hurts itself in its confusion*
by sweep
Its the weekend. I could have just thrown out another episode of Keeping It Simple and everyone would have been happy. BUT I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT. Fuck no!! A bunch of stuff has happened over the last few days. I bought Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix and Left 4 Dead . And I'm really enjoying them both. My Left 4 Dead purchase was one of those " Fuck It, I'm buying it " moments. I could...
Its the weekend. I could have just thrown out another episode of Keeping It Simple and everyone would have been happy.
BUT I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT.
Fuck no!!
A bunch of stuff has happened over the last few days. I bought Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix and Left 4 Dead. And I'm really enjoying them both. My Left 4 Dead purchase was one of those "Fuck It, I'm buying it" moments. I couldn't help myself. I just love zombies....
I have played through all the levels on Advanced and I'm currently knocking around with the VS mode. I love the emphasis of sticking together as a team, and how quickly you can go from "FUCK YEAH, WE ARE AWESOME!" to "OH FUCK, WE ARE SO SCREWED...." The option of allowing a guest to play splitscreen with you is nice as well, although slightly frustrating when the guest has no headset ("There's a Witch, turn your light off. Oi, I said there's a Witch! Get back- OF FUCK WHAT DID YOU DO!?!") That game relies so completely on communication that without a mic it can get very frustrating.The "last stand" scenarios before you make your escape are epic. There's a great tension because your survival is so precarious. Even when you think it's going well there's a strong chance that you are about to get completely boned. The gameplay itself is very simple. Shoot the zombies. That's what zombies are for.
What I like especially is the way each level is treated like a tacky horror film, complete with posters and end credits. The last words you will see on your screen having escaped is the number of zombies you dispatched during your shenanigans;
"10,380 Zombies were harmed in the Making of this film"
Did you see that? "Film". They called it a film.
Each level has been designed like a film, from its length to its setting, and Left 4 Dead rejoices in stereotypes and cinematic excess. It works. Its a lot of fun. The structure is much more rewarding than the campaign of Gears Of War 2 for example, because completing a single campaign of Left 4 Dead feels like a huge achievement with a very finite conclusion, whereas the campaign in Gears 2 felt like an ongoing struggle which continues regardless of your involvement. Both are awesome.
This length of each level feels just right - Its long enough for you to get into the flow of the game, but not so long that it becomes tedious. And it would become tedious, because the gameplay is very simple. Left 4 Dead is one of the first games I have bought over the last few months where I didn't feel the need to immediately play through the entire game and unlock all its juicy pixellated goodness. I took it slow, completing the 4 scenarios over the course of 3 days. Stubbornly forcing myself through the 4 levels immediately would have just soured my experience. They are almost like episodes of a TV show. You don't want to watch the whole season all at once.
Left 4 Dead is awesome. That's my final verdict. Its also been designed like a film. I think its a wonderfully fresh approach but it comes with its own baggage. When you finish watching a film, you go and do something else. You don't watch the same film again. Nobody does. That would just be weird. The same, to some extent, applies to Left 4 Dead. Having completed a Level you go and do something else. You could do a different level, but there are only 4 of them and they don't last long. Left 4 Dead works well in short bursts but lacks any real gaming continuity. You can play VS mode a bunch, but its still the same levels just against smarter opponents.
Left 4 Dead is some sort of weird film/game hybrid. I actually wrote something in a previous blog without realising its fairly important.
When you watch a film your progress is guaranteed. When you play a game your progress in hypothetical.
Case in point, games are not films. When you try to make a game a film it is at the cost of losing some of the qualities of a game. The most cinematic of games (Call Of Duty 4, Mirrors Edge, Left 4 Dead etc) are designed to maximise the intensity of the game at the cost of limited replayability. As an expensive product, I expect much more from a game than I do from a film, and this style of design contradicts that.
I just wrote a whole blog and I'm not even sure if it makes any sense.
BEFORE I GO
You guys are awesome. My XBL friends list has slowly filled up with crazy GB kids and I'm having a ton of fun being a member of this community. I think I was in Systech's GTA4 bombing run last night but I cant remember...
I also tried uploading a bunch of pictures onto GearsOfWar.com - photos that I had taken in multiplayer during the Giantbomb Horde run I did with Rowr, Casey, WallaceTheGreat, Tanuki, and (when Rowr's Xbox died) we eventually subbed in Brukaru. Here are a few screenshots that I took. Its a shame they are so small, it sucks having to Downgrade from how they look on my 20" HD but its better than nothing.
Thanks for reading
Love Sweep