No Parking

I know that last time I said I was reviewing a "Different" campaign, and that was true. It's atmosphere and mystery was unlike any other I've played. Well, now I'm saying it again, and this time it's even more true.

Author: Lou Saffire

No Parking

Now, for those of you who didn't think that One 4 Nine was quite different enough, well, this one is. You see, the campaign is one map long. Yeah, one. At its bare bones, it's just one, massive, extended finale where you go toe to toe with a pissed off, cola addicted redneck.

Yeah. A redneck.

Doesn't sound scary? Well, wait until you get a look at him before you make your judgement...

"HONK HONK MOTHERFUCKERS."

You see, this is Whitaker. You remember him, don't you? Oh, you don't? Well, he's the crazy guy with the cola addiction who owned the gun store in Dead Center.

Yeah. He's back.

Playing as the original group of survivors once more, you stumble into a parking garage in search of weapons just before The Sacrifice takes place. Yes, another mod about them before The Sacrifice. If you're keeping track then this one would be not long after Redemption.

Anywho, because the survivors always throw their guns away at the end of each campaign, they need to find another pile of guns to use for half an hour before discarding them as well. Which is when they stumble upon Whitaker and his stash of guns.

After peaceful negotiations by Ambassador Francis go south you are tasked with killing Whitaker before he kills you. And, as is subtly implied by the two ton death machine he can be seen riding around in, it isn't quite what you would call easy. To defeat Whitaker you have to complete a series of objectives around the parking garage while he shoots at you, attempts to run you down in his van, and honks the horn to attract the horde. Yes, there are zombies in the mix too. Even specials. Remember when I said it was basically one huge finale?

The steps to defeating him, considering the circumstances of the fight, aren't easy to complete. What is easy however is getting shot, or sliced up, or run down by his van or beaten to death after having all of the above happen to you. This is very much a map designed around actual HUMAN players, not bots.

Eventually you defeat him, and guess what? Now he says he's sorry. All he wants is some cola and he's willing to call things even between you guys. He'll even forgive you for the guns you stole.

"You dick, you tried to kill us."
"Shut up, Francis."

You actually have a choice here. Give him the cola and let bygones be bygones, water under the bridge, mirror in the past and all that? Go ahead. Or... leave him to die without his precious cola. Your call.

But apparently his cola addiction has turned into a full fledged fetish since Savannah, because that cola will determine your fate. Deny him his favorite of beverages and he summons the will to stave off death itself for the sole purpose of ending your miserable existence. Show mercy and provide him with his one true love in his time of need? He'll flip death the bird and join you in battle, all out of gratitude for providing him with what he lusts after most.

Either way, the second half of the map involves your standard "Hold the Line" finale, but your choice with Whitaker dictates whether he helps or hinders you during your escape. And as much as you might want to leave him to die after that first fight with him... damn does it feel good to have his wheeled death machine on YOUR side for once.

The choice even affects the ending of the mod and Whitaker's fate. He can go out in a heroic blaze of glory or succumb to his hatred and expire, before succumbing to the infection and becoming one of them. This map is short and sweet but for the unique experience it gives it's worth checking out. Boss fights in Left 4 Dead, oh man...

Go ahead and get this if you're looking for something new after your hundreds of hours in Left 4 Dead. Just put the difficulty on Easy if you can't find any friends, because Whitaker takes no prisoners.

One 4 Nine

I'd say that it's finally time for another Left 4 Dead campaign but, you know, it's always time for Left 4 Dead on this blog. And this time I've got something a bit more... mysterious for all of you...

Author: keved

One 4 Nine (As always, download all parts for the campaign to run).

Another campaign that kinda/sorta/maybe tries to explain the origin of the virus, huh? Man, how many of those are there? Well I can guarantee you that there aren't any quite like this campaign.

Deep in the Nevada desert the survivors from the second game have tried, and failed, to escape the infection. With nowhere else to go, they resort to following the rumors of a nearby military base that is offering shelter but end up finding more than they could ever comprehend.

The entire campaign takes place at night and, as with the previous campaigns I've reviewed, there is custom graffiti that tells a story through questions rather than answers. All across this base are strange equations and numbers scrawled over the walls, and warnings telling of something that the United States Military found in the desert. The messages implore the survivors to go no further, but at the same time promise answers to be found at the heart of this military installation.

You'd much rather forget what you see on the other side of this door. Trust me.

The entire campaign has this strange air of apprehension about it, like you don't know exactly where you're heading, but you just know that it won't be very good. And I like that. It's like a horror movie during the times that it's quiet, as opposed to the usual Left 4 Dead mod of an action-survival flick with zombies. As you go deeper and deeper things get more unsettling until, at more than one point, you're literally crawling over mountains of carcasses and picking your way through checkpoints where the guards all died of self inflicted wounds rather than any zombie attack.

