Boss Infected in PC Gamer - 2/5/08

The cover story on the new March issue of PC Gamer highlights upcoming zombie games of 2008, featuring an article on the Left 4 Dead boss infected side. This is the first time since our preview almost a year ago that somebody outside of Valve has been able to both play and write about the experience, and could be taken as a positive indicator of development progress.

The article gives a general overview of the game, then dives into the individual bosses and describes either a story or some strategy of each. Something that has remained a mystery due to heavy development has been the boss infected respawn system, and PC Gamer has given us a glimpse of the current state of things:

Before I spawned, I could wander the map as an invisible entity, getting up close to Surivivors to observe the action and study their tactics in order to identify the weakest player. Then I climbed exclusive "zombie ladders" that gave me access to rooftops and railings where I could spawn out of sight.

..I could also see a bright glowing line that indicated a dynamic checkpoint; I could only spawn after a Survivor crossed that scrimmage line.

..while this mechanic will probably change in the final version, the idea is that the AI Director paces the game to give Survivors time to build up their suspense after large hordes attacks, and gives the boss infected adequate time to prepare their scares.

It's very unclear exactly how the system works, hopefully as they iron things out we'll get a better idea. So what did PC Gamer think of the boss infected side?

Making the survivors' lives hell has great sadistic appeal. Valve's ambition to institutionalize game griefing could really revolutionize online gaming.

The article concludes with the following:

What'll be interesting is how well this "house of horrors" mechanic holds up in the long run, when Survivors begin to learn all of each map's nooks and crannies. The game's designers told me that they're actually targeting the competitive Counter Strike crowd with Left 4 Dead, a group of gamers notorious for scrutinizing every multiplayer map detail for balance. Thats part of the reason Left 4 Dead is now scheduled for a fall 2008 release; Valve knows it has something special, and the team plans to keep play-testing, polishing, and iterating the game until it's perfect

We look forward to more boss infected information in the future, for now you should go pick up PC Gamer! If you haven't checked it out yet, CS-Nation has posted the first part of their Left 4 Dead preview along with the first ever Witch screenshot, which we have now added to our wallpaper gallery.

Finally, TheDark12 has added the latest chapter to his ongoing Left 4 Dead fan fiction story The Forgotten Survivors, which you can find here.