Anyone know when the general public gets to try out the demo? I need to see how much of an upgrade I will need and how much it will cost me. If a 360 with L4D is cheaper, then my money goes to EA this time. I know there are some UK supermarkets doing big discounts on 360s right now, but I need to see the PC demo before I can do the numbers. I'll probably need a new motherboard :/
ThansalThe New ScumJoin Date: 2002-08-22Member: 1215Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1693050:date=Nov 10 2008, 08:04 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 10 2008, 08:04 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693050"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Anyone know when the general public gets to try out the demo? I need to see how much of an upgrade I will need and how much it will cost me. If a 360 with L4D is cheaper, then my money goes to EA this time. I know there are some UK supermarkets doing big discounts on 360s right now, but I need to see the PC demo before I can do the numbers. I'll probably need a new motherboard :/<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Well, if your computer runs HL2 it should run L4D with no problem...
<!--quoteo(post=1693059:date=Nov 10 2008, 01:44 PM:name=Thansal)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Thansal @ Nov 10 2008, 01:44 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693059"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, if your computer runs HL2 it should run L4D with no problem...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Not strictly true. L4D uses more CPU power than basic HL2, it even uses more than Ep2. That's the issue for me, I have a 2.4GHz single-core processor and the minimum req. is 3.0GHz single and Dual Core recommended. I can run TF2 at more-or-less highest settings with no problems whatsoever, but L4D's AI Director and higher enemy counts make it much more hungry for processor power. I want to know exactly how hungry...
douchebagatronCustom member titleJoin Date: 2003-12-20Member: 24581Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
<!--quoteo(post=1693073:date=Nov 10 2008, 12:48 PM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 10 2008, 12:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693073"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Not strictly true. L4D uses more CPU power than basic HL2, it even uses more than Ep2. That's the issue for me, I have a 2.4GHz single-core processor and the minimum req. is 3.0GHz single and Dual Core recommended. I can run TF2 at more-or-less highest settings with no problems whatsoever, but L4D's AI Director and higher enemy counts make it much more hungry for processor power. I want to know exactly how hungry...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I believe most of the cpu computations of the ai are done serverside, so as long as you dont create a server then you should be fine.
<!--quoteo(post=1693073:date=Nov 10 2008, 06:48 PM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 10 2008, 06:48 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693073"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Not strictly true. L4D uses more CPU power than basic HL2, it even uses more than Ep2. That's the issue for me, I have a 2.4GHz single-core processor and the minimum req. is 3.0GHz single and Dual Core recommended. I can run TF2 at more-or-less highest settings with no problems whatsoever, but L4D's AI Director and higher enemy counts make it much more hungry for processor power. I want to know exactly how hungry...<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> 3.0 single is roughly equal to 1.5 dual here, I believe. I have around 2 GHz dual and it plays perfectly.
Also me and Svenpa just meleed our way through the demo, ###### YEAH! It's amazing how well it worked. Except when we tried to melee the witch, who seemed to be immune (but then so was Zoey, mysteriously), and the tank, because yeah.
Align, a friend named Hoobler and me, got a bit tired of the usual maps so we decided to spice things up a bit. We decided to melee everything, no bullets, preferably no grenades even, none were spared, boss zombies and grunts alike. We completed the first map with better health then a average run, stacking up every survivor on a spot then hammered away. Medkits, grenades and pill bottles included in our arsenal. Not much to take a screenshot at but then we got a witch sobbing near the spawn on the 2nd map, reluctant at first we avoided her but I felt no fear, a pistol whip to the face was all that was needed to get her spinning. Sadly she had a particular appetite for me and showed her appreciation by blasting me through the ticket stands. Align and Hoobler took up the fight, tears streaming down their cheeks for their fallen comrade.
Much blood was spilt, much more then anyone could possibly contain and yet the fierce deadlock continued. Seconds became minutes and the fighters weary of their index fingers, then finally succumbing to the neighbour, mr trigger finger.
The witch was no more.
They both lived happily ever after with Bill screaming from a closet as they run off in the zombie apocalypse sunset.
X_StickmanNot good enough for a custom title.Join Date: 2003-04-15Member: 15533Members, Constellation
<!--quoteo(post=1693085:date=Nov 10 2008, 07:33 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Nov 10 2008, 07:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693085"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Why is the witch dressed in almost nothing? Is she an infected lingerie model?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yup.
