Left 4 Dead (abbreviated L4D) is a singleplayer and multiplayer co-operative survival horror FPS game developed by Valve Corporation. The game was built using Source engine and is available on PC and Xbox 360. During early development, its working title was "Terror Strike."
The game puts four human playable or AI-controlled Survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic against hordes of the Infected. Regular Infected are controlled by the game AI, while human players can control up to four mutated Special Infected with special abilities in Versus mode. The goal of Left 4 Dead for the Survivors is to help each other make it through a level to safety. Infected players must cooperate to stop them.
Left 4 Dead was released on November 18, 2008 in the United States and November 21st in Europe. The game was first revealed in the Christmas 2006 publication of PC Gamer UK with a six-page article describing a playthrough at Valve's headquarters. A teaser was released with The Orange Box. The game was first playable at the Showdown 2007 LAN in San Jose and at QuakeCon 2007. A demo, initially to be released on November 6, 2008 to people who pre-ordered the game, was publicly released on November 11, 2008.
As of January 24, 2010, Left 4 Dead has an 89 out of 100 from Metacritic. To see the info about the updates, go to Update info.
The 200th issue of Game Informer Magazine ranked Left 4 Dead as #82 in the top 200 games of all time, this is what they had to say: "Zombies have appeared in video games in many forms, but nobody ever nailed the full-on zombie apocalypse until Valve's Left 4 Dead. The intense four-player online co-op experience utilized a dynamic "AI Director" to adjust the undead onslaught according to player performance. Toss in memorable characters, an intriguingly sparse plot, and an online versus mode, and you had the penultimate test of mettle for any zombie-crusader worth their salt."
Gameplay[]
The basic gameplay never changes from map to map, so players will learn their way around fairly quickly. The Director keeps things from getting monotonous, however, by throwing in different challenges in every level. No two playthroughs are exactly alike.
Cover[]
The Cover A picture of the modified German released copy of Left 4 Dead.
Valve says the cover represents the title of the game, due to the hand being the "left" hand while only having "4" fingers while also being "dead," making up the title (Left 4 Dead).
Also, others have speculated that the hand has some sort of significance to what transpired during the first two weeks, as another image of this hand being x-rayed can be seen in The Hospital level in No Mercy and is in the very first scene of the intro cutscene. A thumb was added in the German and Japanese version for censorship reasons.
Characters[]
There are four playable human characters in the game. Every Survivor has his or her own unique appearance, personality, and background, though all Survivors are equal in speed, strength, rate of fire and health, etc. There is no "strongest" Survivor, so character choice is purely player preference.
Infected[]
In addition to the Common Infected, there are five different types of Special Infected in the game. Only four are usable by players in Versus Mode. Each Infected has its own unique attacks and method of use, but all attempt to work in tandem to defeat the Survivors before they complete the level.
Each of the 4 campaigns has the player(s) follow a generic path of going from point A to point B with a few different routes and awards stating who took the least damage, etc.
PC System requirements[]
Minimum:
Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64 Processor: Intel core 2 duo 2.4GHz Memory: 1 GB Graphics: Shader model 3.0, NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better
Recommended:
Supported OS: Microsoft Windows XP / Vista / Vista64 / Windows 7 Beta Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz Memory: 1 GB Graphics: 128 MB, Shader model 2.0, ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better Hard Drive: At least 7.5 GB of free space Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
Notice:
The game has been tested on a laptop running on Windows Vista Home Premium (SP1) with 1GB of RAM on GeForce Go 6150. The game would work smoothly given that video settings would be set to minimal. On the other hand, when tested using a GeForce FX 5500 video card (accompanied by 1GB of RAM), graphics were distorted and the game was deemed unplayable. [edit] Engine
See: Wikipedia:Source (game engine)
Left 4 Dead uses the latest version of Valve's Source engine, with improvements such as multi-core processor support and physics-based animation to more realistically portray hair and clothing.
Many kinds of post processing cinematic visual effects have been added to the game, each intended to elicit responses from players and guide them through the game. These include situational color correction, contrast and sharpening, film grain and vignetting.
Dry surfaces and fog are used to create mood.
Other games that use the Source Engine include:
* Counter-Strike: Source * Garry's Mod * The Orange Box (Team Fortress 2, Portal and Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode One and Half-Life 2: Episode Two) * Half-Life: Source is a straight port of the original Half-Life game to the Source engine. * Mabinogi Heroes * Postal III * Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines * Zeno Clash * Sin Episodes Emergence * Dark Messiah of Might and Magic * Portal 2 * Left 4 Dead 2 * Day of Defeat: Source
[edit] Controls
These are the default controls of Left 4 Dead for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions. [edit] PC Both Sides Button Action W Move Forward S Move Backward A Strafe Left D Strafe Right Space Bar Jump Left Ctrl Crouch Shift Walk C Voice Chat U Team Message Y Players Message T Spray Tag M Choose Team H See Message of the Day Tab Status Screen Esc Main Menu - Start Vote F1 Vote Yes F2 Vote No F5 Screen Capture Survivors Button Action Left Click Fire Weapon / Throw Grenade / Use Current Item Right Click Melee Attack / Heal Other / Give to Other Middle Click Rifle Scope Mousewheel Scroll Up Select Next Mousewheel Scroll Down Select Previous 1 Select Primary Weapon 2 Select Pistol 3 Select Select Molotov / Pipe bomb 4 Select Primary Healing Slot 5 Select Temporary Healing Slot R Reload E Use Q Select Previous Weapon F Toggle Flashlight on/off Z Give Orders X Questions and Answers Infected Button Action Left Click Use Infected Ability Right Click Melee Attack (Throw Concrete as Tank) E Move to Survivor Position (Ghost Mode Only) Left Ctrl Crouch (Enter attack position as Hunter)
[edit] Xbox 360
Survivors
Button Action
Left Stick Move (Click to Vocalize)
Right Stick Look (Click to use Hunting Rifle Scope)
A Jump
B Reload
X Use
Y Select Weapon
LB Crouch
RB 180° Spin
RT Primary Attack: Fire
LT Secondary Attack: Melee Shove
D-Pad Up Flashlight
D-Pad Right Select Primary Healing Slot
D-Pad Down Select Temporary Healing Slot
D-Pad Left Select Molotov / Pipe bomb
Start Main Menu / Vote "Yes"
Back Status Screen / Vote "No"
[edit] Context sensitive controls
* The X button is used to interact with other things. Using it, you can pick up objects, open doors, or help other Survivors to their feet. * Select the first aid kit, target a teammate and press and hold LT to heal them. It has the same effect as them healing themselves. (It will therefore take 5 seconds and heal damage depending on the current hp of the person) * Select the pain pills, target a teammate, press and hold LT to give the pills to them.
Refer to health for further tips. Make sure your teammates know how to revive you and give first aid kits and/or pain pills to you. The Survivors need to watch out for each other. [edit] Infected Infected Button Action Left Stick Move Right Stick Look A Jump B No function X Move to Survivor Position (Ghost Mode, or When Far Enough Away From Survivors) Y No function LB Crouch (Enter attack position as Hunter) RB 180° Spin RT Primary Attack: Fire (Tank:Melee ) LT Secondary Attack: Claw (Tank: Throw) D-Pad Up No function D-Pad Right No function D-Pad Down No function D-Pad Left No function Start Main Menu / Vote "Yes" Back Status Screen / Vote "No" [edit] DLC
The Survival Pack
Crash Course Campaign
Prequel of the Passing Campaign
http://nerdiest-kids.com/l4d2s-the-passing-dlc-details-and-more/ [edit]
For more L4D information go to www.left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/