I think the earlier versions appear too militant. As if they belonged to a trained anarchist group. The current revisions show more character. It says, these were just normal everyday people until 2 weeks ago. Now they're the survivors. The army vet, the biker, the office manager, and the college girl.
I can't understand why they named him Francis. Why not Frank?
Also...I STILL have not survived a finale. Dammit! But the results have been hilarious. Must survive. I use the same name on Steam if anyone wants to help.
So I noticed that to actually have people find anyone playing as a steamgroup server, you actually have to start the game as a steamgroup server, otherwise you wont be finding people in the steamgroup playing
the whole setup for multiplayer sucks. you get into a lobby with a few friends and then you spin the wheel of chance to see what kind of experience you're going to get. no favourite servers, just pure randomness. For example, twice in the weekend we got a game going only for the server to just kick us, or the server was turned off.. who knows. I have no idea what server it was or how I could ever avoid it. Similarly if you get a good experience, theres no way (I know of) to get back on that server (unless it is an official steam group server, and then you have to join the group. some of which are invite only)
Console style mulitplayer setup FTL. Anyone know what the hell ping I have if I have one two or three bars? its not a mobile bloody phone
edit: while I'm venting... (I love the game btw)
I was really there werent more weapons.. playing the demo I always looked forward to using the weapons you see them holding in the loading screen. I'm sure at the end of the demo it said 'and X more weapons!' but all the ones you use are in the demo. unless they're counting petrol cans and gas cannisters, which is shameful. I mean we paid the price of a full game for this, is it too much to expect considering TF2's awesomeness?
its a good fps game but lacking some weapons and gameplay which could make it so much better. they should have borrow some ideas from Dead Rising. where there are so much things you could use as a weapon.
You have an Uzi, Shotgun, Pistol, Dual pistol, Melee, Assault Rifle, M4 Shotgun, a scoped Rifle, Molotov Cocktails, Pipe Bombs, and Mounted Miniguns. Also gas cans, oxygen tanks, and propane tanks are very useful as well placed explosives. What else do you want?
Also, if Left 4 Dead doesn't satisfy you...I recommend you try Zombie Panic.
I can't understand why they named him Francis. Why not Frank?
I may be reaching here, but my first thought was Stripes. For anyone who may have not seen it, it was a 1981 comedy with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and John Candy. One of the bit parts was a character of the name "Francis" and it kind of fits in a way. :Shrug:
Also, Dead Rising's main character is Frank ... although if they were worried about that why not pick a completely different name altogether? Ultimately, I think it is the paradox that a "bad ass" would have a name like "Francis" which may be perceived by some to be a "sissy" name (no offense intended to anyone named "Francis"), which was kind of also the case in Stripes.
If anyone is getting stuttering in the game that isn't lag related, type mat_queue mode 0 (in the console), it turns off multicore support. I get this problem at work and this fixes it right up with no performance loss at all.
Yeah i noticed that thing too Mongrel so I can vouch for that it works. I had lousy fps before and now i can play it with the same settings (and in window mode if i wish) flawlessly.
Had a chance to play for a while at PC Bang a little lan party center. Was a really fun game, hopefully there are some awesome mods to come out of this, Aliens like you said gir, Spacehulk from the Warhammer 40k universe. Never got a chance to play as a zombie, going to have to pick up the game when it drops in price up here a bit. I just can't justify $50 for 4 maps, when last year at this time I spent $40 and got the whole orange box.
Ultimately, I think it is the paradox that a "bad ass" would have a name like "Francis" which may be perceived by some to be a "sissy" name (no offense intended to anyone named "Francis")
That's a good point. A character who grew up with a "sissy" name, was perhaps picked on, and decided to become a biker.
To add to the discussion of maps, there are plenty. You can't look at it that way. It's like the weapons. There are enough, and they serve their function well. I'm sure they had other weapon ideas...but they were too slow, or too powerful, or didn't make sense to have (you don't find many lawnmowers in an airport). It would change the play of the game. It appears that more campaigns and maps are in the works by the mod community. A replica of the mall in Dawn of the Dead is being created for a new campaign. The more the better. Well, not for the console players. :P
If your only running through the maps on an easy level...you're not playing the game. On Advance/Expert, each attempt throws something different at you. And playing on Versus is way too intense. Vomiting on someone at the right moment when a Smoker and Hunter are ready to grab the others...priceless.
