I'm sure any of you who frequent Valve have heard of this, but this is definitely the game for all of you Post-Apocalyptic Zombie Outbreak fans. Produced by Turtle Rock, the same guys who brought you Counter-Strike, have been producing this game for years (sounds like TF2) and I have to say, they are really going in the right direction with this game. Let me just give you a few snippets from Wikipedia if you've never even heard of this game before. (And just a disclaimer, it doesn't exactly go too far into "gore" (hurr mah intestines be hangin' out) but as you'd expect in a Zombie genre, there is buckets of blood, hell even bathtubs filled with it)
Left 4 Dead is an upcoming multiplayer co-operative survival horror FPS game by Turtle Rock Studios which is, as of January 10, 2008, part of Valve Corporation. The game has been built using Valve's Source engine and will be available on PC and Xbox 360. Certain Affinity is responsible for the Xbox 360 version of the game. Left 4 Dead 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 Boss Infected with special abilities. 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.
Also, it comes with this nifty AI director, promising you'll never play the same level twice.
The AI also features a dynamic system for game drama, pacing and difficulty called the "Director". Instead of fixed spawn points for enemies, the AI director places enemies in different positions, creating a new experience each time. It will also balance action and moments of tense calm. When the AI Director feels that players have been facing a particularly intense battle, it will slow down the tide of enemies. After a sufficient lull of action, the director will send more enemies to increase the drama again.
Again, the game tries to keep that balance between realism and fun, so basically things like Friendly Fire are always in effect, but the damage is lowered a bit more when you shoot your team-mate, as opposed to killing zombies. When you lower in health, you find health packs in which you literally strap onto yourself for more health (sort of a new trend, like what's going to be in Far Cry 2).
You can play as four different people. Vietnam Veteran, Innocent Rich Girl, Your Average Black Electronics Salesman, and a Hardcore Biker. Not the most likely of heroes, but these characters have over 1,000 lines of dialogued recorded - each.
So far there's two different types of game modes (and it looks like only two will be ready upon release). One where it's just four players in a server going through campaign mode (each part of a mission takes about an hour and 30 minutes on average) and then there's a "Deathmatch Mode." It's basically the same thing, except you have "Infected" players who plays one of the four boss zombies. The boss zombies appear in both campaigns as NPCs unless they are controlled by players.
The Boomer
A hugely obese Infected that can projectile vomit at The Survivors, blinding them and attracting swarms of nearby Infected to them. When Boomers die they blow up, creating a large amount of damage and exorbitant amounts of gore and viscera, this also attracts NPC infected to the area in which the Boomer exploded. Boomers can also drop from tall buildings into/onto a group of survivors, and once they impact on the streets, they "pop" exploding in the aforementioned manner having the same effect as the vomit attack, this skill could serve as an effective method for ambushing the survivors. (lol at Fat Zombie having a vomit attack and being able to explode, probably marking the goriest part in the game)
The Hunter
An agile Infected who can climb walls and jump over rooftops, similar to 28 Days Later Infected and Half-Life 2's Fast Zombie. If the Hunter crouches for a certain period of time, a meter will fill and it can use its most powerful attack (this was chosen instead of it becoming invisible once backed up to a wall or similar piece of cover, turning invisible, and then pouncing). It can then pounce on a survivor, pinning them down on the floor and slashing at them with its claws, rendering the victim powerless unless The Hunter is killed by a team-mate or knocked off its victim. It is extremely weak, and can only sustain minor gunfire before dying. The Hunter can also retreat, and slowly heal itself. (These guys jump on you, and there's no way you can get them off by yourself (hence teamwork) and man do they have the best animation ever just slashing away at you while you guzzle hoses of blood, lulz)
The Smoker
An Infected with a long, whip-like tongue that can drag Survivors away from their team-mates and use its tongue as an organic noose to strangle Survivors when it is perched on a rooftop. Similar to Half-Life's Barnacle, or Resident Evil's Licker. When in danger, it can leave a haze of black smoke, distorting the Survivors' vision. (Classic take from Pitch Black's creatures, waiting to suck you up from the bottom of a cliff.)
The Tank
A huge, muscular Infected capable of throwing large items such as cars or blocks of concrete. The tank keeps a high profile, able to be heard by the survivors from a great distance due to its loud thrashing while running. The immense strength and toughness of the tank makes it a terrible foe in combat. To prevent the tank from camping away from the survivors for too long, a frustration timer is set when the survivors are not in sight. When the timer runs out, the tank becomes uncontrollable and begins stomping and thrashing giving away its position and becoming vulnerable to the survivors. (This guy looks crazy, honestly you should look it up.)
The Witch
The only mutant infected that will not be available to players. They are passive upon discovery by the players, but react with hostility to flashlight beams, physical contact, and gunfire in the vicinity. It will be able to kill a player in one hit, and has almost as much health as a Tank, making them the most dangerous of the infected. She has the resemblance of average infected, but can be heard crying to give the players a chance to avoid or attack her. The witch will not be included on the easy difficulty. (This guy has been held under wraps so far, and it's exciting to wait for what it will eventually look like.)
Unfortunately though, it seems like this game isn't due out until.. hm, late this year?
A few trailers.
Number One.
Number Two.
