Left 4 Dead - Crash Course DLC

[Saggy]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2009/08/crashcourse_final_1024px.jpg

New campaign for Left 4 Dead is being released this September. Free for PC users, $7 for Xbox 360 users.


Targeted for this September, "Crash Course" is an entirely new campaign that "bridges the gap" between the end of the "No Mercy" campaign (think: rooftop helicopter evacuation) and the beginning of "Death Toll" (think: turnpike riddled with abandoned cars). The new campaign includes "new locations, new dialogue from the original cast, and an explosive finale," and it spreads the mayhem across a co-op campaign, survival maps, and a "streamlined version" of the Versus mode experience lasting 30 minutes.http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/04/left-4-dead-crash-course-campaign-dlc-free-on-pc-7-on-360/

Sounds cool. Also glad to know they're sticking to their word about not totally ditching Left 4 Dead support now that Left 4 Dead 2 is on it's way.

[Mr Buckshot]

Sweet. I'm interested to see how exactly it ties the two campaigns together. Previously, I thought the four campaigns weren't meant to be related story-wise.

e: I see Bill's carrying an automatic weapon that doesn't look like the SMG or the assault rifle in L4D (possibly an MP5?) But they didn't say they'd give us new weapons so I guess not...

[Warsaw]

It's an MP5 with RAS and a red dot sight. :downs:

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

What is louis holding?

[Saggy]

What is louis holding?
SMG and a Pistol. Also, loving his expression...

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

It doesn't look like the standard smg...

[Saggy]

It doesn't look like the standard smg...

It's an MP5 with RAS and a red dot sight. :downs:
Maybe? IDK, I know nothing about guns.

[Pyong Kawaguchi]

Hmm, Its not an mp5 in louis's hand, it doesn't have a curved clip, also, does zoey have barrettas instead of the m1911's that normally are there for pistols?

[BobtheGreatII]

I kind of really want to buy this game. Wish I had the cash when it was on sale. :(

[legionaire45]

I'm pretty sure that SMG is the same one they've had in all of their cover art - it doesn't look like an M4/M16 type gun in any of the cover art.

[Ki11a_FTW]

if you bought l4d from the store for pc, look at the back of the box, and youll see them holding the same weapons, also, really looking forward to this!!

[343guiltymc]

Are those weapons they carry going to be ingame? The other coverart showed them using M4 with aimpoint, but I'm pretty sure those never made it in game.

[BobtheGreatII]

Are those weapons they carry going to be ingame? The other coverart showed them using M4 with aimpoint, but I'm pretty sure those never made it in game.

Read the page behind you. : /

We don't know, but it's unlikely.

[Cortexian]

To me Louis's SMG looks just like an MP5 RAS, with no additional optics, and a shorty mag (or no mag). Bill's is definitely an MP5 RAS with red dot.

Good thing I got this game for PC yesterday, anyone want to buy my 360 copy for like $20 (+ S&H)?

[Warsaw]

To me Louis's SMG looks just like an MP5 RAS, with no additional optics, and a shorty mag (or no mag). Bill's is definitely an MP5 RAS with red dot.

Good thing I got this game for PC yesterday, anyone want to buy my 360 copy for like $20 (+ S&H)?

It is an MP5 RAS again, same magazine length, but the shadows screw with you. Get your face up close to the screen and look.

[jngrow]

Wth, "streamlined" versus of only 30 min? Could be good or suck.

[Cortexian]

It is an MP5 RAS again, same magazine length, but the shadows screw with you. Get your face up close to the screen and look.
After closer examination in Photoshop I was able to determine that what you and I are perceiving as the magazine is actually a folded PDW stock. So it's an MP5 PDW with RAS...

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/3862/louismp5pdwras.jpg

You can see that it has a full magazine coming almost all the way to the edge of his leg from just behind the butt plate on the stock as well.

Want.

[BobtheGreatII]

Nice investigative work there. lol

[Warsaw]

Nice, except it's not a PDW, because the PDW has a short MP5k-like barrel. It has the right stock, but the gun itself is the wrong build...

