Finally, and best of all, all the Witch avoidance schemes you've built up have now been rendered null and void. Newly unanchored, the wandering crone is now as terrifying as the first time you met her - all the time.
The sudden and unexpected moments of danger as you turn a corner and see her spindly form sidling directly towards you are on a whole new level of excitable terror -herding your happy band of survivalists away from her and into various cowering positions around the level.
Despite the variety of locations on show in the original L4D, it can't be denied that it il was also heavy on the nocturnal concrete. Well, no more: the environments in which you'll fight are now vividly different in appearance and design. On a surface level, no end of gloss is provided by the game's Deep South themes - whether you're fighting poverty-struck shirtless hick zombies in 'gator country, or fending off rabid pedestrians amidst the bright curving architecture of New Orleans.
On a similar note the way that the chronological episodes track day through into night and back out again gives each one a markedly different ambience, alongside moments of visually-scripted beauty -like charging zombies silhouetted against the bright rays of the setting sun.
The variations in environments aren't purely cosmetic though. Some areas, such as graveyards or hedge-filled parks, change their layouts each time you play, while most levels are not only peppered with far more nooks and crannies to explore, but also provide alternate routes you could follow - whether over rooftops, through side-corridors or around the sides of buildings. Also certain locations have been earmarked by Valve to showcase a specialised forms of danger.
A scrap-yard full of cars becomes a hazard run of potential alarms that can be set off by stray bullets. Here, a gaggle of the wandering death-bringers could be anywhere, and are generally everywhere. Most impressive of all though are the brilliantly envisioned environmental effects that merge seamlessly with the gameplay - whether you're choking in the smoke of a burning hotel in the earliest episode, or trying to make out friend and foe through the torrential rain that thunders around you in the Hard Rain.
Indeed, even this goes beyond the role of an occasional scripted effect -tying into the level by having weather monkey around with the entire structure of the episode it perforates. A town you've already pushed through and probably used up all of the health packs in has to be navigated again on a return journey - but is now waist-deep in rising water and entirely more thrilling to navigate. Alongside some immaculately designed mini-boss and finale areas - notably a colonial mansion and an arena decked out for a pyrotechnic rock gig - there's also a fresh emphasis on areas in which you simply have to leg it.
These gauntlets cover anything from racing through a shopping mall to turn off an alarm to haring over a car-strewn bridge in New Orleans to a helicopter pick-up, pursued by enough Infected to populate Brighton. This play style creates some brilliant moments of selfish self-preservation, 'No man gets left behind! I'm not going to lie. Imiss the old cast. Well, specifically I miss Zoey.
Lovely Zoey. I am, however, willing to accept that this is a side-effect of the tender familiarity I have with the old team, rather than any perceived deficit with the new. After all, with an additional 2, lines of amusing and contextually-guided dialogue on top of the amount catered for by the original L4D, there's little doubt that with repeated plays well grow to love Ellis, Coach, Rochelle and Nick as much we did the originals.
Ellis the Redneck, above all, is utterly hysterical - NASCAR-obsessed and uncultured, yet simultaneously eminently lovable and sharp-witted, he's the instant hit, while the others are slower-bum affairs that prove more complex and intricate than the black guy, old white guy, biker, woman archetypes provided last time round. Interestingly too, their dialogue changes as the episodes wear on - initially they're strangers introducing themselves in a flaming shopping mall who keep getting the names of the special infected wrong, by the time they reach New Orleans they're firm friends and experienced zombie murderers.
As such, when you first play co-op L4D2 you should certainly do it chronologically, and not for this reason alone. Whereas the previous game did a lot of its storytelling through the various scribbles on safehouse walls, the Deep South contingent make their way through locations and environments that tell their own tales.
Fenced areas where survivors would queue up to wait to be assessed by a group called CEDA before evacuation, military-defined danger areas, motels in which dry swimming pools are full of charred bodies What's more the knowledge of what happened in these areas before your arrival gives the incessant violence an added level of humanity and the occasional flash of guilt. Finally, I firmly believe that with Scavenge any remaining kinks in L4Ds Versus mode have been firmly ironed out.
Scavenge sits pretty in a fairly long list of modes alongside 10 different Survival co-op maps and Versus play-throughs of all five campaign episodes but is undoubtedly the stand-out highlight. Essentially a localised Versus bout, each team must collect as many petrol canisters as they can from set points around a level and pour them into a central gas tank, while the spawning Infected team do their utmost to guess their movements and take them out. Once one team has been killed off, the next team must beat their total.
