CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
left 4 dead - impressions
Escape from Death's Slimy Grip
An interesting feature of being attacked by the Smoker's tongue is that you still have some range of movement. I was able to move slowly to the left and right while being pulled towards the smoker, and towards what I thought would be my certain death. Fortunately, either by my hand or by the help of my teammates, the tongue was shot and I was free for the time being. Shortly after, the smoker was disposed of and a thick cloud of smoke was all that remained to remind us of his former presence there.

At some point during the Smoker's attack, a Hunter entered the battle. Hunters have the ability to conceal themselves until a Survivor looks directly at them or they move from their spot. The only real glimpse I was able to catch of the Hunter was a brief blur as it flew across my field of vision towards my teammates. They're quick, agile, and are oddly reminiscent of the fast zombies from Ravenholm. I did not even get a chance to fire off a round at the Hunter given my situation.

I'd like to take a moment to offer up a side note. It wasn't clear to me during the play testing if you're only able to shoot the Smoker, or if you are able to shoot the tongue in order to free teammates. I'd like to believe that either the Smoker or the tongue can be shot, but that is one detail I'm not entirely sure on.

This was not the first and only encounter with the Smoker. A similar fate came upon a teammate later on in the scenario. This time, the Smoker was above us on a rooftop waiting for us. He watched as we made our way out from a gas station heading towards another building across the way. We already knew we had to hustle given how exposed we were out in the open. Unfortunately, we were still caught by surprise when the next attack hit.


The concealed Smoker struck fast and seized Zoey as she passed directly under him. Pulling her slowly up, I could see her body struggling. It's apparent she's about to be hung to death. A well-aimed rifle shot from another teammate again results in freedom and another chance at life. Another battle shortly ensues with the AI Infected as we make our way to the hospital itself.

Boom
I mentioned earlier how a teammate of mine was the victim of the vomit attack by the Boomer. I was also one of the victims that was hit with this interesting attack. Once hit, your screen is given a rather nasty overlay. A red, chunky transparent goop clouds your vision and while the vomit slowly trickles down, you become the sole target of any Infected in the area. Fortunately, my attack came while on the city streets and just exiting one building to cross to another.

Hit with the vomit, I immediately backtrack into the entrance of the building we had just begun to exit. This tactic limited the number of Infected that could actually get to me at any given time. Pouring in through the door, we fend off the Infected and I manage to live to see another day. While I'm making this out to be an easy defense, it was anything but. Some did slip past the doorway and into our area. Melee attacks proved to be extremely effective here. Teammates knocked off the Infected from me with a melee attack and were able to get a clear shot at them without harming me in the process.


It was shortly after my encounter with the Boomer that I learned what it was like to get knocked down and enter a bleed out period. Coincidently, this was also one of the few times we came across the Tank in an open area environment. Crossing the street, a number of destroyed cars were strewn about. The roads were wide enough and I saw a good deal of random objects strewn about that would either save us or kill us.

While the cars and other objects allowed for us to hide behind them, the appearance of the Tank quickly turned every large scale, movable object into an item of pain. Given his ability to pick up these objects and fling them at you or your teammates, you may not want to hide out behind that sturdy looking car you saw.