As we have said many times before on the Guardian Force blog, music is really important to us all. It keeps us company at work, gives us something to talk about and most importantly of all controls our moods a huge percentage of the time. I’m not gonna write an essay about music today though, this post is for something else.
It goes without saying that there are more than enough social networks out there already and yes, I am going to recommend another BUT WAIT this one actually does have something special about it that makes it more than worth signing up for, especially if your a music lover or in a band.
The site is OOiZiT.com, it only launched out of private Beta testing this week but I was lucky enough to be invited during that time and I want to explain why I have enjoyed the experience so much. (more…)
The Left 4 Dead 2 demo was up late this week/this weekend for Steam users to have a play on, it was a nice treat and after the stupid download time and some buggy install which is expected witha new game to be honest, I got into the game itself.
At launch your confronted with the current Valve/Steam logo (yup a guy with a valve in his head) and then a really nice intro movie. The movie does something similar to the first game in which it sets the scene for one of the games but unlike the first once it’s less “sequential”.
We see our new survivors checking out an abandoned shop for supplies, chunky “Uncle Phil” look-a-like Coach is munching on a chocolate bar while Ellis, the apparent love-child of Eminem and John Cena is scavenging up some weaponry.
Savvy con man Nick grabs a wad of cash from the register and sassy black girl “Rochelle” is sassy some more.
All kitted up the survivors make their way to an evacuation station further down town, and we get some bad ass music spliced with game play and CG footage of the survivors blasting through zombie hordes with all their new weaponry and attitude.
We then get a pretty cool cut scene where we are shown some new specials and weapons as well as potential locations for gameplay including a mall!
Well it pyched me up well fopr playing so lets see how that panned out (that was a pun which maybe some of you got).
Lobbying up hasn’t changed much, interface is slightly different but in general it’s choose a campaign, choose some players and go. We get a new cheesy movie poster (yay!) and a fairly hefty load time before we see our survivors again on a beatifully rendered dock.
The first thing to hit you? It’s daytime, the misty darkness of L4D has been banished and the South’s relentless sunshine is lighting up the horror for all to see. This does effect the atmosphere of the game but not nearly as much as you would think, it can still be claustrophobic and scary and stuff still jumps out of nowhere to get you.
The second thing that comes in is how good the graphics are. My PC was only running it with 4x Anistopic which is not the maximum but still the scenery, the characters and the zombies were beautifully detailed and it all ran smoothly. The daylight gives more depth to the world so every brick and broken fence can now be made out and trust me, it looks good.
The third thing that hits home? The music. Remember that slightly creepy but intreging music from L4D? Well its back wth a Souythern twang and it works. You really have to play the game to get this one but they have worked hard on music balancing, sounds comming in an out and general audio ambience for L4D2 and it is really noticeable.
Weapons
So L4D2 has some new weapons as well as slight changes to the combat system.
The first thing is that you can now throw away your pistol(s) for a melee weapon. As you would expect melee weapons don’t have ammo but they have extremely limited range and varying attack speeds. The different kind of melee weapons do make a difference but in general they are on or two hit kills with a “push back” effect for anything not killed in one hit. They are really useful in a funnel and have some comedy sound effects.
The Pan is a standard kitchen frying pan, weakest of the melee wepaons but it does make L4D2 Smell of Reeves and Mortimor.
The Guitar is a slow swinging weapon but arcs out much more than the pand and makes a power cord noise on hit.
The Machete is my favourite weapon I have had in the demo, it chops them zombies up and swings quite quickly.
The Nightstick is a push away weapon that often flaws non-special zombies. Pretty much average but fast.
There are also swords, fire axes, cricket bats, baseball bats, crowbars (heh) and the mighty chainsaw to wield that we have seen in videos but I didn’t pick any of this up.
Here’s a cool video showing machete and pan owning zombies.
Weapons such as the pistols, shotgun and uzi have had overhauls. They have made slightly more realistic and added options like silenced guns and different skins to mix it up as well as more of a range of powered weapons so its not just “basic” and “good” ones, much more of a curve.
Meds & Grenades
They have also improved the grenade slot with the addition of the new funnest one, Boomer Bile. Throw the vial on an unsuspecting group, Tank or witch or jsut chuck off a cliff or into a fire and watch the horde follow, very effective escape and attack tactic.
Both health slots also have a new item, pain pills are still around but can be replaced with an adrenaline shot. This shot speeds up movement and reactions and gives a little health boost, very useful in certain situations.
Med-packs can also been replaced with a portable defibrillator but unfortunately I haven’t been able to test this yet :(
Specials
Boomers, Hunters, Smokers and Tanks remain largely unchanged (except appearance) but L4D2 features 3 new specials to wreck havoc on your party.
Chargers are probably the most dangerous of the new ones, the are smaller zombies with one tank like arm, they run veryquickly at the parts and knock you all out of the way or down. They can also “pin” a survivor like a hunter and you’ll have to be freed by someone else.
Apparently introduced to stop “camping” tactics by survivors these guys can, and will break your party up and cause all kinds of mischief, best tactic is to kill them before they get to you with some concerted team fire.
Spitters are annoying but not so bad at the moment. They spit high damaging acid at you and leak it when killed but don’t take much gun fire to dispatch. They can be a big slowdown if killed in the wrong place though so don’t block your escape off with a Spitter corpse!
They have to be killed at range but should be easy enough with anything bar the shotguns or melee weapons.
Jockeys are the most annoying of the new specials. Like the smoker they are designed to split up the group and do this by leaping on the player and forcing them to run off alone.
They are small and fast and nearly impossible to intercept and cause (along with friendly fire) a shitload of damage, hopefully someone can melee them off but it needs to be done fast!
Wandering Witch are not so fun either. The L4D crying crazy thing is back but instead of chilling round a corner or in a corridor they now wander around blubering and growling. Avoiding them is still a matter of skill but without a static place they are much easier to hit with a stray bullet or explosive and I am pretty sure they have been powered up even more.
Uncommons: Also thwon in the mix are uncommon zombies. They are not as poweful as specials and come in a variety of forms including SWAT officer, Hazmat zombie and clown but each one has its own unique thing, SWATs are immune to gunfire from the front (bullet vests and helms) and Hazmats are immune to Fluid and Fire, this is going to be really interesting when they are throw in into the mix with specials and hordes!
Panic Events
Panic events have changed too. they are now more varied and the one in the demo requires you to run, as a team, to get to a far off tower and deactivate an alarm instead of just guarding one spot.
This is a fantastic change and gives you a chance to formulate whole new strategies and utilize a wider range of weapon combo and techniques, some of these are going to be hard on later difficulties.
Conclusion
I have really enjoyed the demo, it looks like they have improved on one of the best games of last year and listened to many of the criticism initially levelled at it. If anyone is unsure about shelling out for a sequel rest assured its gonna be worth that money and then some.
From graphics to sound the game has been polished and its not simply a paid add on as many people were suggesting, try it out for yourselves where possible but make sure you do it with friends, the AI can still be janky.
Chargers are probably the most dangerous of the new ones, the are smaller zombies with one tank like arm, they run veryquickly at the parts and knock you all out of the way or down. They can also “pin” a survivor like a hunter and you’ll have to be freed by someone else.
