Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Now Available For All

[Barnz]

I like them big. They remind me SOF2.

[Harryz]

Wow, what a half-arsed job from Valve. It feels like an EA game. It reeks of mediocrity.

[Hades]

Just finished my first playthrough and I'm not dissapointed but not blown away either.

Thing I liked:

- All the zombies are great - even the common ones and especially the new SI.
- Finally some variety in weapons. So tired of only five options in L4D.
- Melee weapons are fun and very useful.
- Added gore is so much better. Adds a new level of immersion to the game. My jaw dropped when I blew out the back of a zombies head.
- Gauntlet crescendos are much more frantic, and exciting then corner camping.
- I think zombies in the daytime are just as awesome as zombies at night. Maybe even better because it feels more realistic.

Things I disliked:

- The HUD is annoying, the weapons are too close and I can no longer see my characters legs. In general it just feels clunky.
- The new characters have yet to prove themselves as likable. Sad because they seemed so charismatic in the cinematic trailer.
- Shooting just feels weird. I don't why but it doesn't feel as good as in L4D.

Conclusion:

Despite some problems, this is the game L4D should have been when it was first released. It feels much more up to Valve standards then the original. Regardless, I certainly won't be shelling out $40 but I'll probably pick it up during a Christmas sale.

[Plissken]

Originally Posted by Frits

Wasn't dynamic weather supposed to be an all new feature for L4D2? Also, it's a little hard to judge the entire game from 2 levels only. The entire rest of this episode might well include all kinds of effects we didn't see in the demo (which, IMO, definitely isn't a plus for the demo).

The next chapter of this campaign--The Cementary--is supposed to feature a maze-like level that the AI directly can shuffle around in different and random ways, so you're forced through new route configurations each play.

You might have noticed some if it happening in the demo--the door in the Cafe near the jukebox can be boarded up and impassable; there's a nearby alleyway that can be bricked up on certain play-through; and the last alley near where the Desert Eagle usually spawns can sometimes have a gate blocking it.

The Cementary chapter sounds like it takes it to the extreme, forcing you through entirely new route configs each time, not just blocking one alleyway leading to the same place. We'll see how it turns out, but it if it works it could be really cool; you won't be able to plan your route ahead of time to the spots you like, or you could get forced into tight areas more often than open ones, and you'll never know which way you'll be taking--even after a wipe, the level will change.

I think the 2 map things does work for the demo, however. If they gave us a full campaign, it would become the least played campaign for weeks after the launch as anyone who got the demo would probably be sick of it by release. I'm sure a lot of people might even skip the first two maps and start from the third.

Doesn't help that The Parish is supposed to be the last level in the storyline of the game, so giving us the ending of the story like that is bad idea. From what they said, The Parish levels were chosen because these maps were the two smallest in the game (like the No Mercy levels in the L4D demo), and because it included that running event feature they wanted to demonstrate.

I do think they could release one Scavenger map and one Survival map, however. Maybe even open up The Parish levels to Versus, just so we can get a feel for the new Infected. Activate realism mode, too.

[zombieturtle01]

Just played the demo, the feelings that come to mind are expected.

Overall, at this point, I am not impressed. There are some neat features the game brings to the table, but nothing fantastic. I do understand it is a demo, however I recall thinking the L4D demo was very good and it got me very excited to play the full game.
I definitely want to play the full L4D2 game, but not at the expense of 50 dollars.

There are a lot of "neat" little things in L4D2 as I can see. -But that is exactly it, it's full of "neat" little things, but the overall game does not feel polished.
There are new infected which I like, especially those SWAT team infected. The original infected are more disgusting and mutated, which I also like. They've changed a lot of the infected skin tones to yellow/white to fit the daylight maps hue, which I personally like because it's much more realistic than the grey/green colors of L4D's infected.

What I am really, really, really curious about is Realism mode. I am praying that Realism Mode might be, well... more realistic zombie survival, IE: Headshots needed to kill infected, more dispersed infected, having to do objectives, getting bitten kills you unless you treat it, etc. (L4D removes the fear of being bitten, which I always thought was kind of boring)

However, I am sure that is not exactly how it is.

[Lobster]

Realism mode removes the outlines from players and items, aswell as changing the damage done to zombies, headshots kill instantly, body shots will eventully kill but they take a lot more of them. It is also a modifier not a skill mode, so you can play Easy + Realism or Expert + Realism.

[Rizzo]

Im downloading. Hoping it will work. I want to pre-purchase. If not for the sweet ass TF2 hats.

[zombieturtle01]

Originally Posted by Lobster

Realism mode removes the outlines from players and items, aswell as changing the damage done to zombies, headshots kill instantly, body shots will eventully kill but they take a lot more of them. It is also a modifier not a skill mode, so you can play Easy + Realism or Expert + Realism.

Where did you get this info? I couldn't find it, just kept reading that they were not saying anything about it yet.

Anyways, that's extremely unfortunate.

[Marler]

it was in a interview a while back

[Lobster]

http://g4tv.com/videos/42297/Left-4-...ode-Interview/

[hool10]

Yea CS didn't have dynamic weather but it had weather like de_aztec. I think Valve is trying to push it so that the AI Director controls the weather but it's still like whoop de doo. They created it to advertise the Hard Rain campaign and I think it's the only campaign that uses it (or have seen from videos). The Director though controls things A LOT better now though. Like I said advanced mode is a lot more hard now.

The whole issue of different paths is it will grow stale quickly and I know it will. The Director is going to make you go either route A or B. The levels were also incredibly short. It's still that mad dash to the safe house and it's encouraged with the gauntlet events now.

[TollBooth Willie]

After more playing its looks like I'm saving for Alpha Protocol. This just doesn't justify a purchase imo.