Bring up the old console on the PC version and force that Ai Director to fire out millions of Zombies at you... You can sit on the Rooftop and watch them fly up those stairs at you...
well, i played through the game single-player style. took about 4.5 hours - pretty fun, but blasting through all four movies really highlights how repetitive and formulaic they are.
i've been told to stop being a bitch and make friends, then it will become supar-fun. i hope so!
can you elaborate please instead of just saying "it sucks" kind of thing
I'm not sure why I should have to pick out things when it is really just bad overall, but here are a few things I noticed:
-Extremely low rez textures
-When you are on fire, you get a terrible looking fire sprite at the bottom of the screen
-bad jpg compression artifacts everywhere (those shades of green and purple)
-half assed assets, bad seams, no bevels on corners of enviro objects. The pistol has normal errors on the side.
-very low geometry for levels. It feels very much like you are running through cube-city
-bad dynamic lighting (like on the cop car in the first level)
-terrible flashlight effects which include
-no lights from other player's flashlights
-bad shadow artifacts
-volume lights in areas with no dust or fog in the air. Does the flashlight emit fog?
they texture seem fine to me, there are some seam issues but they dont really bother me.
the lighting is absolutely great. most of the things you mention dont bother me. i am not a fan of the typical next gen look where everything has to have high poly, bevels and ultra details.
the details l4d has is consistent and aesthetically ballanced.
here are some screens incase you were playing the wrong game:
BTW, if visuals like high res textures are more important to you then you should not be playing 360 in the first place, you should be playing PC version only.
they texture seem fine to me, there are some seam issues but they dont really bother me.
the lighting is absolutely great. most of the things you mention dont bother me. i am not a fan of the typical next gen look where everything has to have high poly, bevels and ultra details.
the details l4d has is consistent and aesthetically ballanced.
The first shot looks like boxland, with some nice baked lighting, and the two other shots are of characters. I have no problem with the baked lighting and the characters.
I played the 360 version mostly. I only had a short chance to check out the PC version before they turned off the demo. Maybe they use more than a 128x128 for whole zombies in the PC version.
wow now you sound whiny. the x360 graphic is turend down quite a bit but it's not that bad - infact it's imho one of the better 360 games (graphical and gameplay wise). The fact this is "boxland" is maybe it's a god damn hospital tower in a skyscrapper sourrounding and not your soap box which might be beveled all around.
-Extremely low rez textures
-When you are on fire, you get a terrible looking fire sprite at the bottom of the screen
-bad jpg compression artifacts everywhere (those shades of green and purple)
-half assed assets, bad seams, no bevels on corners of enviro objects. The pistol has normal errors on the side.
-very low geometry for levels. It feels very much like you are running through cube-city
-bad dynamic lighting (like on the cop car in the first level)
-terrible flashlight effects which include
-no lights from other player's flashlights
-bad shadow artifacts
-volume lights in areas with no dust or fog in the air. Does the flashlight emit fog?
wow now you sound whiny. the x360 graphic is turend down quite a bit but it's not that bad - infact it's imho one of the better 360 games (graphical and gameplay wise). The fact this is "boxland" is maybe it's a god damn hospital tower in a skyscrapper sourrounding and not your soap box which might be beveled all around.
Dude, you link a Half-Life website in your sig-- I make video game art for a living. Somehow I think maybe I am a little more objective about the quality of the art than you are.
Also, instead of making sarcastic comments or personally attacking me, you guys could try pointing out why I am wrong.
Ya, seriously? Buildings in this crazy world of ours are usually box shaped, if you haven't noticed. So I guess you think Mirror's Edge is ugly too? Lawls. I don't know, to each his own, I liked it, doesn't mean everyone does.
I thought the levels were great, although some are not the best (No Mercy in the first section didn't seem the best but it was still great). They really set it up for a tense feeling with the special infected.As for textures and such, the game looks just as good as any other new FPS I've been playing lately, ditto to lighting. As far as boxy looks, the environments they are conveying call for it. Hell, looking at my own apartment its looks very similar to the games. Hardly any trimming or bevels, and the only thing with complex geometry is the sliding door.
I will say that No Mercy really shouldn't have been the demo, perhaps Death Toll or such.
The game looks bad, the level design is terrible, audio is weak....instead of making sarcastic comments or personally attacking me, you guys could try pointing out why I am wrong.
I'm not sure why I should have to pick out things when it is really just bad overall, but here are a few things I noticed:
-Extremely low rez textures
-When you are on fire, you get a terrible looking fire sprite at the bottom of the screen
-bad jpg compression artifacts everywhere (those shades of green and purple)
-half assed assets, bad seams, no bevels on corners of enviro objects. The pistol has normal errors on the side.
