http://www.left4dead411.com/left-4-dead-information
What is Left 4 Dead? - Left 4 Dead is a multiplayer cooperative survival horror shooter in development by Valve Corporation based on the Source engine to be released for the PC and Xbox 360 on November 4, 2008.
Cooperative survival horror shooter? - You play as one of four Survivors that must work together to survive. Most levels have your team of 4 trying to go from point A to B, during which you will be attacked by an onslaught of the Infected (zombies). The pacing has been described as like Counter-Strike Source. Teammates will need to work together by not only just shooting enemies, but by having the ability to heal each other, help each other climb up ledges, pick each other up when one gets knocked down, etc.
Zombies? - The Infected. They are not undead or reanimated corpses.. they are human victims of a new rabies virus which makes them extremely aggressive and mindless. They are not slow hulking movie-type zombies, but fast (think 28 Days Later), vicious and smart. In addition to the hordes of AI controlled infected (reports say up to 40 can be seen at once), there will also be four "boss infected" characters that will either be controlled by AI or by real players, depending on the number of people on the server. These four are the Boomer, Hunter, Smoker and Tank.
What is the setting/story?
Imagine that you live in a major city during a time when a new and highly virulent strain of the rabies virus emerges and begins spreading rapidly among the human population. Those infected become dangerously psychotic and attack all noninfected on sight. You are one of the lucky few who seem to be immune to the virus, but are trapped in a city teeming with thousands of extremely violent infected. Banding together with a few other survivors, you try to escape."
"Left 4 Dead is set contemporary America. Although we've pushed the fiction a bit for the sake of gameplay (such as including the "boss infected"), the basic idea of a catastrophic pandemic and the collapse of civilization makes for great survival horror because it is quite plausible. We wanted our environments to remind you of home--but a horribly changed and tortured version of home.
The initial four campaigns of Left 4 Dead include both urban areas and rural areas, with lots of dense architecture and challenging landscapes. Each campaign also ends with an elaborate "finale" where the survivors must make a stand while waiting for a rescue vehicle to arrive and take them to apparent safety."
Cooperative survival horror shooter? - You play as one of four Survivors that must work together to survive. Most levels have your team of 4 trying to go from point A to B, during which you will be attacked by an onslaught of the Infected (zombies). The pacing has been described as like Counter-Strike Source. Teammates will need to work together by not only just shooting enemies, but by having the ability to heal each other, help each other climb up ledges, pick each other up when one gets knocked down, etc.
How many players can play? - The game is designed for 1 to 8 players. You can play solo and have everybody else be controlled by the AI. During the course of a map players will be able to drop in and out without having a profound impact on gameplay.
How long will maps last, and how many campaigns? - There will be four campaigns with around 5 maps each. The Hospital campaign being shown lasts anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, and the other 3 are expected to be similar.
How are infected AI spawns handled? - Spawns will vary each time you play. They are random and you can expect to be mobbed and attacked at different points each time through. Infected will come from behind. From Valve's Michael Booth in an interview with Firingsquad.com:
At the core of Left 4 Dead's gameplay is a set of technologies we refer to as "The Director." Whether you're playing a game with 8 humans filling out the available roles or playing in "single player" mode, The Director is in charge of monitoring the pacing of the game. So, for example, if your team has been bombarded with Infected hordes and bosses, The Director will schedule a break in the action. If your team is chewing through Infected like bubble gum, The Director will send a few Boss Infected your way, and so on. And all of this is done procedurally to insure no play sessions are alike -- there are no triggers, generators, special flags, or other human-placed information in the environment that specify where to place the Infected. As a result, the Survivor team can never predict when or where they will encounter anything.
Difficulty modes - Survivors may choose from 4 varying levels of difficulty, Normal, Hard, and Expert, and something even more insane, which affect two things - the attack power of the enemy infected and bosses, and the amount of friendly fire the Survivors take. This means that the infected always die from the same amount of bullets, but the Survivors must be much more careful when being hit. For an idea of the difference in difficulty, on Normal mode, an infected punch hits the Survivor for 3 damage, whereas in Expert, a single punch does 20 damage (1/5 of the Survivors total health!).
Tease.