It's the virus mixing with the results of bulemia and anorexia that cause the Witch mutation.
AbraWould you kindlyJoin Date: 2003-08-17Member: 19870Members
edited November 2008
<!--quoteo(post=1693085:date=Nov 10 2008, 08:33 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Nov 10 2008, 08:33 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693085"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Why is the witch dressed in almost nothing? Is she an infected lingerie model?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I believe it is to enhance the initial impression: that she is a poor, defenseless, young woman. It really isn't lingerie, it's closer to being a top and panties for sleeping in. It also reveals her skinny figure, which (witch hah.) is, as Valve have spoken of in the audio comentary for TF2, a great focus point: having recognizable silhouettes.
edit:spelling is hard when your browser underlines every english word as wrong.
Graphics look horrible. -What is up with everything being shiny? A) Guy holding the shotty, palm is shiny B) Witch looks a bit shiny too as well. C) Shotgun looks leadpipe with a pump. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Shiny/shinny? Things don't make great graphics! Gah!
But graphics doesn't always equal gameplay. Remember back in the olden days? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
Yea the way you can melee entire mobs away at once is a bit imba (whether it's the angle your melee is effective at or a domino knockdown effect or a combination of boh I don't know).
Immensely satisfying but makes a joke of the game, bosses aside.
QuaunautThe longest seven days in history...Join Date: 2003-03-21Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
Just wanna say: What the ###### Valve. You once again wait till midday to release ######(MIDNIGHT WTF PLZKTHX), and now that it has been released, its been getting progressively slower of a download as the day went on. I got the first 12% in 10 minutes. After 2 hours I got to 52%. After another 45 minutes I'm at 58%. Is there a ######ing reason that your servers, every time, without fail, can't get it up? I could understand with HL2, even Episode 1. After the good launch of TOB, I would've thought it is solved.
After playing for a little while (an hour) and didn't have much fun. It's just shooting a bunch of zombies. Counterstrike zombie mode did that almost as well and that's free, not $45. If I want a game to play with my friends, TF2 is a thousand times more fun, and if I want to headshot endless noobs with a generic M4A1 for the 1000th time, I can play Counterstrike, which feels exactly like L4D. Maybe if the price drops to $15 or $20 I'll pick it up but as it stands there's no way I'd buy the full game when I don't even feel like playing any more of the demo.
Kouji_SanSr. Hινε UÏкεεÏεг - EUPT DeputyThe NetherlandsJoin Date: 2003-05-13Member: 16271Members, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue
edited November 2008
To be fair, it is the best zombie FPS survival game out there... Where most other zombie FPS mods/games end up with survivors in a room shooting at a door opening until ammo/timer runs out or on top of a tall structure, doing the same thing only now against zombies that still don't stand a chance <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Being the best zombie FPS is not saying much though, putting the main cannonfodder zombie role back in AI hands is a good step though, I don't want a default zombie hesitating to attack me!
Still I'm willing to give L4D the benefit of doubt as it still has potential if Valve in all their wisdome and playtests do the right thing like fixing the melee domino D-day effect, make hiding worth a dime and give ammo monitoring an actual part in the game (expert mode aside).
I just wanna feel like I did in Ns1.04, where a few aliens went past me in ns_eclipse and I was hiding, hoping they wouldn't spot me so I could continue to our "last stance" command console. Alas hiding in endgame NS has also been killed, because *cough* <i>players dont like long (epic) games</i> *cough*
QuaunautThe longest seven days in history...Join Date: 2003-03-21Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
edited November 2008
Yes, even slower now. ######, its been over 5 hours, and now its at 22kb, 90%. I haven't even been on the computer for 2 hours, and my bandwidth is ######ing fine.
This is bull######.
Edit: And what do you mean Tycho, your demo downloaded in 10 minutes? Thats 5000 kbps. What the ###### connection do you have?
While the demo can get old, I chalk that up to the fact that there's only two maps and no versus mode.
By doing the console commands I was able to mess around as the infected, and it seems very fun. Also, having humans play as the boss infected should drastically increase the difficulty.
This download was slow indeed, but then again I started it more or less the moment the demo became available. Many downloaders = less bandwidth for each. Fallout 3 downloaded in just about an hour, and usually I get speeds comparable to that. To me, L4D's slow download is the odd man out.