As such, not only do both teams get equal playtime as human and Infected, but games feel tighter, fairer and less predictable.
Meanwhile, climactic rage-quits are also generally avoided and the Infected team find it far easier to work as a collective killing unit rather than a collection of lone-wolf bile-spewers. Speaking of which, there is no greater joy than playing as a Charger, lining up an attack and spear-tackling a human player off a cliff-top and into the great beyond.
Or, indeed, stealing control as a Jockey and leading survivors into harm's way. L4D2 is a triumph then, and one you can't help but feel will be far better supported with co-op content post-release than last year's offering. Well, you'd hope so at least. In any case this is a remarkable package of ultra-gore screams and giggles.
The only half-problem is that the sudden plethora of new weapons slightly robs the game of its former strict ammo counts and the purity of its former two-tier gun system. Any concern with this fact though, is ridden rough-shod over by the fun-factor of slice-and-dicing.
This could have been Saved by the Bell: The New Class - a bunch of new characters you cared nothing about in depressingly familiar situations. It actually turned out to be an entirely new and brilliant brand of Saved by the Bell, one in which Screech is a fat vomiting woman and you can cut off Mr Belding's head with an axe while he's on fire.
For this reason alone, I love it. Shipley Hollow - Post-Everything ep. Labels: Indie , Math-Rock , Pop. Tardive Dyskinesia - Crawling in the Mud. Labels: Djent , Progressive , Tech Metal. Sleepwalker - 2 track demo. Labels: Hardcore , Mathcore , Progressive. Oblivionized - Nullify the Circle ep. Labels: Grindcore , Mathcore , Tech Death. Labels: Hardcore , Mathcore , Punk , Rock. Heights - Trick of the Light 2 track ep. Labels: Atmospheric , Instrumental , Progressive. Older Posts Home. Subscribe to: Posts Atom.
Polish people seem to like their Death Metal as dark as possible. This band is certainly no exception. If my ears don't betray me, New York's mighty Immolation may have been a source of inspiration, at least for this record. Their previous record Apocalypse of the Damned didn't feature traces of Robert Vigna's geniously disharmonic riffing, yet being a very fine record in its own right.
After the demise of Regurgitation , Necrotic Disgorgement was kind of a follow-up band. It was the continuation of the musicians' agenda, thus the debut record under their new moniker featured all songs of Regurgitation's demo " Clitoraldectomy ".
Mittwoch, Mai Miscreation - AeOnd. Another one from this band, after sharing their debut demo I decided to share their debut full-length as well since I feel this band did not get enough recognition back in the days of their activity. Labels: , Australia. Mai Strangulation - Atrocious Retribution. A Swedish band that worshipped Florida's school of Death Metal. Very enjoyable!
Labels: , Sweden. Mai Shelved records Every now and then I stumble upon leaked songs off of unreleased, shelved records.
It's really frustrating, especially if the recordings seem fine and ready to be put on CD. In order to pass that uneasy feeling on to you, I'll show you guys two videos that represent such situations. Needless to say that the music is really good in my opinion. Need I say more? This highly prolific line-up Condemned and Pathology members, among others did not release enough yet.
Release more you guys! In my opinion, this is Condemned in their purest form. For some reason I feel they didn't nail it this good on their latter records. Mai Reviled - Promo CD Pure Indonesian slam barrage.
Aussie sickness it is again. The production sounds a bit dusty but the playing sure is brutal! Mai Genethliac - Genethliac EP. Nice stuff from Cali! Bandcamp Download name your price. Indonesian newcomers. You know the drill! Guitar tone This record is pure fun! Brutal Death youngsters at their best!
For some reason I never really was a fan of The Faceless, but their ex-drummer has some great bands going on, these days, for sure also check out Absvrdist while you're at it Download. A really great record! Labels: , Italy. Mittwoch, 4. American Brutal Death of the groovy variety. Obscure project delivering dark and futuristic brutality, similar to Jenovavirus but with lower vocals. Sonntag, 1. Mai Excommunion - Superion. Fine Death Metal with an oriental flavor.
Reminiscent of Immolation, Sarpanitum or maybe Nile in terms of atmosphere. Aside their demo output, this is their only release. Samstag, 5. Labels: , Argentina. Dienstag, Bleed on Me. These two demos show what a promising and exciting band Fleshgrind was during its early years. They sure kept that level with their debut full-length "Destined for Defilement".
Labels: , , USA. Very obscure French outfit that only put out two self-released demos. Their percussive style combined with the low vocals make a really nice mix. Too bad they didn't continue. Dark 90's Death Metal with a lot of punch!
0コメント