Posted by Spooner | 4 Comments

Left 4 Dead 2 Review

I reviewed Left 4 Dead 2 and put the video up on the internet, by all means give it a watch and leave some feedback.

I’d rate the game as a definite buy if you like FPS games and happen to enjoy zombies in any capacity. There are other shooters out there now that are competitive online but honestly – they’re full of 12 year old prepubescents crying over xbox Live.

Read More

Posted by Spooner | 1 Comment

My heart’s in Left 4 Dead 2

Most wouldn’t consider the Left 4 Dead franchise to be a work of deep story at first glance. But ask anybody who’s played the game for a while and they can recite quotes from the main characters like second nature.

I can say with 100% confidence that some of the best atmosphere in any game I’ve ever played can be found in Left 4 Dead 1 and 2. The voice acting is incredible, each line delivered with pinpoint accuracy to the theme and such a wonderful gusto that I’m surprised I don’t see any major Hollywood stars on the rolling credits.  Even the individual one-liners are recorded sometimes 5 different ways so you don’t typically get the same variation.

The incarnation of a world caught in the throes of a full on zombie apocalypse has given me pause while taking out the trash in the late night when it’s too quiet on my street. At times I expect to be jumped by a bloodthirsty hunter or even worse, hours of hearing the mindless infected hordes screams and wails makes my ears play tricks on me when I try to fall asleep.

There’s enough exploration in the game to keep you guessing as to where the next attack is coming from and hundreds of little nooks and crannies where possible salvation can be waiting in the form of a special gun or med-kit. So my lavish praise aside, what’s new with Left 4 Dead 2?

New Infected: There’s the Spitter, which looks like a woman with her jaw ripped open so you can see the throat easily and she spews acidic bile on the ground similar to the molotov cocktails. This has essentially destroyed the strategy of “group up in a corner and wait it out”

The Hunter has been redesigned with the same mechanics but an all new look that seems more clawed and deadly. The Boomer as well has a new look and there are female Boomers too that seem to have been ripped from my worst nightmares.  The Smoker is back too of course and he also has a better look. The tank is by far the most menacing of the Special Infected and he’s still around punching cars and generally ruining your day.

The other two new Special Infected are the Jockey and Charger. The Charger simply runs full speed out of nowhere at you and proceeds to slam you against the ground like a rag doll with his one massive roided out arm.

The Jockey is the most obnoxious little fucker ever conceived by game developers. First off he has this evil clown midget kind of laugh and he’s always laughing. Then he leaps on you like a hunter would but decides to sit on your shoulders and forces your character to run about wherever he feels you should. This little monkey motherfucker jumps on my shoulders and starts raping the back of my head as he pulls me away from the group. That’s some creative thinking right there.

The new weapons at first will sound overpowered like a grenade launcher, multiple assault rifles, semi-automatic sniper rifle, and the various melee weapons. Ammo isn’t as common as it was, and the infected hordes are much more resilient. Also there’s a fuckton more of them.

You can carry one primary weapon, which is typically a big gun of some kind. My personal favorite would be the new silver plated shotguns. They have less spread but more concentrated punch down the middle. Your secondary sidearm is a handgun that can be swapped out for a magnum handgun or a melee weapon. The new melee weapons are devastating but you’re prone to get surrounded and overwhelmed more since you can’t stop foes at range with a frying pan. The accessory slot where you could once only hold pain killer pills, can now hold a very big adrenaline needle instead (you can’t carry both just like the sidearms). The pills do the same thing as they used to, prolong your life. The new adrenaline shot will turn your vision stark and dampen all sounds around you, you pretty much go into fuck-off mode. You will run faster and not get slowed down as much by zombie attacks. When it wears off, it’s like coming off a drug though and everything feels slow and nauseating.

Finally there’s the first aid kit and grenade slots. You can still carry a first aid kit or a compact defibrillator device, like the kind ambulance workers use to revive the almost dead. But you have to sacrifice the medpack thus making yourself the ultimate team player. As for grenades, you still have molotov cocktails and pipe bombs, but now you can throw a jar of Boomer puke (bile). It’s pretty fucking awesome to lob it at some hapless zombie and watch as the hordes come from all over to eat him and then go ape shit on the putrid puddle you just created. I wonder how that would work against a tank.

I could go further here talking about the audio quality being ramped up and the gore and graphics being displayed like works of art but I’ve taken enough of your time. Expect a video coming very soon from yours truley, and happy hunting out there survivors.

Read More

Posted by Spooner | 2 Comments

Left 4 Dead: Crash Course Review

I just played through the campaign single player version of the new Left 4 Dead DLC map, Crash Course. I’m impressed.

This map really delivers. It’s a short 2 stop mission with amazing potential to become the most popularly played map in the game for versus mode if not the only map played from here on out.

Storywise, it picks up where No Mercy left off, except the helicopter pilot was infected and thus turned in mid-flight and so you crashed on the outskirts of the city. The goal is to keep moving away from the city when you encounter the interstate and a very high military/zombie presence. You’ll find yourself heading to Riverside where the Army has held ground, that eventually leads into the Death Toll mission. Sounds simple enough.

Let me tell you that nothing feels more rewarding that firing a massive Howitzer artillery cannon at a barricade blocking progress and then driving over piles of zombies in a modded out spiked, plowed, death bus.

