Left 4 Dead on PC Zone Cover - 1/11/08

UK gaming magazine PC Zone has posted their great Left 4 Dead preview online! PC Zone featured L4D on their cover (click on it below to see a large version). Jon 'Log' Blyth took a trip out to Valve to play the Cornfield map and wrote about his experience.

As you might know, four scenarios will be released at launch, two being urban maps (one of which we've seen the most of, Hospital) and two rural. Having played both types, Blyth writes about the differences:

The new rural level has an extra layer of creepiness over the urban; it feels more open, and the brick of a city is always going to feel safer than a fading, endless forest. This is particularly true of a forest that generates zombies.

Whereas the city level has a great line in claustrophobia, and keeps you on your toes with vertical combat, the cornfields level is that more fundamentally terrifying thing - a level where there is no safety, nothing to put your back against. It's especially true in the final dash through the cornfield, running nearly blind and just hoping that the zombies won't arrive before you get the doors closed.

He mentions that the Cornfield level starts at a campsite, and explains the co-op gameplay that L4D features:

Co-op games often let you get away with letting you not play co-operatively. Larger group games all allow solo tacticians to profit from their lone heroics. Left 4 Dead encourages you to work together in the most sensible way possible: by killing anyone stupid enough to get stranded.

Zombies can appear at every available entrance, necessitating someone to cover your back. The Smoker and Hunter have incapacitating attacks, forcing teammates to rescue their friends by getting close and slapping them off.

You can revive fallen mates during their bleed-out time, but doing so incapacitates you for a short while: so should you? That depends: is the area clear? Are you sure? Are you covered by your other two friends? And most importantly, has the clumsy prick been shooting you in the legs?

It's really a great preview - some other topics are the audio, the Director, the Witch, and how much he enjoyed it. Big thanks to PC Zone and the CVG group of publications for putting their print articles online for everybody. What are you waiting for? Read it! Afterwards you can discuss it in the forums.