Sigh, I'd expected better of both of you. I fail to see how anyone could not have fun playing this game. I downloaded the demo as soon as it went live at over 700kB/s average. You can check the load on individual content servers <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/" target="_blank">here</a>. If those bars aren't full, the problem's on your end. Sucks to be you.
<!--quoteo(post=1693223:date=Nov 12 2008, 01:39 PM:name=Scythe)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Scythe @ Nov 12 2008, 01:39 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693223"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Tycho continues his crusade against good games!
Quaunaut complains about slow downloads!
Sigh, I'd expected better of both of you. I fail to see how anyone could not have fun playing this game. I downloaded the demo as soon as it went live at over 700kB/s average. You can check the load on individual content servers <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/" target="_blank">here</a>. If those bars aren't full, the problem's on your end. Sucks to be you.
--Scythe--<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Start being extremely objective and you will see that most games suck.
<!--quoteo(post=1693187:date=Nov 11 2008, 10:43 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TychoCelchuuu @ Nov 11 2008, 10:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693187"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->My demo downloaded in like 10 minutes.
After playing for a little while (an hour) and didn't have much fun. It's just shooting a bunch of zombies. Counterstrike zombie mode did that almost as well and that's free, not $45. If I want a game to play with my friends, TF2 is a thousand times more fun, and if I want to headshot endless noobs with a generic M4A1 for the 1000th time, I can play Counterstrike, which feels exactly like L4D. Maybe if the price drops to $15 or $20 I'll pick it up but as it stands there's no way I'd buy the full game when I don't even feel like playing any more of the demo.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->It's not like Counter-Strike, except on Expert mode where the headshotting and cautiousness do approach CS levels of pacing and twitchness. You're saying it's like Counter-Strike because the weapons are current-day and have marginal, context-sensitive accuracy modifiers. You may as well say L4D is like Far Cry 2.
The only reason I can see for you comparing it to CS is that you evidently never really liked CS enough to play it for a major amount of time, so you don't really have enough experience in CS to be able to make a valid comparison. If you don't like CS because it has guns that you can't spam forever and be 100% on target, and because you fail when you come up against people who have put in excess of 500 hours into the game, then for you L4D probably is like CS.
But if you look a bit closer into L4D you'll see that the default game mode will always give you second chances (because it's humans vs. AI and the AI Director paces the game according to your team's personal needs), there is almost no ######ing because you're all in it together, and most of the time you can just play with your friends, no other randoms required. Let's not forget the game even has difficulty levels.
By your comment, it sounds like you just don't like fast-paced FPSes with even a modicum of 'realism' to them, in which case of course you won't like L4D, being a <i>frenetic Survival Horror FPS set in the modern day</i>.
I will admit I am growing ever-more bored of the stock FPS weapons of the three-a-penny modern day shooters out there. But L4D really isn't about the weapons, L4D is about <i>moments</i>.
---
In case anyone was wondering about below-spec systems, I have the following information:
I have played the demo with the following specs, and it ran with only a few minor hiccups that I fixed by adjusting the Paged Pool Memory allocation (memory on your PC -not RAM- the game uses to handle data) both in-game and in Windows.
The only issues I had was some 'warping' of fast zombies was rushing the group; they'd disappear and reappear moments later. It's very possible this is more down to server lag than my PC, though.
<!--quoteo(post=1693226:date=Nov 12 2008, 12:49 PM:name=Svenpa)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Svenpa @ Nov 12 2008, 12:49 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693226"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Start being extremely objective and you will see that most games suck.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Isn't that kinda like saying "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist?"
(Hint: The above phrase is an extremely pessimist thing to say.)
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->It's not like Counter-Strike, except on Expert mode where the headshotting and cautiousness do approach CS levels of pacing and twitchness. You're saying it's like Counter-Strike because the weapons are current-day and have marginal, context-sensitive accuracy modifiers. You may as well say L4D is like Far Cry 2.
