Left 4 Dead Hands-on Preview - Survivor Side
IT'S ALL IN THE DETAILS
Okay, so I've at least tried to explain the basics of the feel and pace of the game, but now onto the important stuff - the detail. As I mentioned before, the hospital scenario starts on the roof of an apartment building. This has been explained by a few other previews, but I never really got a clear vision of what exactly it was like from their descriptions so I'll try to go into a little more detail for you.
You're on top of a building armed with a single pistol. There's a wooden table on one side and a door leading into the building in the center. On the wooden table are weapons, ammunition, grenades and health kits. Specifically, one pump shotgun, one Uzi submachine gun, a pile of various ammunitions, four health kits, four Molotov cocktails and four pipe bombs. By pointing your crosshairs at each of these items and pushing the use key, you pick them up. There are four survivors, so each survivor gets a main weapon, health kit and their choice of grenade (you can have either one Molotov cocktail or one pipe bomb). Picking up a grenade or health pack means you actually take the item - since there are only four characters, you'll always each be able to grab one, and then there will be none left. The shotgun and Uzi are different, as are all main weapons, in that when you pick one up the actual model on the table doesn't disappear. I'm guessing that this is so every character has a chance to pick one up and is able to switch weapons while in a checkpoint as many times as they change their mind.
This equipping stage is way better than buying from a menu and it really adds to the immersion level. It definitely gets you pumped and ready to kick some ass. (ass kicking pictured below)
CHECK PLEASE
You will learn to love red doors. They mark the comfort and safety of checkpoints. As you might already know, the four scenarios in the initial release of the game each contain around 5 maps. These maps are separated by checkpoints, which are safe loading areas where there are usually weapons and health kits to restock on. As soon as your entire team is inside of the checkpoint and you close the door behind you, the achievements screen comes up and the next section of the map is immediately loaded. The way back is blocked; the one time I checked, a file cabinet had fallen in the way of the door so there was no way of backtracking. When the next map loads, every survivor that was dead comes back with half health.
All living survivors have to be in the checkpoint for the next map to load. This provides for some pretty interesting situations. When only one survivor is left, all he has to do is get to the next checkpoint to revive his fallen comrades. The problem is, the Director doesn't play nice when you're in a weakened state - it gives you the same number of infected whether all four of you are alive or if it's just you on your last leg. We personally experienced a few of these moments, and it is great fun rooting on the last survivor.
Once the red door is open, not only can the survivors enter, but also the infected. This results in a Security Breach demerit for whatever idiot let it in. Just incase you were wondering, yes, Tanks can indeed make their way into checkpoints - and no, it is not pretty.