-very low geometry for levels. It feels very much like you are running through cube-city
-bad dynamic lighting (like on the cop car in the first level)
-terrible flashlight effects which include
-no lights from other player's flashlights
-bad shadow artifacts
-volume lights in areas with no dust or fog in the air. Does the flashlight emit fog?
and while it may be personal taste:
-really amateurish/ugly UI
I find that Valve's games have great level design...when talking about gameplay, not appearance. Which is what level design is. Making it fun. Valve have a way of taking ordinary locations, and pulling you through them at a good pace. Setting you up for the next encounter. Allowing you to use the surroundings to your strategic advantage. TF2 proves this greatly. Portal was a game full of box rooms, with maybe two or three seperate textures. But it was also one of the best games released that year. I've played through it numerous times.
The audio is an important part of the gameplay. Each zombie has a unique sound which allows you to prepare. I've gotten my ass kicked in Versus because I growl too much before I attack. I've had to change my strategy. The voice acting is great, and well used for the right situations. Aside from "RELOADING" (which is helpful for teammates) it's not so repetitive. And I've seen the number of sound files used for the characters. Good lawd!
-when did 1024x1024 become low res for wall textures? when did low resolution textures start interfering with gameplay? so why would this be your first point? maybe, as mentioned, you played the PC version with a related bug (it was very buggy until release). Or you're playing the Xbox version, which maybe have more limited space for resources. why should it matter?
-i don't recall seeing the fire sprite. i was too busy not lighting myself on fire.
-don't remember any artifacts. are you talking about the film grain?
-blah blah
-more blah blah
-cube city. cities are made of cubes. the room i'm sitting in is a box. the walls aren't beveled. the apartment in the first chapter, looks like an apartment.
-dynamic lighting. there are few instances of dynamic lightings in Source games. as they are expensive, and Valve tries to keep their games running on a wide range of systems. looks great on my system. their engine lighting, mixed with moody lighting placement, adjusted with their ingame color correction and screen shaders, give one of the best near cinematic gameplay experiences I've had. it's not about how much detail a car or wall has, but how much the surroundings pull you in.
-multiplayer flash lights. I've noticed this, and as I mentioned above, had to believe this was a decision to increase optimization. As you claim to be a game developer, you should understand this...if your games sell.
-bad shadows. the player flashlight is normally the only moving fully dynamic light in the engine. it's new, and useful. and you can shoot while using it. with the current state of game technology, I can forgive a few errors with dynamic lighting.
-i don't find the interface intrusive at all. It's simple and gives me the info I need, and that of other players as well.
Valve have a reputation of creating well refined balanced games. Any decision they make to remove a feature probably goes along with their goal of releasing games to a wide range of systems, and keeping the experience balanced.
What this all boils down to is...when you make a dumb statement like "it sucks". You're not really talking about the game itself...but how, in your mind, you would have created the game's visual assets a lot better. Meaning, perhaps you're too wrapped up in your developer work to understand what it means to have a game that is fun to play. This is what it means to take your work too seriously. You honestly didn't mention anything about gameplay...which should be the most important factor in reviewing games you play. Chill out, and have some fun for once. Get some friends together.
I agree with Ninjas, I was actually quite surprised to see that no one commented on the visuals in L4D. Now, part of the problem is the Source engine in that every game that I have ever seen on it feels exactly like half-life 2, which in turn looks and feels like half-life 1 x2. So as a result I saw this game and immediately felt like I was watching a very professional HL2 mod (which it essentially is, only they get to charge you full admission for it). This assessment was from standing over a co-worker's shoulder as he played it on full video settings on pc.
Is the game ugly? Of course not, but is the game a visual masterpiece? I dont think so. Now, I've never really considered Valve an "art first" studio, so I've never expected any of their products to showcase the latest and greatest in videogame visuals. That's not to say that they dont have talented artists (as they certainly do), since the HL2 episodes especially they've had some really nice overall direction and great over all level work. The one place that Valve has always bothered me was in the texture department, which always seem to come off as too photo-y, much like Grand Theft Auto.
And to the comment about Mirrors Edge, I think it shares similar visual faults. When I loaded up the demo on ps3 I thought for a split second that they slipped the game into the source engine and never told anyone. I was disappointed in the visuals of that game for the same reasons as L4D (although L4D has vastly superior character models as far as I've seen).
About Beveled Edges - While not all walls have rounded curves the only edge you will ever see with zero perceivable roundness is an edge that is sharp enough to cut. There is always that little line of beveled goodness that you get a nice little highlight on that can make a world of difference to a wall in a videogame. Can every wall's edge be beveled? Of course not, but I have yet to encounter an environment that was so loaded up with geometry that you couldn't do it to any of them. Used wisely in doors especially it can make a great difference.
