Self-shadowed normal mapping. That got you sitting up in your seats didn’t it? Forget zombie hordes for a second, put the intricate and sophisticated animation system to one side, and focus on what’s going to make Left 4 Dead special: self-shadowed normal mapping. What’s self-shadowed normal mapping? We had no idea, so we picked up the phone and asked Valve. ...
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Face it, pirates and ninjas are out and zombies are in. And we have no doubt that one of our most high-anticipated games of this year is Left4Dead, Valve’s post-apocalyptic survival horror shooter. Our initial playtest sent chills down our spine when we first saw it at last year’s Showdown LAN, and the game looked much more refined and polished when we played it at this year’s E3. ...
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Left 4 Dead is a very scary game. Scary enough to turn four grown men (alright, four videogame journalists) into yelping, squealing hysterical wrecks, even when surrounded by the hubub and spot-lit, brash environment of a games show event. The following report details our experiences at this frontline of fear - videogaming's scariest moments, all of which come from Left 4 Dead ...
Friends, at last: we have a game in which you can kill a man with a medkit. Remember, Left 4 Dead’s hordes aren’t strictly zombies: they’re people with crazy-rabies. One shot will rip a limb clean off, but they can survive a few close-up thwacks. And every weapon and item - including medkits - has a melee attack. Indeed, our latest chance to play four-player co-op led to an emergent minigame we’re calling it Zombie ...
Poor, poor Charles Deckard. As the unenviable thief duped into opening Pandora’s Box, he’s now the unlucky bastard caught between a plague of mythical hell-beasts and two ancient, warring factions that wish to control them. A battle unlike any other is now upon us all. Minotaurs, werewolves and golems: oh my! In our last hands-on with Legendary (formerly Legendary: The Box), we bravely fought bloodthirsty griffins in the streets of ...