Zombie Week: Monday - Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 is a phenomenal zombie game.  It puts you and three of your closest friends against a world full of the infected.  You fight your way through the American south using shotguns, rifles, sub-machine guns, and an assortment of melee weapons.  You must stick with your friends, or face certain death if you choose to go it alone.  Whether you play the game solo, or online, you have three other players at your side.  Playing the game in single player mode has your friends controlled by the AI, where as online you can play with other living, breathing human beings.  This is where the fun starts.  The game has the ability to make your experience vary each time you play it.  I'll get into that more in a bit.

There are a few different ways to play L4D2.  You can play solo with computer pals, online with friends, and competitively playing the Versus game mode.  No matter which mode you choose, you'll be playing through the same campaigns.  There are swamps, cities, and neighborhoods to fight your way through the zombie horde.  You have between three and five chapters to make it through in each campaign.  The goal of each chapter is to make it to the next safe house.  Within the safe houses are weapons, ammo, and health packs.  Once in the safe house you can not be attacked.  Nick, Ellis, Coach, and Rochelle are the personalities you'll be playing as in L4D2.  Each have their own distinct personality which you'll come to know as you're being overwhelmed by the living dead.

Left 4 Dead 2 has more than just your standard, run of the mill, zombies.  There are "Special Infected" in L4D2. These are zombies that appear to have mutated in some way or another.  These mutations act as unique traits and abilities for the Special Infected.  They consist of the Smoker, Spitter, Charger, Boomer, Jockey, Hunter, Witch, and Tank.  The Smoker has a long tongue that it can use to constrict the Survivors from long distances.  The Charger will pick you up and ram you away from your friends, and pulverize your squishy pink body into the ground.  Oh, and you'll know the Tank when you see him.  While playing the Versus game mode, one team plays as the Survivors, and the other as the Special Infected.  The goal of the Survivors is to make it to the safe house, and the goal of the Special Infected is, you guessed it, killing the Survivors.  Just as the Survivors need to stick together to survive, the Special Infected must attack as a team to succeed.  No one Jockey can take on four survivors alone.

The game now has eight different campaigns to play through.  Each campaign varies in the time it takes to complete.  They last between 30 and 60 minutes depending on the difficulty, and the number of chapters.  The way that the game stays interesting is because of our friend the "Director".  The Director pays attention to how you're playing the game and how well you're doing.  If you're breezing through the game, the Director will throw some more zombies your way.  If you're having a hard time of it, it might back off a bit.  This helps keep the game fresh, and ensure that you never play a level the same way twice.

Did I mention this game has zombies?  Oh, it has 'em alright.  Loads of them.  Zombies as far as the eye can see, and it never seems to get old fighting your way through them.  I highly recommend this game if you enjoy playing with others.  This game is best served with one or more friends, but recommended with a full team of four.  Though you do have the option of finding other zombie slayers, like yourself, randomly online.  If this remotely sounds like fun, pick up Left 4 Dead 2 on the PC, Mac, and Xbox 360.  Check back tomorrow for the next featured game of Zombie Week.  Happy zombie killing.

Nostalgia Review: Grand Theft Auto

Thirteen years ago, one afternoon during English, my friend Justin, began telling me about this game he had just received.  It was a game that you could walk around, drive a car, carry a gun, mow down pedestrians, and have high-speed chases with the Five-O.  He kept going on about how he loved mowing down people on the sidewalk and stealing various vehicles.  As he spoke more and more about the game, I came to realize that the things that he loved doing in the game weren't the objective of the game.  They were things that you could just do.  You could play the game the way you want to play it.  This intrigued me.  I wasn't so much excited for the shooting and vehicular manslaughter, as I was for the prospect that the game would let me do whatever I wanted to do.  This was a new concept to me.

That day, after the bus ride back from school, I followed Justin home.  He had recruited another one of our friends for the trip.  We made our way up to his bedroom, where we found his Playstation primed and ready for our afternoon.  Justin gave us a demonstration on how to play the game, or at least how he played the game.  We began taking turns trying to wreak as much havoc as possible before the police killed us.  It was hilarious.  It created intense moments where we were sure that a kamakazi police car would take us out at any moment.  We created our own game within the game; Run down every person in a red shirt (a la Star Trek).  The hours quickly passed, and dinner time was nearing.  One thing was clear when I left and made my trek home. I must own this game.

