat, and that the other squad is a clan, etc. I don't actually expect big changes in the system, just pointing out a valid issue.

 

[videopho]

It's definitely not worth $40-$50.
The game was exciting at first then the excitement wears off real fast after a couple weeks of playing.
I'm sure many other gamers agree with me already (search L4D in this very forum).
Let's hope Steam comes up with another newer expansion that may bring this game back to "live".

 

[Eeezee]

It's worth $40 for sure. I still really enjoy it. It becomes a lot more fun and challenging on Expert mode. I play it maybe once a week, and I get so much out of it that I'd say it's worth the $50 I paid.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

I played the demo and couldn't shake the feeling that I was being suckered into paying full game price for a mod. A really great mod perhaps, but a mod.

A big part of it should be whether you have some good friends to play it with a lot. If it's just going to be random people it's probably not worth it. A lot of people seem to love it though.

 

[Saga]

I really wish they made it easier for PC and console players to play together. Right now (unless this has changed) the host has to be on Vista for console people to join. This poses a problem since the majority of the gamers I know are also PC enthusiasts and would never run Vista for a gaming machine that did not require 4GB+ RAM.

 

[I4AT]

I got it for $37.50 at launch and don't really think it was worth it. It got old pretty fast, even though it was fun while it lasted. After a week or so the only thing left to do was go for achievements, and even that grew tiresome. If they keep spitting content for it for free it might end up being a better value, but I definitely could've done without. I've gotten much more mileage out of other games for the dollar.

 

[n7]

It's overpriced, but yet completely worth it

163 hours in L4D for me, & i don't even play that much.
I have 174 hours of UT3, & i'm a huge UT series fan...yet in a couple months, i've played as much L4D as i've played UT3 since it came out.

That tells the story for me.

Teamwork...playing with friends, or the countless "friends" i've met ingame...so much fun.

 

[octopus41092]

The best part of it I think is probably the online play. Versus, playing with friends things like that makes the game have great replay value and really fun.

 

[zerocool84]

Originally posted by: octopus41092
The best part of it I think is probably the online play. Versus, playing with friends things like that makes the game have great replay value and really fun.

Up until a couple weeks then it gets boring.

 

[SZLiao214]

If you are going to just do single player, i don't think its worth the money.

If you have a friend or two that you can play with, its fantastic

 

[ViviTheMage]

get, it's pretty damn fun. I play alone, or with friends, or with random people..it's still fun to just kick zombies asses...

http://www.amazon.com/Left-4-D...&qid=1234448585&sr=8-2

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: lsman
They said its very hard to do a co-op game...
Its fun. The normal is too easy. The expert is too hard. That's about it. LOL.

Advanced is where it is at. If you get hooked up with 3 other good players you can get through it. But if you get a dud that likes to run off or hogs health packs you won't make it. It is that uncertainty that makes it enjoyable to me.

I've played expert a few times. It is certainly doable... you just have to have the right players.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Saga
I really wish they made it easier for PC and console players to play together. Right now (unless this has changed) the host has to be on Vista for console people to join. This poses a problem since the majority of the gamers I know are also PC enthusiasts and would never run Vista for a gaming machine that did not require 4GB+ RAM.

Huh? I didn't think any cross platform play was possible. In fact, the PC has had a couple of updates since release that the xbox has not which would have broken any compatibility.

The only game I'm aware of is shadowrun...which I think no one really plays as the PC is nerfed and I'm not really sure if it was a good game anyway.