About the lighting issues - I dont believe for a second that Valve is incapable of getting the dynamic light issues with the flashlight sorted out, so I see that as a very valid area of disappointment. For a game that puts any focus on flashlight use you would think it would be something that would have gotten a lot of attention.
About the link of kotaku, cheats are also on pc now. I entered yesterday a party on versus mode (VAC secured), and by art of magic were spawned a bunch of tanks when we were in the middle of the map. I was impressed, is crazy how fast they cheated and ruined the game lol.
Replies
I can't understand why they named him Francis. Why not Frank?
Also...I STILL have not survived a finale. Dammit! But the results have been hilarious. Must survive. I use the same name on Steam if anyone wants to help.
Console style mulitplayer setup FTL. Anyone know what the hell ping I have if I have one two or three bars? its not a mobile bloody phone
edit: while I'm venting... (I love the game btw)
I was really
lolololo
It's there! Just not shown by default. Silly Valve.
Also, if Left 4 Dead doesn't satisfy you...I recommend you try Zombie Panic.
Flamethrower/Hairspray + lighter combo
Lawnmower on a shopping cart
I may be reaching here, but my first thought was Stripes. For anyone who may have not seen it, it was a 1981 comedy with Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and John Candy. One of the bit parts was a character of the name "Francis" and it kind of fits in a way. :Shrug:
Also, Dead Rising's main character is Frank ... although if they were worried about that why not pick a completely different name altogether? Ultimately, I think it is the paradox that a "bad ass" would have a name like "Francis" which may be perceived by some to be a "sissy" name (no offense intended to anyone named "Francis"), which was kind of also the case in Stripes.
Its so bloody fun to be gobbing all over fellow artists ;P
That's a good point. A character who grew up with a "sissy" name, was perhaps picked on, and decided to become a biker.
To add to the discussion of maps, there are plenty. You can't look at it that way. It's like the weapons. There are enough, and they serve their function well. I'm sure they had other weapon ideas...but they were too slow, or too powerful, or didn't make sense to have (you don't find many lawnmowers in an airport). It would change the play of the game. It appears that more campaigns and maps are in the works by the mod community. A replica of the mall in Dawn of the Dead is being created for a new campaign. The more the better. Well, not for the console players. :P
If your only running through the maps on an easy level...you're not playing the game. On Advance/Expert, each attempt throws something different at you. And playing on Versus is way too intense. Vomiting on someone at the right moment when a Smoker and Hunter are ready to grab the others...priceless.
haha... was watching this before i read these posts.. and it fits too well
[ame]http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=M89c3hWx3RQ[/ame]
[ame]
hahaha!!! I love this game so much.
kubEdit: removed the link due to potential legal issues.
and what is up with jerking people around with the demo? I think that is really bad form.
Characters and animation are good at least
maybe the game is only fun if you play with your buddies? Seems like any game is fun when you play with 3 of your friends though.
can you elaborate please instead of just saying "it sucks" kind of thing.
i found the level design to be very dynamic and effective, the aesthetics to be very rich and the audio very engaging.
i've been told to stop being a bitch and make friends, then it will become supar-fun. i hope so!
Expert mode is the way to go I guess
B
I'm not sure why I should have to pick out things when it is really just bad overall, but here are a few things I noticed:
-Extremely low rez textures
-When you are on fire, you get a terrible looking fire sprite at the bottom of the screen
-bad jpg compression artifacts everywhere (those shades of green and purple)
-half assed assets, bad seams, no bevels on corners of enviro objects. The pistol has normal errors on the side.
-very low geometry for levels. It feels very much like you are running through cube-city
-bad dynamic lighting (like on the cop car in the first level)
-terrible flashlight effects which include
-no lights from other player's flashlights
-bad shadow artifacts
-volume lights in areas with no dust or fog in the air. Does the flashlight emit fog?
and while it may be personal taste:
-really amateurish/ugly UI
the lighting is absolutely great. most of the things you mention dont bother me. i am not a fan of the typical next gen look where everything has to have high poly, bevels and ultra details.
the details l4d has is consistent and aesthetically ballanced.
here are some screens incase you were playing the wrong game:
BTW, if visuals like high res textures are more important to you then you should not be playing 360 in the first place, you should be playing PC version only.
The first shot looks like boxland, with some nice baked lighting, and the two other shots are of characters. I have no problem with the baked lighting and the characters.
I played the 360 version mostly. I only had a short chance to check out the PC version before they turned off the demo. Maybe they use more than a 128x128 for whole zombies in the PC version.
