Posts Tagged ‘Left 4 Dead’
15
Feb

Today is President’s Day in the United States, so we’re off (and I just woke up). I’ll use today as a short entry to recommend you gamers see the film Zombieland – especially if you’re a fan of the Left 4 Dead games. Zombies seem to be popular in both films and video games, but they’ve become very popular in video games as of late and it looks like they’re also seeing a “resurgence” in film as well.

The movie is a little on the short side, but it has a lot of humor and it’s done quite well. It’s surprising that the people who created Zombieland did not mention taking any influence from the Left 4 Dead games, since it has so many things that we’ve experienced in both Left 4 Dead games. One thing that we’ve experienced in the Left 4 Dead games that seems to also occur in Zombieland is the lack of a plot. The plot for the film is not much better than the plot for either of the Left 4 Dead games. Well – maybe a tiny bit better. But all you need to really know is that these 4 survivors are trying to make their way across the United States, which is now basically Zombieland since everyone has pretty much turned into zombies.

Zombieland really is for us gamers, as the main character is the young guy on the left in the shot above and his narration is what guides us through the film. His thoughts and mannerisms are easily identifiable for gamers, as he comes up with all sorts of rules to survive such as always checking the backseat when entering a new vehicle. We even see him spending time playing World of Warcraft in his apartment before the zombie infection begins, which is a nice little touch for fans of the game.

This honestly feels like a Left 4 Dead movie. 4 survivors come together and team up to take on a zombie horde that has ravaged America, all with their own distinct personalities and traits. I don’t want to give too much of the film away, but definitely check it out if you enjoy Left 4 Dead!

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23
Dec


Please Valve, do not release Left 4 Dead 3 in 2010!

With cmfl3x and me going on a blogging holiday break starting tomorrow, this entry will be our last post for 2009! Similar to cmfl3x, I also several holiday wishes for 2010 but I’ve narrowed it down to three possible wishes that would make me a happy gamer next year and they all relate to sequels: BioShock 2, Starcraft 2, and Left 4 Dead 3 (well, Left 4 Dead 2, to be more exact).
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22
Dec


One of the highlights of Halo 3: ODST was the ability to unlock free gear for your Avatar

Although 2009 wasn’t as awesome as 2008, it was still a great year for gamers. Looking back, I’ve enjoyed all the titles I’ve gotten to play and am really looking forward to next year. There were some new things we saw this year that I hope will continue in 2010. Hit the jump to find out what!

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18
Dec

wowreadycheck

tf2war
World of Warcraft & Team Fortress 2 continue to give PC gamers updates

It’s interesting for me to see the “evolution” of the PC gaming landscape. Growing up on Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem, I’ve lived through the rise and decline of the PC gaming scene, from the introduction of first person shooters, real-time strategy games, online multiplayer, 4X strategy games, and now MMORPGs. If you’ve also grown up with fond memories of Doom & Quake, I highly recommend checking out the book, Masters of Doom. It’s a well-written book that chronicles how John Romero and John Carmack met, formed id Software, and completely shook up the gaming industry. Having said that, today’s entry will contain my more general thoughts on the PC gaming landscape, and why I’m still excited for its present and future.
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17
Dec

l4d2spitter
Spitter + dimly lit area = problem

I originally set out to write about how Left 4 Dead 2 is too hard to enjoy (it still kind of is sometimes), but now I am enjoying myself so much I want to write about that too! I think the tipping point came when I was playing through the Hard Rain campaign, which is an amazing gaming experience that is not to be missed. In a clever level design, you make your way out to a fuel station only to return with fuel on your back for your boat. The problem is, it’s dusk when you start, dark by the second stage and by the end you are in a raging maelstrom. The weather effects are awesome and for the first time in a long time, I was scared because zombies I couldn’t see were popping up right in front of my face. Kudos to Valve for thinking of such an awesome level.

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11
Dec

360holiday2009p5

We’ve finally reached the last day of our 2009 Xbox 360 Awards & Holiday Shopping Guide, culminating in our Game of the Year. For those following the awards throughout the week, you may have a good guess as to what game will be our game of the year. Is it the same as your pick?

In any case, please remember that while we’ve chosen only one winner from each category, all games nominated within each category are all worth considering, depending on how much you enjoy that category. This week’s feature has doubled as a shopping guide as well as an awards “ceremony”. With that, let’s draw back the curtains for the finale…

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10
Dec

360holiday2009p4

In Part 4 of the Awards/Shopping Guide, Leveling Down will be tackling some of the more controversial categories: Best Story, Best Value, and Most Overrated. Admittedly, these categories are VERY subjective and are only our opinions, and on some counts even espion4ge and I don’t see *exactly* eye to eye. Nonetheless, controversy is a lot of fun, so might as well give it a shot!

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09
Dec

360holiday2009p3

One of the Xbox 360’s strongest features compared to other consoles is its multiplayer gameplay, which can probably be attributed to the Live infrastructure. It is thus not surprisingly to see strong multiplayer games on this system. For today’s awards, I will be discussing the best multiplayer games released this year, and the one better than the rest.

I will also be discussing the best new IP and best sequel of the year. It’s good to see that in 2009, there were nearly an equal number of good new IPs and sequels. The moment we begin seeing only sequels releasing and new IPs no longer developed is the moment the game industry stops advancing. It’s easy to support sequels since you know what you’re getting yourself into, but this year was perhaps the year with the largest number of development studios shutting down. Continue to take a chance by supporting new IPs – the developers need this type of support to stay in business and come up with new and exciting games to push our industry forward!

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07
Dec

360holiday2009p1

It’s that time of the year again…as 2009 draws to a close and the holiday season is upon us, cmfl3x and I decided that we wanted to do our own “Leveling Down” gaming awards for 2009 where we choose winners in several categories for Xbox 360 games that have been released in 2009. At the same time, we also wanted to preserve the holiday shopping guide that Leveling Down produced last year but felt that the awards and the shopping guide were too similar.

Instead of separate 2009 awards and holiday shopping guide posts, we’ve decided to combine them this year into one. Every game we’ve nominated within our awards are games worth considering for the holidays, but at the same time, we’re also declaring the winner. Consider the awards as, if you can only buy one game from the nominees of the category, buy the winner. But if you are further interested in other games from the category, you should definitely pick them up as well as they have aspects that all make them worth considering. Game boxes have been provided for all nominees, and all of them link to Amazon, our gaming retailer of the year due to not only their ridiculous gaming deals, but their constant vigilance in price matching practically all competitors.

Our 2009 awards/shopping guide will span all week, with cmfl3x and me alternating posts and writing about a few categories each day. This will culminate on Friday when we both share our own nominations for Game of the Year, and our picks for Game of the Year. I will kick things off today with three categories: 2009’s Best Fighting Game, Best Role Playing Game, and Best First Person Shooter for the Xbox 360.

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04
Dec

left4dead2imp

I finally took the shrinkwrap off my copy of Left 4 Dead 2 last night, and gave it a spin by playing through the first campaign with AI opponents on Normal difficulty and the second campaign with friends & AI on varying levels of difficulty. My impressions of the retail version of the game don’t seem to differ drastically from those of my demo impressions, but I do have some stuff to talk about so hit the jump if you’re interested in hearing my thoughts on it.
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