Left 4 Dead Hands-On
We explore what it's like to play as a zombie.by Charles Onyett
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.