Also, I still need to buy L4D to begin with...

[Rosco]

Yeah, and unless I'm ignorant, it wont be in the game anyway.

Unless this DLC has new guns, which I haven't read about yet. (gimme a few mins) edit: nope.

[Aerowyn]

well, this doesn't make me feel SO bad about owning L4D. Now if only they'd release L4D2 as a purchasable DLC pack for L4D owners....

[Cortexian]

Nice, except it's not a PDW, because the PDW has a short MP5k-like barrel. It has the right stock, but the gun itself is the wrong build...

Also, I still need to buy L4D to begin with...
MP5 RAS with PDW stock then?

Anyways, I'm pretty excited for this since I kinda got bored of the campaign maps already...

[Warsaw]

L4D is like Counter-Strike: it's fun to play, but gets old very quickly because it is so repetitive.

[Syuusuke]

Gamenight anyone?

[k4is3rxkh40s]

Gamenight anyone?

Someone make it happen!

[neuro]

Nice, except it's not a PDW, because the PDW has a short MP5k-like barrel. It has the right stock, but the gun itself is the wrong build...

Also, I still need to buy L4D to begin with...

you all know it's 'just' concept art right?

concept art which got brushed up a bit to be the poster for the campaign.
not every detail an artist puts in is supposed to be some secret hidden clue you can only find if you play the record backwards. :/

[legionaire45]

...is supposed to be some secret hidden clue you can only find if you play the record backwards...
Bullshit. BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT.
How am I going to find meaning in my existence anymore? :smith:

[Phobias]

I wonder if they are going to try and tie all of the campaigns together so the game, you know, has a story.




well, this doesn't make me feel SO bad about owning L4D. Now if only they'd release L4D2 as a purchasable DLC pack for L4D owners....

Seconded.

[Cortexian]

Gamenight this weekend? I'm going to be at Fragapalooza (http://www.fragapalooza.com/) but we'll have 4x25Mbit connections for 400~ people, should at least be able to play some Steam games online.

[Syuusuke]

Do note I will be spamming music over the mic if there is a gamenight.

[=sw=warlord]

Bullshit. BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT.
How am I going to find meaning in my existence anymore? :smith:
Start with your death and work backwards.:haw:

[Delta4907]

As you may have already noticed from our earlier story (http://www.destructoid.com/left-4-dead-crash-course-announced-as-new-campaign-142454.phtml), Valve has announced a brand new campaign for Left 4 Dead, known to the world as "Crash Course." We were invited to Valve's offices in Seattle to check the new levels out and give you the skinny on what to expect. Things are not yet completely finalized, so a few things I saw may be changed before release, but if you want some general impressions on this brand new campaign, you're in the right place.
Read on for our full, exclusive preview of Crash Course.

Left 4 Dead: Crash Course (PC, Xbox 360)
Developer: Valve
Publisher: Valve
To be released: TBA

As already detailed, Crash Course is designed purely for Versus Play. It can of course be played in a straight Campaign mode, and it works with Survival mode, but the shorter length and more intense combat situations are geared toward competition. With eight of us kicking seven shades of crap out of each other in Valve's office, we played through the game multiple times, and before we begin with the details, let me just confirm this straight away -- it's very fun.

Crash Course begins shortly after the events of No Mercy, with The Survivors starting out by the crashed remains of the helicopter that had rescued them. The new dialog was not fully in place yet, but I was informed that the helicopter pilot was infected, and Zoey's been blamed for crashing it after she wigged out and shot him. A whole selection of new audio has been recorded especially for this campaign, and it's sounding like the wit and patter that the game's become known for will be in full effect.

The new campaign is much shorter than the ones you're used to, which is a deliberate decision on the part of Valve. I'd been told that players generally felt that full campaigns were too long for multiplayer matches, and that they generally stuck around for about half of one. With that in mind, Crash Course consists only of two chapters, which sounds stingy, but is a perfect length for a quicker, more decisive Versus match that should encourage players to stay with a battle from beginning to end.

