Hi all,

We have just published our first impressions of the *Left4Dead demo* -
if you could post a link on your site that would be very much appreciated.

*Link:*
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/11/08/left4dead-first-impressions/1


*Picture:*
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/11/left4dead-first-impressions/fp_img.jpg


*Quote:
*/Unfortunately, Left4Dead isn't without flaws. There are small
graphical bugs that are noticeable when the view switches to third
person that really stand out, such as when you try to heal someone who
is too far away and end up watching your character bandaging mid-air.

Our main concern though at the moment is the levels themselves are quite
small -- a restriction of the Source engine that's been there ever since
the beginning and is being further impinged on by the fact that the game
has to run on the Xbox 360 too.

The levels are so small in fact that we've even seen people able to run
through the entire demo, which is roughly one and a half levels in
length, in less than two minutes. We've seen some early versions of the
later levels too and know that they too aren't quite as long as we'd want.

To some degree though that's countered by the fact that Valve has
designed Left4Dead as a replayable game, not necessarily a very long
game. You're supposed to play the levels over and over, taking different
routes and facing different challenges. If you play the demo once and
damn it for being too short then you're missing out on something truly
essential about the game -- simply crank up the difficulty and try again
-- you'll find it much more challenging.

Besides, this is a Valve-made game built on a newly revamped and great
looking version of the Source engine. Do you really think there won't be
community maps?

You've also got to take into account the fact that we've only got one
mode on offer here -- and barely more than a fifth of a campaign.
There's still the Versus mode, which lets players take on the roles of
certain Boss zombies, to be unveiled in the final version of the game.

Left4Dead isn't perfect -- we can see that much from the demo already --
but it's a whole ton of fun. Still, if Valve can fix the server browsing
and bring the LAN options more in line with gamer expectations and if
the community gets behind the game as fast as we expect them too then
Left4Dead looks to be an utter stonker of a game.

And now, if you'll excuse us, we're going to go play it again. And
again. And again. /*

*Cheers guys!

Tim Smalley
www.bit-tech.net