For most of the campaign everything is shrouded in darkness, literally too. A lot of it takes place on the interior of the base so for the most part you'll be going through corridors and offices though it does open up at several points, even offering you the chance to have a more vertical battle trying to climb some catwalks later on. There are also plenty of mounted guns sprinkled about, and for the most part they are placed in much better places than they are in the vanilla campaigns, finally letting players vent their frustrations out in .50 caliber doses on the swarming hordes the AI Director sends after your souls.

And, as you draw nearer to the climax of the mod, things get downright foreboding.

What are the odds of finding a happy ending at the bottom of this?

Here is where it's all been leading, after pulling you and your group over mountains of dead bodies, slaughtering your way through hundreds of zombies, and witnessing the utter disaster that took place throughout the facility. You finally discover what they army unearthed...

"Wut." - Coach, greatest philosopher of our age.

...The Monolith?

Yeah. And, as eagle eyed fans of Half Life would have noticed in the screenshot above that, the symbol of The Combine (Primary antagonists of the Half Life series for those who don't recognize it) is scrawled on the wall there, not too far from the 'Lith, as we like to call it.

Dayum.

What even... is happening?

Like I said, it's all more questions than answers. BUT, if you're looking for answers about the story in this mod and it's ending, you can go here to find out all about. And I think that it's compelling, in that unexpected sort of way. I enjoy sometimes being left wondering, still asking questions. It's not for everyone, sure, which is why that link is there.

But I need to make a note here of the finale. It WOULD be the standard "Hold the line" against waves of zombies, but once it begins your screen will begin flashing brightly with different colors and you'll be looking through a colored filter for pretty much the entire finale. It's very unexpected and the sudden shock of it can hurt the eyes, so brace yourselves for that if you do decide to give this mod a go.

So, if you want to play through something that is atmospheric, strange, and filled with uncertainty, go ahead and book this vacation to Nevada. And escape the zombies once and for all...

Back to School

After that last smashing review in Left 4 Dead 2, I figure that's it time that we, together went back... Back to School, that is.

Authors: 100_o/o_f@ke and romasm

Back to School (Make sure to download all parts!)

Back to School is another large campaign for Left 4 Dead 2, once again starring the original cast of survivors as they fight their way through Borden City to the evacuation point at the local High School. Unlike Redemption II, this campaign isn't related to the main story of the series at all, instead doing what most campaigns do and just being created to play. Which is far from a bad thing, mind you, since Left 4 Dead has always prioritized gameplay over narrative which is just fine.

And also over cheerful interior design, apparently.

Fun fact though, a list in one of the original campaigns DID list "Borden City High School" as a main evacuation point and I refuse to believe that is entirely a coincidence (As much as I refuse to do something better with my time than learning random facts about Left 4 Dead).

This campaign is long. Very long. With six levels to its name it's practically an endurance test and the AI Director will not go easy on you. Because he never does. The randomness of this campaign is fantastic though. On some playthroughs you'll see a car whiz down the street and crash, summoning the horde. Other times it won't happen, sparing you the ammo and the stress. And, on the subject of randomness, this campaign actually has two, yes two different endings. I don't really know if there is anything the player can do to influence the outcome, and I suspect not, but the addition of multiple endings is much appreciated.

But there is a downside I need to mention. This campaign includes its own custom skins for the Tank. This skins are really well done, being of a police officer and soldier respectively, but if you're using any different skins for the Tank in your game then the Tanks in Back to School will become invisible.

Believe it or not, this picture is actually me getting punched by a Tank. Seriously.

Now, deactivating your current skin mod for the Tank and enabling Back to School's skin for it should resolve the problem, but I'm a gamer. I sit in front of a screen and press buttons to live vicariously through fictional characters. I don't want to take those extra steps. If I had that kind of energy I'd probably be doing something outside. On higher difficulties this issue will obviously be a problem, so plan accordingly.

Some of the objectives here are interesting twists on old ones from different campaigns. For instance, a guy offers to give you a lift to the evacuation center in his truck in exchange for helping him scavenge some supplies. He drives you to the stores (There are three different ones with their own type of supplies that he wants) and you have to go get them all before he'll take you any further. The stores, however, are alarmed, so the minute somebody makes a move for the objective you'll have the horde breathing down your neck.

The sign below me says "Shoplifters."

It creates an interesting situation where you have to decide between speed or safety. Split up and get everything at once? Everyone is vulnerable to attacks from special infected. Stay together and go one at a time? The horde can bog you down and keep you from reaching the other objectives. There are more unique crescendo events like this, including the military bombing a car lot and a supermarket shootout, which is always a good thing to see.