Dude, you link a Half-Life website in your sig-- I make video game art for a living. Somehow I think maybe I am a little more objective about the quality of the art than you are.
Also, instead of making sarcastic comments or personally attacking me, you guys could try pointing out why I am wrong.
I will say that No Mercy really shouldn't have been the demo, perhaps Death Toll or such.
Ok.
I find that Valve's games have great level design...when talking about gameplay, not appearance. Which is what level design is. Making it fun. Valve have a way of taking ordinary locations, and pulling you through them at a good pace. Setting you up for the next encounter. Allowing you to use the surroundings to your strategic advantage. TF2 proves this greatly. Portal was a game full of box rooms, with maybe two or three seperate textures. But it was also one of the best games released that year. I've played through it numerous times.
The audio is an important part of the gameplay. Each zombie has a unique sound which allows you to prepare. I've gotten my ass kicked in Versus because I growl too much before I attack. I've had to change my strategy. The voice acting is great, and well used for the right situations. Aside from "RELOADING" (which is helpful for teammates) it's not so repetitive. And I've seen the number of sound files used for the characters. Good lawd!
-when did 1024x1024 become low res for wall textures? when did low resolution textures start interfering with gameplay? so why would this be your first point? maybe, as mentioned, you played the PC version with a related bug (it was very buggy until release). Or you're playing the Xbox version, which maybe have more limited space for resources. why should it matter?
-i don't recall seeing the fire sprite. i was too busy not lighting myself on fire.
-don't remember any artifacts. are you talking about the film grain?
-blah blah
-more blah blah
-cube city. cities are made of cubes. the room i'm sitting in is a box. the walls aren't beveled. the apartment in the first chapter, looks like an apartment.
-dynamic lighting. there are few instances of dynamic lightings in Source games. as they are expensive, and Valve tries to keep their games running on a wide range of systems. looks great on my system. their engine lighting, mixed with moody lighting placement, adjusted with their ingame color correction and screen shaders, give one of the best near cinematic gameplay experiences I've had. it's not about how much detail a car or wall has, but how much the surroundings pull you in.
-multiplayer flash lights. I've noticed this, and as I mentioned above, had to believe this was a decision to increase optimization. As you claim to be a game developer, you should understand this...if your games sell.
-bad shadows. the player flashlight is normally the only moving fully dynamic light in the engine. it's new, and useful. and you can shoot while using it. with the current state of game technology, I can forgive a few errors with dynamic lighting.
-i don't find the interface intrusive at all. It's simple and gives me the info I need, and that of other players as well.
Valve have a reputation of creating well refined balanced games. Any decision they make to remove a feature probably goes along with their goal of releasing games to a wide range of systems, and keeping the experience balanced.
What this all boils down to is...when you make a dumb statement like "it sucks". You're not really talking about the game itself...but how, in your mind, you would have created the game's visual assets a lot better. Meaning, perhaps you're too wrapped up in your developer work to understand what it means to have a game that is fun to play. This is what it means to take your work too seriously. You honestly didn't mention anything about gameplay...which should be the most important factor in reviewing games you play. Chill out, and have some fun for once. Get some friends together.
O.O
*waits for the ban hammers*
Is the game ugly? Of course not, but is the game a visual masterpiece? I dont think so. Now, I've never really considered Valve an "art first" studio, so I've never expected any of their products to showcase the latest and greatest in videogame visuals. That's not to say that they dont have talented artists (as they certainly do), since the HL2 episodes especially they've had some really nice overall direction and great over all level work. The one place that Valve has always bothered me was in the texture department, which always seem to come off as too photo-y, much like Grand Theft Auto.
And to the comment about Mirrors Edge, I think it shares similar visual faults. When I loaded up the demo on ps3 I thought for a split second that they slipped the game into the source engine and never told anyone. I was disappointed in the visuals of that game for the same reasons as L4D (although L4D has vastly superior character models as far as I've seen).
About Beveled Edges - While not all walls have rounded curves the only edge you will ever see with zero perceivable roundness is an edge that is sharp enough to cut. There is always that little line of beveled goodness that you get a nice little highlight on that can make a world of difference to a wall in a videogame. Can every wall's edge be beveled? Of course not, but I have yet to encounter an environment that was so loaded up with geometry that you couldn't do it to any of them. Used wisely in doors especially it can make a great difference.
About the lighting issues - I dont believe for a second that Valve is incapable of getting the dynamic light issues with the flashlight sorted out, so I see that as a very valid area of disappointment. For a game that puts any focus on flashlight use you would think it would be something that would have gotten a lot of attention.
It's an addictive game
Anyone know a perfect game? i mean graphically.