Anyhoo, just a week ago, I brought my PC over to Bryan Kho's house (BK for short) for a little LAN party/sleepover together with him and his brother. With the release of so many hotly-anticipated games over the holidays, naturally, gamers like him and I planned a little LAN party for us all to enjoy.
So, we ARE NOT, I repeat, ARE NOT, having a LAN exclusively for DOTA. That would be soooooo lame. Before you guys come over here and murder me, please kindly read on.
With bajillions of new games out there, most Kuching-nites are only interested in one game, Dota. Not too sure why la. Hence, Dota players, take no offence reading this yarr. The game ain't lame. It's just lame dat ur all still playing only one game when there's so many out there. Don't you feel like your missing out?
Among the games that we were eager to try out were of course:
Left 4 Dead (the hottest online co-op game EVAR!)
Grand Theft Auto IV (hurray! Now you can commit crimes without the guilt!)
Gears of War (wanted to finish up co-op nia)
Call of Duty: World At War (It's World War II! Bring friends~)
Ehem, my main focus here will be, of course, Left 4 Dead. Arguably the best online co-op game to hit the shelves, it deserves an exclusive review~~
Left 4 Dead. It's the zombie apocalypse. And a good thing too. Left 4 Dead places you in the shoes of one of four survivors caught in a god-forsaken city where zombies (The Infected) roam free.
Zombies: Check. Eerie setting: Check. Happy thoughts: Yeah right.Your objective in all four available campaigns is to survive as you make your way to the designated rescue points. However, your chances of making it out alive are greatly hampered by the many shitloads of zombies that lie between point A and point B.
With a variety of locales to play from, Left 4 Dead makes for a unique experience as each zombie spawn points as well as weapon pick-ups are random thanks to the AI director. Therefore, although you'll be playing the same four campaigns over and over, the AI director makes each playthrough a different experience altogether.
These ain't your ordinary, run-of-the-mill zombies that lethargically lumber towards their prey. Instead, you have those that can friggin' RUN. And they usually bring friends too, so, more often than not, you'll be left fighting off hordes of them at the worst of times.
And to add insult to injury, there are these Special Infected too that are thrown into the mix. Hunters stalk their prey and pounce on you before clawing your guts out. Smokers pull Survivors long distances with their uberly long tongues. Boomers vomit bile onto you, clouding your vision and attracting hordes of Common Infected. Worst of all, are the Tanks; giant meatballs that dish out massive damage and a shitload of bullets to kill.
Zombie, meet Shotgun. Shotgun, meet zombie~Never before has a game blended teamwork and communication so well until Left 4 Dead hit the shelves. Covering each other's backs is what Left 4 Dead is all about. Let a Survivor wander off alone, and chances for survival will greatly diminish.
Healing, shooting and distributing health supplies to wounded team-mates are vital in your on-going quest for survival. Action is intense as there is most probably only time for split-second decisions that can differentiate life or death. Difficulty level is also ramped up depending on the survivors' condition, all thanks to the AI director.
Survivors that are faring well will find fewer health pick-ups and the spawning of multiple hordes of Infected become more apparent. Those down on their last few legs will expect to run into less resistance and come across more health and power-ups.
Instances like saving a team-mate from the clutches of the Special Infected, reviving a downed character and healing them as well as switching strategy on the fly to tackle the oncoming hordes of zombies all makes for a truly, rewarding and intense co-op experience unlike no other.
Hence, communication here is vital, especially during the grand finales in each campaign where waves after waves of zombies endlessly flood towards you whilst you wait for your rescue. After each campaign is completed, you are rewarded to a cheeky, movie-esque credits sequence that detail your gameplay stats.
However, this game is best played with friends. Sure, you can take on each campaign with an AI-controlled partner but you'll lack that sense of interaction when played with friends. When having friends as your team-mates, you'll have that sense of urgency to look out for them as well as a feeling of improvisation and strategizing to get out alive.
Haha, take it from me and Bryan Kho. The whole night of our LAN party, we were hollering and yelling over the gun-fires and zombie howls, barking orders to each other, pointing out health, explosives supplies and the location of the Tanks.
And that concludes the review. Back on track, we'd also finished up co-op for Gears of War before heading over to Reening's place for a little Gears of War 2 action. Thanks, dude! We really owe ya one!
And what can I say, Gears 2 is every bit as awesome as how its predecessor is. Blood, guts, guns, and gore....ohhh add in super-uber testosterone action basically sums up Gears 2.
A little Grand Theft Auto IV multiplayer was also played and boy, was it a side-splitting experience. Can you imagine, soccer moms as hired contract killers? Cold-blooded mafiasos hitching a ride on a broken-down scooter, mowing down random pedestrians? If it's one thing Grand Theft Auto IV that did right, it was the multiplayer action, no doubt.
And that concludes this final post before I head on out to National Service. Expect this to be the last update before this blog undergoes a three-month long hiatus.
Till then, cheerio and game on!
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