I finally got chance to play Left 4 Dead co-op with my wife rather than single player with all AI teammates, and it’s an entirely different experience. I’d heard this of course, but even so I found it surprising just how much difference it makes. Having a real person yelling for help as they get jumped by a hunter after hanging back behind the others, running scared from a marauding tank together, or frantically trying to help a team-mate up so you can get back up into a defensive choke point before the wall of dead flesh that’s charging down the abandoned subway track crashes over you, it’s simply enormous fun. We played through the demo an extra 2 times, cranking up the difficulty the second time, and really enjoyed it.
It certainly assuaged my concerns about replayability and how well the co-op mechanic would work – in short, bloody brilliantly. I was a little concerned that the setting might freak my wife out too much, since she’s not a big fan of ‘jumpy’ games and has previously passed on survival horror games on that basis. However, she said it’s different when playing co-op with a real person, so it was fine – although at one point she was left alone on the harder setting because I was kicked to death (they kick you when you’re down, the swines – don’t they teach Queensbury rules in zombie school?), and she said that was more unnerving. In fact, even when we lost an AI character it was pretty unnerving, since we know we have less chance of survival as our numbers dwindle.
The fact that Amazon were doing a pre-order special deal on PC for £17 sealed the deal, so we have 2 copies with our names on them now. We’re not the Counter Strike type players who make complex team strategies of the like I’ve been seeing cropping up on some forums, but I’m sure we’ll get plenty of enjoyment out of this. It’s just fun to share that co-op experience – still my preferred multiplayer mode, especially with people you know. Of course, explaining to ‘normal’ people that you and your spouse’s quality time together sometimes involves attempting to survive metropolitan zombie infestation might raise a few eyebrows, but hey, this is the modern world 
November 15th, 2008 at 9:04 pm
Nothing like trying to survive a killer zombie outbreak to bring the family closer together.
How does this compare to zombie panic? (http://www.zombiepanic.org) The halflife 2 zombie mod.
After looking at this game it looks like they just ripped it off with better models, levels and dialogue? I am assuming that Left 4 dead is where you have to progress through the levels similar to half-life 2?
November 16th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Zombie Panic is more like Counter Strike, in that it’s inherently a team vs team game (survivors vs zombies), whilst L4D really majors on co-op survivor mode. In L4D you get huge waves of zombies leaping through windows and breaking through doors, which is possible on ZP, but it requires a lot of organisation on the part of the zombie team (and a large team – in L4D it’s not unusual to have a wave of 30-40 zombies bearing down on you at once).
L4D has ‘special’ zombies too which really make it interesting, because they usually put a survivor in jeopardy and in need of rescuing (because he’s pinned to the floor, or constricted, or blinded). Any decent player will run to help them, because the less people you have, the less chance you have to survive.
Overall I’d say L4D looks more cinematic, while ZP looks more open-ended. I think with L4D you’re likely to be guaranteed an entertaining match with a few co-op friends, because the AI director fills in the zombie hordes for you, while in ZP it depends very much on who else you get on the server, which could make it better or worse. So there’s likely pros and cons for both. To begin with, ZP will have more maps I’m sure, but at least on PC L4D should start getting user maps in good time too.
November 16th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
This is defiantly on my xmas list. It’s great that you’ve blogged about all these games this month. It gives me something to tell people to buy me other then “I dunno”. At the same time it’s so tempting to buy them myself, this time of year is such a work killer.
November 17th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Steve, in case you haven’t already read this, I *highly*, *highly* recommend The Zombie Survival Guide, by Max Brooks (Mel Brooks’ son). It is pure comedy gold, as it’s written in easily the best dead-pan I’ve ever seen (very British actually), as well as offering invaluable advice to protect you from the inevitable zombie outbreak. Will you be ready when it happens? I will.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zombie-Survival-Guide-Complete-Protection/dp/071563318X/ref=sr_1_1/278-4001492-4585267?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226898597&sr=8-1
November 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Ah yes, I’ve seen this on Amazon before but never got around to reading it – I’ll put it on my xmas list
November 18th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
2 copies? Gimme one!