Left 4 Dead Hands-on Preview - Survivor Side
I HEAR VOICES
Weapons are nice and all, but they won't really help your team too much if you aren't communicating well. It is a co-op game, and as such communication is key. So far, not much has been said about the voice system.
I'd like to take this opportunity to inform you that Left 4 Dead has the most well thought-out and useful voice communication system of any game I've ever played. It is a VITAL game mechanic and I really can't stress enough how much better the game is because of it.
The four survivors are Bill, a Vietnam veteran; Louis, an assistant manager at a retail electronics store; Zoey, the teenage daughter of a wealthy family; and Francis, the tattoo-covered biker. They all sound different and say different things based on their personality.
The way the voice system works is that there are three different voice command buttons (default z, x, and c) that bring up their own wheel in the middle of the screen. From there, you move your mouse in the direction of the phrase you wish to say. Each of these wheels have 9 commands, 8 different directions (up, down, left, right, and all the diagonals) and one in the center if you just release the button without moving your mouse. One wheel is for Orders, one for Questions and Answers, and the other I think was for Alerts/Warnings. Some examples are Turn off your lights! (for when someone hears a witch), Let's Go! (when someone is going too slow or taking too long in the checkpoint), along with "I hear a Boomer", etc. The great thing about it is that it's not your character saying the same thing over and over. For each phrase, your character has a ton of different ways of saying it.
When I say a ton, I am not lying. Over 1000 lines of dialogue have been recorded per survivor character. Some, you will hear pretty often. Others, you might hear only once a month if at all. We heard a few of these rare humorous gems, and they made us literally laugh out loud, but I won't ruin any of them for you!
Turtle Rock Studios seems to have thought of everything. Not only do you have the voice commands you trigger, but they've also saved a whole lot of headaches by including automatic voice triggers. Whenever you reload in the middle of combat, your character lets the rest of your team know about it by shouting "reloading!" This is such a critical feature and it helps meld the team together. Also, when your crosshairs move over a boss infected you automatically alert your team that you see that infected, freeing you up to do what needs to be done (shooting!). If any of you have a single negative thought about having uncontrollable voice commands, STOP. They are truly a crucial part of the game and I promise that you'll be amazed at how well they work and help.
FRIENDLY FIRE
An event that really gets characters talking is when their teammates are shooting them. Friendly fire is another CRITICAL game mechanic. You might be thinking it's a pretty basic concept, which in many ways it is, but I'm here to let you know it really changes a lot of things.
First things first, there will be no way to disable friendly fire. This is because without it, the game would be way easier. Imagine if you will, a commonplace occurrence in Left 4 Dead, where a teammate of yours is surrounded by a dozen or so zombies and he's getting mauled to death. Without friendly fire, you could easily just spray into the herd or throw a grenade and there would be no problem. This is not realistic nor is it very stressful, and we wouldn't want that, would we? I have to admit to you that there were several times that a fellow survivor was dying and I didn't do a single thing about it. I sat and watched. This is not because I'm a bad teammate, but because you need to be aware of your bullets. More often then not, trying to shoot some zombies near a friend will result in a red friendly fire demerit on the side of the screen, which usually does more damage than the zombie would have.
If I'm making it sound like it's a pain in the ass, let me try to rephrase a bit. Friendly fire changes the game from a deathmatch-style shoot first and ask questions later to a game where you really have to make sure what you're shooting is what you should be shooting. It adds a whole other dimension to the intensity of the game. I should note that friendly fire is different in this game than others because the majority of enemies attacking you are all melee. This means that when someone IS in trouble, it's usually up close so you have to be very careful when you help.
It is also important for play balance with grenades. As I told you before, the first time I used a pipe bomb I ended up killing my entire team. If there was no friendly fire, you could easily just nade right by each other when you get overwhelmed which is entirely unrealistic and far too easy.
NEXT: Reputation and Achievements system >>