Here are some key points:

• There are NO first aid kits in the map at all outside of the safe houses or the crescendo area. But there are plenty of pills.

• There are tons of blind spots. Every street and alley has at least 3 different paths to take to proceed to the next spot. It’s very easy to get lost while hunting for pipebombs, mollys, ammo, and pills.

• There are cars EVERYWHERE and dumpsters as well, thousands of hiding spots and rootops for hunters and smokers alike. Tanks have a fucking field day tossing cars, forklifts, and dumpsters.

• The AI can spawn a witch right in the middle of you way almost always facing your direction making crowning very difficult OR she is completely out of the fucking way hidden inside a truck or car guarding a spawn point for goodies.

• There are propane tanks and gas cans all over the fucking place. Most times they’re in strategic points to help shut down incoming horde rushes. Be liberal with your demolitions because zombie hordes rush from all directions. There is no place where you can “bunker down” and outlast. This is probably in preparation for Left 4 Dead II.

• In the final mission where you need to power a lift and escape via badass fucking truck, the power generator will STOP working halfway through shutting down all the lights and freezing the progress. You must send somebody out to restart it. At the same time, twice the amount of zombies will rush along with more special infected and at least 1 of the two tanks. I actually had a witch spawned inside the garage area so I held out on the barricaded bus mini-fort right next to the ammo pile.

This campaign in versus or single player takes no longer than 30 minutes or so. That is awesome news for players looking for a quick fix without having to deal with overly long maps and pubsmashing delays. I give it a perfect 10/10!

Read More

Posted by Spooner | 13 Comments

Come kill Zombies with me…

So I’ve been playing Left 4 Dead for a long while now, hands down one of my favorite FPS games of all time. I imagine not all of you like first person shooters let alone gory zombie apocalypse type stories, but this game is just too fun. I was actually surprised that I got into it since I despise the zombie horror genre scene (thank the ex-girlfriend’s fucking obsession with it for that one) but I was swayed by the fact that its a game created by Valve. These are the masters of the universe that created the Half Life franchise and Portal. The game’s available on the PC and the 360, but get the PC version if you don’t already. Trust me (I hate EA).

Anyways, it’s your typical FPS game as far as the UI and controls go. The game’s story line is about a zombie apocalypse. You play as one of 4 survivors (Bill, Zoey, Francis, or Louis) who are immune to the infection and your goal is to make it from the starting point of the zone to the rescue point. Each chapter in the campaign is broken up by reaching a safe house and barricading yourself inside. That’s where you start and finish each chapter, you’re given first aid kits, weapons, ammunition, and sometimes grenades as well. The weapons however are pretty standard fair.

Infected (zombies) come in a few varieties and all are very flammable. Fire pretty much 1 hit kills all infected. They’re attracted to sound and light as well so watch out for car alarms and other similar obstructions. There are 5 special infected, 4 of which can be controlled by the player in versus mode which consist of:

• Smokers (undead mutations that can use their tongue at great distance to grab and pull a survivor towards them)
• Boomers (big fat abomination looking undead that vomit green sludge on you which acts like a loud dinner bell calling hundreds of normal infected to rush you, as well as making it damn near impossible for you to see. They explode when killed)
• Hunters (fragile yet powerful infected that can leap and climb incredible distances, they attack via pouncing and pinning down a survivor and then ripping into them. If left alone long enough they can easily kill a survivor with no problems)
• Tanks (these come pretty few and far between, they act as the big crescendo event during a campaign. They are massive mounds of muscle and brute strength, they slam and throw cars at the survivors as well as slabs of concrete. Think the hulk minus the bottom jaw)
• The Witch (don’t touch the witch. She’s this bad motherfucker that cries nonstop hunched on the floor, pissing off the witch by getting to close, shooting her, or shining your flashlight at her will make her charge and use these 2 foot long claws to instantly knock you down and rip your guts out through your ass. Witches take a while to kill and never stop until whoever pissed them off is dead. Also you can’t ever play as the witch)

You’re allowed two weapons at any given time and ammunition is finite (a main gun and your handgun). The handgun (your secondary weapon) has unlimited ammo but in no way will keep you alive for long when you get rushed by the infected zombie hordes. You start off with access to an Uzi or a Shotgun, as well there are molotov cocktails and pipebombs with beepers stuck to them which are pretty useful for gathering up a lot of infected and blowing them up at once. You can eventually equip a second handgun and dual wield them as well as find an assault rifle (M16), auto-shotgun, or a hunting rifle (works like a sniper rifle). Sometimes during certain “hunker down” sections, there will be a bunch of sandbags and an abandoned military chain gun set down that you can man and mow down thousands of undead. Also you can sometimes find gas cans or propane tanks or whatever and use them to setup little choke points for the massive horde rushes.

The game is incredibly fun and if you want to play with me my steam ID is Spoonergod. Add me as a friend and I hope to see you soon. Also, check out this movie. It looks hilarious.

As an all around gamer, I feel it is my holy charge to provide the gaming community with proper reviews, critiques, and reports.  As there are many MMORPG, FPS, and RTS games out there, I believe that as a gamer I should share my experiences and maybe help you get out of your comfort zone and try new games that are worth picking up. There that should keep the fanboys from burning my site to the ground for another 5 minutes…

Read More