by Shadowman » Wed Sep 30, 2009 1:25 pm
- Motto: "May God have mercy on my enemies, because I sure as hell won't."
Left 4 Dead's new campaign, Crash Course, just dropped yesterday. I played it a couple of times (Once with friends, and once without, plus one "okay" attempt at Survival Mode), and I feel the need to bother you with my thoughts.
Crash Course is the first Campaign to have continuity with another, in this case, both No Mercy and Death Toll. After the helicopter rescue at Mercy Hospital, the pilot became a zombie, (There are numerous voice fies hinting at it, and one where he actually turns) and Zoey shot him (Thought none of this is seen, but Francis repeatedly teases Zoey about it. "Here they come! Zoey, pretend they're all helicopter pilots!") and his dead, zombified corpse is seen near the wreckage.
Well, that's the setup, but how's the campaign itself? It's some good ol' fashion Left 4 Dead fun, I'll tell you that. Crash Course was designed to give a full Versus experience in only half an hour, but since I rarely play Versus (Being able to play Infected in fun, everything else about Versus isn't). The Campaign itself is only two maps, opposed to the other Campaigns each having five. However, both Crash Course's maps are both exceptionally long. On normal difficulty, it took us about 45 minutes to get through both maps, just 15 minutes shy of what we usually do in Campaign.
Weapons and ammo both spawn fairly commonly, and you won't have much trouble finding a Molotov or Pipe Bomb if you need it. Of course, this is Left 4 Dead, and if I say "Item A will appear up here" it's a coin toss as to whether or not I'm right. But it does spawn fairly commonly.
There are two Crescendo Events, the first takes place on top of a small hill, with a building to one side, and a bridge at the end of the road. The Event is activated by firing a Howitzer at a barricade on the bridge. No, you can't fire it a second time. (We tried) The second, the finale, involves started a generator to get an armored van down from a lift in a garage. Unlike most finale event buttons, you have to hold down the use key until it starts. Likewise, the thing will stop at some point, and you have to start it again.
There are also new lines for the Survivors...except Bill. I have no clue why Bill didn't get any new lines, but he didn't. Francis, Zoey, and Louis all got new lines, some of which are likely for the old campaigns. (It helps that I know where to find the voice files outside of the game) Most of Francis's lines are actually pretty funny. ("I drove for Hersch once, 'til some guy laughed at my little brown shorts, and I beat him to death") He's still convinced he's fighting Vampires, and expresses hatred for even more things, especially Canada. (But admits loving lasagna)
The safe room graffiti is back, this time dominated by a long poem, and everyone's reaction to it, ranging from "Jesus, lady, I'm hiding from zombies, and reading that poem was the worst thing to happen to me today" to "Cool story, bro." Likewise, there's US map with various safe spots. The only two not crossed out are Pennsylvania (Where the game takes place) and Louisiana. (Where Left 4 Dead 2 is supposed to take place)
There's also some new visual changes. Taking pills now causes the image sharpness to increase significantly before dropping back to normal. When pounces by a Hunter, only you, the Hunter, and a small area around you will stay in color, everything else goes to gray.
So, that's the new update. Is it worth it? Well, I got it for free because I'm awesome...by which I mean, I play the PC version, so it was free for me. Sorry, 360 players, you have to pay for this one, thought it IS worth it.
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