Free Goo, L4D Mario, Arabic Duck Tales

Hey kids, I've got all kinds of goodies to share today. 

I heard a rumor that World of Goo was pulling a RadioHead, and giving you the option of paying however much you wish for the game.  WOG is a fun physics based puzzle game that is definitely worth $0.35 cents (or whatever you want to shell out).  At the moment, the site is pretty wonky (overburdened from recession gamers), but I'm guess the deal is on the main page.

In case you are still trying to breath life into the original L4D before L4D2 arrives, a host of fan made maps are available.  One of the more interesting maps, is a Super Mario (N64?) chock full of infected ripe for blasting.

Things in foreign languages are always more funny.  Duck Tales in Arabic... I didn't know there was an Arabic word for Whoo Hoo! Check out German Gummi Bears, Russian Chip and Dale, and Japanese Pinky and the Brain.

Left 4 Dead: Crash Course

In preparation for Left 4 Dead 2 coming out in the next few months, the good people at Valve have released an extra bonus level called Crash Course. 

As you can see in the video the new level takes place after No Mercy, with the assumption the helicopter that saved you had an infected pilot.  As a bonus DLC style level, the map isn't too bad.  I'll also add that it wasn't anything great either.  It feels like just about every other map in L4D with lots of empty buildings and a hand full of shipping containers.  Empty streets filled with infected and the occasional bottle of pills or extra pistol.  Simply put, its nothing new. 

There is an added achievement called Tank Stumble which consists of exploding a propane tank within the close proximity of "The Tank" and causing him to stumble.  The other newish type feature is during the finale assault before the rescue there is a generator that must be started.  It takes a few seconds and then the lights come on and the Horde follows.  You go through the typical volleys of Horde and all the specials and then after a Tank rolls through you have to restart the generator.  Why?  I have no idea, but it gives a few more seconds before the rescue vehicle comes.  Yes, the rescue vehicle looks like an ice cream truck fashioned with a cattle pusher (with evil looking teeth) and lots of weapons.

So overall is it worth it?  Well if you own a PC, download it for free through Steam; so yes, go get it now.  If you are an XBOX360 user you can pony up about $8 for the new map, and if you are a die hard fan it is worth the money (casual players, not so much so).  In all honesty this game got me playing L4D again (I haven't played in probably 5 months), and I sparked a little excitement for L4D 2. 

L4D: Teletubbies?

Add this to the file "A day late and a dollar short", but there has been a mod created for Left 4 Dead, in which the zombies are replaced by Teletubbies.  I suppose it is kind of cool, but overall it is just plain creepy.  Oddly enough, zombies seem less frightening than raging Teletubbies.

Left 4 Dead: Survival Mode

Left 4 Dead launched a new update yesterday including the new "Survival Mode" and a new Lighthouse map.  Survival mode consists of the four survivors fighting off TONS of infected and special zombies. The survivors start in a map void of infected.  Gas cans, propane tanks, medkits, pills, and ammo are scattered about the map to aid the coming onslaught.  Like the crescendo points in the regular campaigns, the horde is triggered by flipping a switch... and they just keep coming.

I played last night (well into the wee hours of the morn) and I was really quite impressed.  Survival mode has a whole different feel to it than versus or the campaigns.  I checked the official L4D blog and here is how they described the new mode:

Our goals for Survival Mode are to deliver a mode of play distinct from Campaign or Versus, have games that regularly last under ten minutes, and emphasize competition with team play through leaderboards.

I found that games went really quick in Survival Mode and after each game a new tactic or theory was constructed.  We solely focused our efforts on the new Lighthouse map and although much pre-planning went into fighting the horde, we were eventually overcome.  The map has a ton of deceitful concealment points but almost all of them are surrounded by weak walls that fell before the first horde was gone.  The top of the lighthouse seemed to provide the best platform, but left us very open to Smokers which drug us off into the bushes.

The above video shows an earlier build of the Lighthouse map (a few minor changes came with the update).  There are also a ton of new achievements and we tried to get bronze (survive 4 minutes) last night, but we simply couldn't do it.  I played with a buddy and 2 bots and although we held off the horde they constantly let us down :)  If you are on Steam, send me a tweet and we'll kill some zombies together.

Left 4 Dead movie? Er... Left 5 Dead?

So I heard a rumor of this mysterious "Left 5 Dead", a potential for a live action movie, with a handful of stills floating around the nets.  As much as I wanted this to be true, I had horrific flash backs to every video game movie I had ever seen ("Street Fighter", "Mario Brothers", "Mortal Kombat", I could keep going...). 

Well, through the magic of the Internets, I have now seen the stills collection and they are pretty awesome! I would love to see a (well produced) Left 5 Dead movie, but don't ever really see this happening.  I did a little research and found out that L5D is in fact a photographic novel.  You can find out some more information at their official site, Night Zero.  This is a fan made "photo novel" and all the more proof that if you make quality products for your consumers they will love you for it. Take note Hollywood, if you do something like this (well produced content with the intention of making your consumers happy) your audience might pay to see your movies and not pirate them.

I purchased Left 4 Dead (PC version) around January and I really can't get enough of it.  This game is so fantastically well made and the game play/replay-ability is near epic.  I can't remember the last time a I played a game that held my attention span for such a great length of time (COD4 was a good contender).  This game has developed such a gigantic fan base with folks that would take time to make a photo novel like Night Zero. Btw, if you haven't played or heard of L4D, it is a game where you kill zombies.  There is so much more to be said but that is really all you need to know, and must experience the rest.

Go purchase L4D, and take a look at Night Zero's project.  You will be very impressed with both :)