GameSpy Left 4 Dead preview - 5/12/07

GameSpy just published their impressions of a hands-on playtest of Left 4 Dead. They emphasized the co-op gameplay that L4D offers up and were particularly impressed with how the infected look.

"The way the zombies react to getting shot is an accomplishment. They'll falter and fall into a tangled heap if you shoot their legs out from under them in mid-sprint. Limbs will come off, bullets feel like they have mass and make an impact. To put it simply, it's how zombie death should look. All this carnage is powered by the Source engine.

While the graphics may not be quite as impressive as those in Half-Life 2, the art direction itself is fantastic. Turtle Rock has done a great job creating a tense atmosphere. The city you fight through looks like something straight out of a zombie movie. Guns are splattered with blood, the boss characters are scary and distinct, and your fellow survivors look like they've gone through hell."

"...Left 4 Dead does a great job of recreating moments from your favorite zombie movies as you shoot climbing zombies off of chain link fences and watch in horror as countless infected bash down a door and come pouring into a room."

They also had an interesting encounter with a Hunter:

"Next up is the Hunter. These guys move fast and can lunge at you and pin you to the ground and shove you into a crowd of zombies. Towards the end of one of our playtests, a Hunter punted one of our teammates right off the side of a building as we attempted to reach the roof, which obviously cranked up the tension a bit."

GameSpy also explained the different situations that each gun is useful in, and a new detail they offered up was that the pistol is actually a .45 caliber Springfield Armory 1911 pistol. They closed by saying no official date has been given, but they were assured that it would be available this year. Discuss it on the forums.