I just log off XBL! from playing 1:30 hrs of Left 4 Dead demo, and this are my impressions:
I was amazed of how little delay was, and how fluid EVERYTHING was even when all 4 people were playing.
The game runs smoot and without problems. The framerate never drops even when the cluster-fuck reaches critical mass.
I think the textures look a little last gen for me, the game overall doesn't feel "pretty as Bioshock, Mass Effect or Gears of War 2" ; now, that's no dealbreaker to me, but is worth mentioning. If you want eye candy, you'll probably feel a little dissapointed.
The voice communication was flawless, and it really helps that you keep the com open because a part of the game is tactical. (Example: if you walk carelessly outside, some car alarms can go off and bring out the entire horde)
I felt the game, in normal mode, was a little too easy. Now now, I don't presume to have 1337 skillz or any of the sort, but there's plenty of ammo, and the weapons are not unique (there isn't JUST ONE SHOTGUN... everybody can spaz out to the rythm if they want to) and your health goes down REALLY SLOOOOOW... so the fear factor may not be there on ocassion. You can only carry one medkit, and you can chose to use it on yourself, or a teammate. Neato! cooperative action.
I've heard how the game "adapts" to the way you play, and I can vouch for that. The first time I ever loaded the demo, it happen to be the first time for all of us 4... so we were scared shitless, using the power of numbers to advance through everything... the game seemed to notice it, because while we were on the subway, a little girl's cryign started echoing throughout the whole level, and we started investigating, going REAAAAALY slow EVERYWHERE... doublechecking doors, roofs, dark alleys... EVERY LITTLE NOOK...
When we finally arrived, we saw the little girl... now my fellas and I have all seen the trailer, so we all knew that at some point the fucking witch was going to turn hostile... but even though we knew, the little thing jumped on us SO FAST that it incapacitated one of us immediately; the game warned us with a yellow light that a teammate was down, and after a couple hundred rounds (everybody proving how manly each was by playing "put the most ammo on that corpse") we bring back the fallen teammate.
Even though nobody died, and the health system was at times over compensating, we had a blast.
Now, for the second run, the game behave totally different. One of the boys thought he was a "man's man" and started running forward like a drunken fool, leaving the rest of us to clean the entire mess. After a few car alarms and, like, 300 dead corpses, we entered the subway system, all manly, arnold-schwarzenegger-in-predator-one-mode... and the little kid/witch NEVER SHOWS... INSTEAD an ARMY of fatmen and roid-raged... THINGS start attacking us.
The fat men were practically bombs, so other than creating a blinding green steam, no harm done... the uber muscular zombie, on the other hand, was a BULLET EATING GODZILLA... I shit you not, we easily dropped over 400 bullets to that thing and it barely died.
When you get "pinned down" by a zombie like the roid rage guy, you can still shoot the basic weapon (pistol) but recieve tons of damage by the creature. You have this "regular" life... green for good, yellow for careful, and red for "you are about to die" ... except you dont. After depletion, a teamplayer can come and revive you without any kit, and then you have something like a "dotted life" meaning if you ever go down again, its game over pal. The teammate who revives you even says so, just to be clear.
If someone happens to have a health pack, you can use it to go back to "first life bar" status.
Being that the game has unlimited ammo for the basic weapon (pistol) and a somewhat plentyful health/revival combination, the stress of "surival" in survival horror is not always present.
The game relies too much in cues of scripted nature to bring you the hibby jibbies.
I won't say the game needs balancing, because I'm about to try it out on hard, and see how it goes from there, but a limited amount of ammo, or a mode with a limited amount of ammo would be welcome.
Not that the game is not purchase-worthy, i was SOLD the moment I finished the first level.
What are your impressions guys!?