Since we've got a shorter campaign, much more has been packed into a smaller space. Lucky players who know where to look can upgrade to second-tier weaponry almost straight away. However, they'll have their work cut out for them, because there's a chance to get swamped by the horde right from the very beginning. The levels have also been designed to give Special Infected plenty of advantages, if they know the terrain. For instance, there are a greater amount of high buildings and close-knit walls for Hunters to perfect their pouncing techniques, and there are some decent hiding places for Boomers to jump out and do that thing they do so well.

Each of the two chapters have their own major horde event as well, with the first one taking place on a blocked bridge. In order to clear the blockage of abandoned cars, the Survivors need to activate an artillery cannon to blow the vehicles out of the way. The infected then swarm in on the area, which consists of a wide open space and a large house. There's actually not very much the Special Infected can do here. The space is too open for Boomers and Hunters to really get an advantage, and Smokers can be confounded if the Survivors take refuge in the building. Still, the common zombies will provide players with enough problems.

When players cross the bridge itself, they better pray that a Tank doesn't make an appearance. Absolutely littered with cars, this area gives the Tank an incredibly good chance of humiliating Survivors. Luckily I was on the Infected team when this happened, so I got to feel pretty great about things.
Fans of Left 4 Dead's Safe House graffiti will be pleased to know that it returns in Crash Course. It was still being worked on when I played, so the walls were a bit bare. However, there was a bit of poetry scrawled on one surface, which was followed by fresher graffiti absolutely ripping the prose apart. One particular criticism read: "I'm in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and this poem is the worst thing to happen to me." Left 4 Dead writer Chet Faliszek pointed out the graffiti and noted, "Not even zombies can stop people griefing."
The second chapter, by far, is one of the most awesome yet seen in Left 4 Dead. There are a number of surprises in store, so be warned that from here on in, I'm giving out spoilers. If you want to be spooked by this game's grand finale, stop reading. The rest of you, carry on ...
The big finish of Crash Course sees the Survivors reach a garage, where a bus is waiting at the top of a vehicle elevator, just out of reach. In what looks to be an homage to the Dawn of the Dead remake, the bus is armor-plated and designed to railroad the fearless foursome through any marauding army of infected. Unfortunately, players must first get the bus down, and that requires use of a generator located in the parking lot outside.
The generator, unlike usual event alerts, takes time to activate, with players having to wait while the power charges up. As an extra surprise, the generator sometimes fails, regarding a second activation. Once it's powered, the bus lowers and the horde comes. Survivors can hide in the garage, where there's a mounted machine gun and a stack of boxes, or climb atop a coach outside, where ammo is conveniently located. Either location is fraught with peril, as the infected will pour in from literally everywhere. After several long minutes of sustained horde attack, the really bad thing happens.

All the power goes out.

Players are now stuck in the dark, surrounded by zombies, and need to fight their way back to the generator in order to power it on again, stuck in the open and having to slowly wait for the power to return. Of course, a Tank will make his appearance now, before or after, and all this stress combined makes for easily the most intense and challenging finale in the game. Should players survive, the bus lowers in time and those who made it hop in the back, at which time the bus will drive away, mowing down any infected left standing.
Ultimately, Crash Course is an incredibly worthy campaign, perfectly designed for Versus. In the time it normally takes to play one campaign, we got quite a few matches in, with the overall time for the new maps taking around twenty-five minutes to complete. If you're a big Left 4 Dead fan, you really need to play Crash Course when it comes out. These quite possibly could be your favorite maps yet.Source (http://www.destructoid.com/exclusive-preview-left-4-dead-crash-course-campaign-142570.phtml)

Not too happy about it being only 2 chapters. They better be worth the 560 MS points. I have a hunch that this wont be the last campaign DLC Valve will be making for L4D, though. My thought was that they would make one to three more DLC campaigns, each with 2 chapters, that "tie" the original campaigns together. If there were three more, the third after the Dead Air-Blood Harvest tie-in campaign would be 2-3 more chapters for "The Last Stand", which as of now only consists of a single survival map.