As in the last review, I noted survivor dialogue and custom graffiti as positive points to that campaign. While Back to School lacks a large amount of meaningful dialogue between the survivors all of the saferooms have custom accounts from other survivors detailing the fall of Borden City and how they met their grisly ends. And on the subject of safehouses, there are some interesting ones later on, including a bank vault with somebody still in it. Yeah, enjoy that one.

And much like Redemption, the props placed around this campaign help to make it a memorable experience. You'll see the place where two crazy rednecks made a last stand, military checkpoints overrun by vast swarms of the infected, and later on you'll even hear frantic radio chatter from soldiers being torn apart before your very ears, all while the Air Force is attempting to level the city one bomb at a time.

This campaign is altogether more intense than Redemption, making it a good choice to subject your friends to if you're feeling like being cruel to them with style. It's as fun as it can at times be merciless and anyone looking for a quality campaign should look no farther.

Redemption II

Some of the most famously modded games are ones produced by Valve, the creators of Half Life, Portal, Team Fortress 2, and other well known games. Valve's games are easy to mod and with the addition of the Steam Workshop some time ago it was made even easier for modders to create something they enjoyed and get it out there for everyone to see.

I have to admit, Left 4 Dead 2 is snugly fitted into my Top 5 favorite games of all time. Playing it back on the Xbox 360 I met friends who I still talk to today so this series has a special place in my heart. I've been looking forward to reviewing some of the wonderful mods for this wonderful game, so I think it's time I did exactly that.

Author: Morloc

Redemption II

This campaign was inspired by the comic that was put out in four parts leading up to the release of The Sacrifice for both Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 (Which you can read here, if you haven't already, and I recommend you do). This campaign ties in with the comic and is meant to be some sort of interquel between the penultimate part of that comic and The Sacrifice itself. Basically, in the comic, Bill does something bad. Really bad. And the group becomes more wary of him as a result.

This campaign, as implied by the title, is his Redemption for that act. 

Set in a remote research lab somewhere along the East Coast the group of four finds themselves stranded when a military bombing run previously destroyed the bridge their train was going to cross. Out of options they decide to head into the lab itself in search of another form of transportation, but, as with all horror movies, they inevitably find something more sinister...

"No, YOU go first..."

A clever use of old material to tell a new story.

The great thing about this campaign is the work that went into it. Not only are things happening directly in front of you but you can see things happening in the distance every now and then, too, like a military plane flying overhead or a helicopter crashing into the building somewhere ahead of you. The environment is also well constructed, with props placed in locations where they can tell a story about what happened before without it being in your face (As is the goal of Left 4 Dead, though usually more through safehouse graffiti).

Speaking of graffiti, the primary method of exposition in the Left 4 Dead universe, this campaign has quite a bit of new writing on the walls. It isn't a big touche but it's nice, and helps to give the facility a distinction from many other campaigns as the environment around you tells a new story.

The trance you go into when slaughtering the undead is a truly wonderful thing.

There are also a few new melee weapons included, the most memorable of which being, and I am not in any way joking here... a human foot. Or an arm? Maybe it was an arm. I can't remember entirely, as the novelty of bashing skulls in with a human limb was too much for me to overcome at the time.

There is a noticeable and welcome atmosphere that reminds one of Half Life, specifically Black Mesa, when trudging deeper into the facility. 

The finale throws a curveball that you might not be prepared for.

But, something I have a problem with... is that there's really no Redemption to be found here. Yeah, the group shoots its way through a lab heavily implied to be the source of the virus, but that's it. There's no cure to be found (Obviously) and no culprit to bring to justice. You just shoot zombies in the labs (Though these labs are well constructed and it's very fun) then escape on the train. If something happened that was supposed to redeem Bill, I didn't catch it.

Speaking of the escape, the author tries out a new form of finale that can catch new players off guard the first time through. The first wave is the same as usual, hold off the zombies until the rescue is ready, but then it makes a turn. You need to retrieve three oxygen tanks thrown down to you by an NPC, fight your way to the bay under the train, and hook them up to power the tracks. The change from the normal finale formula was interesting and keeps one on their toes, but it can become easy to lose the canisters after they've been thrown down to you, especially with the horde closing in from all sides.

And yes, NPCs. This campaign has them, all fully voice acted and able to be interacted with. The few surviving members of the research team help you along your way as you fight through the facility, another welcome change to let the player know that they aren't entirely alone in this apocalypse. And, on the subject of dialogue and characters, the banter between the survivors themselves is excellent. At points during the campaign the four will launch into drawn out conversations about what they see or think leading to more than a few hilarious conversations. It's all scripted of course but the survivors here are a lot chattier than they are in the vanilla game so I can't complain.

As far as campaigns go, this is one you should definitely check out. Gather up some friends, fire up your copies of the game, shoot your way through White Helix together. While the story is a little lacking none of you will regret it.