The only reason I can see for you comparing it to CS is that you evidently never really liked CS enough to play it for a major amount of time, so you don't really have enough experience in CS to be able to make a valid comparison. If you don't like CS because it has guns that you can't spam forever and be 100% on target, and because you fail when you come up against people who have put in excess of 500 hours into the game, then for you L4D probably is like CS.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I have played CS and CS:S for hundreds of hours and I played the original competitively for a while so I think I know what I mean when I say L4D feels like CS against zombies. This would make sense because the idea of L4D is "let's make a commercial game out of CS:S Zombies because it is so fun." I agree with this sentiment and I would say that L4D is about as fun as CS:S Zombies, only it costs lots of money and you can only play with three friends at a time. I was most definitely playing on Expert mode though, so maybe that's it. Anything lower than Expert seems like it would be hilariously easy, and mowing down waves of useless bots with three friends doesn't seem like fun so I'll probably stick to Expert.
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But if you look a bit closer into L4D you'll see that the default game mode will always give you second chances (because it's humans vs. AI and the AI Director paces the game according to your team's personal needs), there is almost no ######ing because you're all in it together, and most of the time you can just play with your friends, no other randoms required. Let's not forget the game even has difficulty levels.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> None of that really sounds like it's worth $45. "You can screw up and keep playing instead of waiting a round like in Counterstrike." "Nobody is a jerk" (which I sincerely doubt, although even if that's true there aren't really a ton of jerks in CS who don't just get kicked by the admin). "You can play with just your friends" doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me; four of my friends on a pub server in CS is basically just me, my friends, and a bunch of teammates we ignore, or in some cases who become new friends. And in CS I can fit a fourth friend. "The game has difficulty levels." Big deal; if I can clear Expert on my first time through I imagine the lower levels aren't that glamorous.
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->By your comment, it sounds like you just don't like fast-paced FPSes with even a modicum of 'realism' to them, in which case of course you won't like L4D, being a <i>frenetic Survival Horror FPS set in the modern day</i>.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I like Battlefield 2, Counterstrike, Counterstrike: Source, Insurgency, The Specialists, Ghost Recon, Rainbow 6, SWAT 4, Call of Duty 4 a little although not enough to buy it and the single player sucks, Max Payne, Max Payne 2, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, and Revolt: The Decimation. Last I checked those are all first person shooters that are slow to fast paced and have a modicum to a lot of realism.
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I will admit I am growing ever-more bored of the stock FPS weapons of the three-a-penny modern day shooters out there. But L4D really isn't about the weapons, L4D is about <i>moments</i>.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Boring ones!
Comments
Well, if your computer runs HL2 it should run L4D with no problem...
I believe most of the cpu computations of the ai are done serverside, so as long as you dont create a server then you should be fine.
3.0 single is roughly equal to 1.5 dual here, I believe. I have around 2 GHz dual and it plays perfectly.
Also me and Svenpa just meleed our way through the demo, ###### YEAH! It's amazing how well it worked. Except when we tried to melee the witch, who seemed to be immune (but then so was Zoey, mysteriously), and the tank, because yeah.
<img src="http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/1563/l4ddemhospital02subway0uu7.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5440/l4ddemhospital02subway0bd7.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/7821/l4ddemhospital02subway0vm2.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
<img src="http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/1127/l4ddemhospital02subway0qc1.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
Much blood was spilt, much more then anyone could possibly contain and yet the fierce deadlock continued. Seconds became minutes and the fighters weary of their index fingers, then finally succumbing to the neighbour, mr trigger finger.
The witch was no more.
They both lived happily ever after with Bill screaming from a closet as they run off in the zombie apocalypse sunset.
Edit: DAMN STRAIGHT
Yup.
It's the virus mixing with the results of bulemia and anorexia that cause the Witch mutation.
I believe it is to enhance the initial impression: that she is a poor, defenseless, young woman. It really isn't lingerie, it's closer to being a top and panties for sleeping in. It also reveals her skinny figure, which (witch hah.) is, as Valve have spoken of in the audio comentary for TF2, a great focus point: having recognizable silhouettes.
edit:spelling is hard when your browser underlines every english word as wrong.
Graphics look horrible.
-What is up with everything being shiny?
A) Guy holding the shotty, palm is shiny
B) Witch looks a bit shiny too as well.
C) Shotgun looks leadpipe with a pump. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
Shiny/shinny? Things don't make great graphics! Gah!
But graphics doesn't always equal gameplay. Remember back in the olden days? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
clearly.
