left 4 dead - preview
One area where the visuals sort of yank you back to reality, is that weapons, items, and even your teammates will have a glowing aura around them. Teammates will only have this white, glowing outline around them when their bodies are around a corner or behind a wall. This is a necessity as you do not have a radar in the game. The aura, when used on items helps to better identify items of importance even during the chaos of battle. It helps to bring to your attention various weapons that are strewn about the game world, to identify health cabinets in the safe zones, and to show you where you can find some pain pills.
The dark and dangerous atmosphere of the scenario I played through was apparent from the start. The night skies seemed almost tranquil when set against smoldering ruins of destroyed and abandoned buildings, burnt out cars, and overturned furniture. From tranquil to foreboding, each map offers up a little bit of everything. However, ambiance cannot rely on just visuals alone.
Sound
Alone, a single Infected grunts and groans with the best of them. As a pack, however, the combined sound will keep you constantly on edge just waiting for the pack to round that corner ahead of you.
The bosses have unique sounds, especially when it comes to the Boomer and the Tank. The Tank can be heard from a rather substantial distance given how fast and furious he moves, hitting the ground with his fists to keep his balance, you'll hear him well before he ever slaps you upside the head with his meaty fists. As noted, the Witch utters and cries softly to herself. It's probably the most unnerving thing to hear in this game as these times tend to be the most tense when you run across a Witch. No sounds, no lights, and slow walking past a clearly troubled foe.
Weapons sound powerful enough already. There's really nothing outstanding here for the weapon sounds. The character voice acting were a treat to hear given how each of them actually sounds unique, something that would be quite the welcome change to Counter-Strike.
Little details like the sound of vomit spewing out from a Boomer, the slick organic sound of the Smoker's tongue as it wraps around your person, and even the metallic groan of the doors as the Infected pound away at them all add up to provide a treat for your ears.
As of my testing, there was no way of telling just how many of these sounds were final versions, or just place holders.
Controls
There really is not too much to say here for the controls and the handling of the inventory. You're limited to just a primary weapon, a pistol (or duel-wielded pistols if you find a second one later), and some form of explosives. Cycling through the weapons is the same as any other FPS, and can obviously be customized to your own liking.
Again, all typical fare with the controls here, so do not expect any surprises. The only unique addition to the title is the number of dialog options your characters will have available to them. There are multiple lines of recorded dialog that can be said with one of the three voice comm menus (think of Counter-Strike or Team Fortress 2's Z, X, and C key uses).
I did not have any hands on time as the Infected bosses, so there's nothing to report on just how well that crew controls. Given the special abilities of the Infected bosses, I would imagine there are some additional idiosyncrasies there that the players will have to contend with.
To Be Continued
Okay, now that we've gotten a few of the basics out of the way, it's almost time for round two. Next up, I'll re-live every detail still stuck in my mind from my hands-on time with Left 4 Dead. Don't worry; the second part won't take another three months to appear.
Ready to take a little trip into my mind to see what I thought about Left 4 Dead? Well, the second part of the article is now ready and waiting!
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