The next weekend I had my parents take me by the local game shop.  I used money that I had recently received for Christmas to buy Grand Theft Auto and Syphon Filter (Syphon Filter has no relevance to this story.  I just had an incredible "ah-ha" moment when recalling this day.  I also wanted to give a nod to anyone who remembers that game.).  I got the games home and dove right in to GTA.  Many people wearing red shirts were ran down that day.  Once I tired of my "killing spree" game mode I had created for myself, I decided to just drive around and explore.  I obeyed traffic laws, and was polite to other cars and pedestrians.  I continued to play this game for months.  I don't think I ever finished the story in the game.  The missions were played until all the areas were unlocked, or until my thumbs hurt.  I just wanted more places to explore.

Though I never "completed" GTA, it remains as one of my favorites.  It spawned an amazing series of games, and was a lot of fun in its own right.  If you'll excuse me, Steam just finished downloading Grand Theft Auto, and I have people in red shirts to run over.

Moving Science Forward

Since the First of this month there has been a lot of a buzz within the gaming community.  Gaming websites and forums everywhere have been littered with posts, or advertisements for Portal 2.  This is a game, that for many, needs no introduction or explanation.  If you don't fall into that group, it's ok, I'll catch you up.

On April 1, 2011, The Potato Sack bundle of games went on sale on Steam (a digital method of distribution for computer games).  This began the ARG (Alternate Reality Game) that was created by Valve Software to promote the release of Portal 2. (more about the ARG here)

Now, the good stuff.  Portal 2 is a fantastic game.  The characters, environments, and dialogue are incredible.  If you enjoyed the first game, you may find yourself grinning quite a bit throughout the sequel.  For fans of the first Portal, Portal 2 does not disappoint.  The new elements added to the puzzles are a very welcome addition.  In the first game you had your portal gun to get you from point A to point B.  Now you must use your environment and Gels that are hiding deep within the Aperture Science Laboratories.  Portal 2 adds a propulsion gel, and repulsion gel.  One helps you take flight by bouncing you into the air, and the other assists you in speeding along the ground to build momentum.  The learning curve isn't too steep if you're familiar with the first game, but it might offer a bit more of a challenge to someone who is completely new to the series.

Level design in Portal 2 is done rather well.  It truly feels as if you are in an abandoned research facility.  Windows are shattered, panels are falling from the walls, and vegetation is overtaking the facility.  Computers, turrets, companion cubes, and rubble are strewn about.  There are even hidden rooms to find with cryptic writings and drawings on the walls; all of them trying to give hints as to what used to be, and what is now.  The puzzles are clever, and at times you'll think they're impossible.  You do experience a few different environments, and the pacing for the levels feels pretty good.

Dialogue in Portal 2 will keep you engaged throughout the entire single player game.  It's great to have GlaDOS back wishing death upon you, and to have Wheatley (voiced by Stephen Merchant) bumbling along, helping you through the facility.  Cave Johnson (voiced by J.K. Simmons) is the founder of Aperture Science, and you hear recordings of his voice periodically throughout the game.  He tells you about past test subjects, and the need for danger in scientific research.  "We do our science from scratch."

The gameplay of Portal 2 can be summed up into one word: Fun.  This game will definitely warrant more than one play-through.  You'll want to go back and look for things you may have missed the first time around.  There is so much to look at, that if you beat the game in less than 8 hours on your first go-around, you surely have not seen it all.  The completion time varies for lots of people, but it would be fair to say the game is between 6 and 10 hours long for the single player campaign.  Portal 2 also offers a co-op experience.  In the co-op campaign you play as either Peabody or Atlas.  You have to work with a friend to complete the puzzles.  You can't just leave it to your friend to do all the work; it actually takes real cooperation.

Portal 2 will continue to steal my time in the coming months.  Hopefully it will do the same for you.  The videos below showcase some of the game elements, and the voice actors as well.  Go play the game, or buy it.... for science of course.