The Energon Pub

Alright, so the DLC for Left 4 Dead was released today, featuring Survival Mode. Also included is the ability to play all four Campaigns in Versus, whereas only two were available before, so that's good. But with Survival, for those of you who have played, imagine the Finale missions, on Hard Difficulty, except you're not waiting for a rescue, you're waiting for your own imminent death.

For those of you who haven't I guess I'll just have to review this.

The Finale Events start by signaling the rescue vehicle for the campaign, and then you and your cadre of friends (Or AIs, but where's the fun in that?) have to hold out against a significantly large horde of Zombies. The main difference in Survival Mode is that there IS no rescue; you fight until you're all dead. For those wondering "why?" well, there's a Leaderboard and achievements to be had!

I can think of this as the mode where the Director says "Screw it, they picked the game mode. If i want to spawn a million Tanks, they asked for it." Oh, the Director; for those of you who have read any review of this game where anyone says that they memorized weapon, equipment, and Zombie locations, immediately disregard them, because that just doesn't happen; weapons, items, and enemies spawn randomly at the whim of the ever-present Director, an AI who spawns these things based on how well you've played, and how well you're playing.

And now the new Map. Okay, so it's a fraction of a new map, it's very small compared to the other Finales. Unlike the other Survival Mode maps, this one isn't a remake of a part of the Campaigns. "Last Stand," complete with it's own L4D-Style movie poster, takes place in a lighthouse on the edge of a cliff; the good ol' Story-telling graffiti is here, warning people that the lighthouse is a dead end and that turning back is the only option besides death. in the basement, there's a switch; flipping that switch turns on the light, and, of course, summons a horde that the Director must have been salivating at the thought of. (If an AI could salivate)

The first time, with only AI, I ended up pounced by a Hunter immediately; the other AI were unable to reach me--somehow, they were all within walking distance--and I died 26 seconds in. For a Bronze Metal, one needs 4 minutes. My next try, again with only AI, ended at 3:56, four seconds short of a metal. I had been incapacitated after the third Tank for the round, and the AI were as well.

I should have said, like all of L4D, it's best with friends.

So that's my synopsis. The result; it's good. Would I recommend buying it? No, I wouldn't, it's free DLC. Buy Left 4 Dead, sure, but if you paid for the DLC, you've been scammed.

And now, an Update:

Well, I tried it with friends...my God, we got our asses kicked. I mean, we can usually breeze through Campaign on Normal, but this, my God. The three of us never lasted more than four minutes. We had a good time, but we never made it to even four minutes.

I can attribute this to Valve making a few adjustments to the maps. In particular, much the Last Stand is destructible terrain; most walls are breakable, especially next to what would otherwise be ideal hiding spots. This means areas that would seem like the best choke-points--closets, bathrooms, hallways--are actually only slightly less exposed. At most, you'll be safe from Boomers, Smokers, and probably Hunters until the wall behind you is torn down. This means that there is no "perfect strategy." To drive this point home, whenever I decided to NOT have a plan--that is, I opted to simply wing it rather than plan where we'd hold out--we tended to last a bit longer...until one of us said that not having a plan was now the plan...

I played Survivor once. With random people. I got kicked because the hordes were killing my computer. I had an average of 10 fps...

Jazz Reborn wrote:I played Survivor once. With random people. I got kicked because the hordes were killing my computer. I had an average of 10 fps...

Strange. Are you running only the minimum requirements? If you are, it may be time to upgrade. The good news is, L4D's recommended requirements aren't very high, so it won't be all that expensive.

Nah, my specs are fine. I think it's cuz I'm using a laptop.

Jazz Reborn wrote:Nah, my specs are fine. I think it's cuz I'm using a laptop.

That might be it. I've never had an issue with that, but then I have a regular desktop PC.

And one final update: I tried it once more, with four players total, but instead of Last Stand, we tried the Farmhouse Finale. Taking the positions we usually take there on campaign, we lasted 5 minutes, where we normally only survived 3.

So it's not to say it's hard, it's just that Last Stand is set up so no matter where you hide, you're equally likely to die there compared anywhere else on the map.