I won’t spend any more time on this one, except to quote this comment from “Neon357” from this daming Youtube video which compares the two games. User reviews on metacritic were harsher, scoring it 5.4 overall. Throw in a touch of Denuvo DRM, a silver rating on ProtonDB (including a lack of EAC support that kills the multiplayer), janky AI, and a complete lack of mod support and frankly, it’s amazing that quite a few media outlets rated it as high as 8/10. Turtle Rock Studios are still asking £49.99 for Back 4 Blood, despite its “mixed” review status on Steam. It didn’t quite work out that way, however, when it launched in October 2021. Oh, they’re so, so there, all 120 thousand or so!Īnd then there was Left 4 Dead 3! At least, that’s the reputation Turtle Rock Studios were flattered with when the mainstream gaming media proclaimed them the “creators of Left 4 Dead” and hyped Back 4 Blood, an attempt at modernising the Left 4 Dead experience. This all makes for a fascinating blend of tense strategy, forced cooperation and genuine jump scares.Īnd as usual for these articles, I haven’t covered mods… but they’re there. No, Valve also let you play PvP, putting you in the shoes of multiple types of “special” infected, from Hunters that leap huge distances, or Chokers who throw their tongues out from afar to reel in the player, to the slow moving but devastating bloater that will summon a horde of zombies to the player, even in death. Combined, it delivered an atmosphere that inspired a believable sense of dread and panic.Īnd the multiplayer didn’t just stop at the survivors. Then there’s the dynamic lighting and shadows, the scene setting and sound design, the idle animations, the themed zombie types (military, hospital, etc) and the complete lack of a loading screen from the start of a mission to the end and an AI “Director” that changes the difficulty depending on how well you do, encouraging replay. The zombie “tank” has a melee attack that sends cars flying - an instant KO if one hits your character! Seeing the zombies lean into turns, stumbling out of fires, or tripping over objects is something you rarely see, even in modern games.Īnd that physics engine is used everywhere - you can break windows, blow up barriers, see chairs or TVs flying around from the power of your gunfire. In fact, it turns out that the Source’s physics engine that powers that animation, called VPhysics, is actually based on early Havoc builds, back before it was owned by Intel or Microsoft and was actually open-source. This was Havoc physics… but without the jank. They had back stories which, while not relevant to gameplay, gave the whole world a sense of realism.Ī realism which was echoed by zombie animations which even today remain sensational. They had multiple situational voicelines, prompts and interactions during play that went beyond the usual “RELOADING” scream. Meanwhile, Left 4 Dead launched with so many unique features, it’s hard to keep track of it all! Player characters had… character. I’m not sure that formula justifies being called genre-defining. But true to the base game, Killing Floor didn’t feature a story, and the entire “mission” was a single area with random trader spawns after each “wave”. For example, the original Killing Floor, which has a similar basis, was originally a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 and debuted in 2005. Well, that gets a little tricky, but I’m going to say yes. Then it’s over to you to tell me how wrong I am, in the comments! Next, I’ll cover a game that’s very similar to the original, then (hopefully!) any games that have surpassed it since, and finally any games that do things in a unique way, but still tipping their hat to the original. I’ll start with a bit of history about the most famous game representing the genre. IYL will be a short series of articles delving into various genres and looking at the best examples in each. What’s this? An entirely new genre, you say? Well, arguably that’s exactly what Valve presented to the public in 2008 with the original Left 4 Dead, and its superlative sequel the following year.
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