Immensely satisfying but makes a joke of the game, bosses aside.
Yeah, guess the ###### not.
After playing for a little while (an hour) and didn't have much fun. It's just shooting a bunch of zombies. Counterstrike zombie mode did that almost as well and that's free, not $45. If I want a game to play with my friends, TF2 is a thousand times more fun, and if I want to headshot endless noobs with a generic M4A1 for the 1000th time, I can play Counterstrike, which feels exactly like L4D. Maybe if the price drops to $15 or $20 I'll pick it up but as it stands there's no way I'd buy the full game when I don't even feel like playing any more of the demo.
Being the best zombie FPS is not saying much though, putting the main cannonfodder zombie role back in AI hands is a good step though, I don't want a default zombie hesitating to attack me!
Still I'm willing to give L4D the benefit of doubt as it still has potential if Valve in all their wisdome and playtests do the right thing like fixing the melee domino D-day effect, make hiding worth a dime and give ammo monitoring an actual part in the game (expert mode aside).
I just wanna feel like I did in Ns1.04, where a few aliens went past me in ns_eclipse and I was hiding, hoping they wouldn't spot me so I could continue to our "last stance" command console. Alas hiding in endgame NS has also been killed, because *cough* <i>players dont like long (epic) games</i> *cough*
This is bull######.
Edit: And what do you mean Tycho, your demo downloaded in 10 minutes? Thats 5000 kbps. What the ###### connection do you have?
By doing the console commands I was able to mess around as the infected, and it seems very fun. Also, having humans play as the boss infected should drastically increase the difficulty.
Quaunaut complains about slow downloads!
Sigh, I'd expected better of both of you. I fail to see how anyone could not have fun playing this game. I downloaded the demo as soon as it went live at over 700kB/s average. You can check the load on individual content servers <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/" target="_blank">here</a>. If those bars aren't full, the problem's on your end. Sucks to be you.
--Scythe--
Quaunaut complains about slow downloads!
Sigh, I'd expected better of both of you. I fail to see how anyone could not have fun playing this game. I downloaded the demo as soon as it went live at over 700kB/s average. You can check the load on individual content servers <a href="http://store.steampowered.com/stats/content/" target="_blank">here</a>. If those bars aren't full, the problem's on your end. Sucks to be you.
--Scythe--<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Start being extremely objective and you will see that most games suck.
After playing for a little while (an hour) and didn't have much fun. It's just shooting a bunch of zombies. Counterstrike zombie mode did that almost as well and that's free, not $45. If I want a game to play with my friends, TF2 is a thousand times more fun, and if I want to headshot endless noobs with a generic M4A1 for the 1000th time, I can play Counterstrike, which feels exactly like L4D. Maybe if the price drops to $15 or $20 I'll pick it up but as it stands there's no way I'd buy the full game when I don't even feel like playing any more of the demo.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->It's not like Counter-Strike, except on Expert mode where the headshotting and cautiousness do approach CS levels of pacing and twitchness. You're saying it's like Counter-Strike because the weapons are current-day and have marginal, context-sensitive accuracy modifiers. You may as well say L4D is like Far Cry 2.
The only reason I can see for you comparing it to CS is that you evidently never really liked CS enough to play it for a major amount of time, so you don't really have enough experience in CS to be able to make a valid comparison. If you don't like CS because it has guns that you can't spam forever and be 100% on target, and because you fail when you come up against people who have put in excess of 500 hours into the game, then for you L4D probably is like CS.
But if you look a bit closer into L4D you'll see that the default game mode will always give you second chances (because it's humans vs. AI and the AI Director paces the game according to your team's personal needs), there is almost no ######ing because you're all in it together, and most of the time you can just play with your friends, no other randoms required. Let's not forget the game even has difficulty levels.
By your comment, it sounds like you just don't like fast-paced FPSes with even a modicum of 'realism' to them, in which case of course you won't like L4D, being a <i>frenetic Survival Horror FPS set in the modern day</i>.
I will admit I am growing ever-more bored of the stock FPS weapons of the three-a-penny modern day shooters out there. But L4D really isn't about the weapons, L4D is about <i>moments</i>.
---
In case anyone was wondering about below-spec systems, I have the following information:
I have played the demo with the following specs, and it ran with only a few minor hiccups that I fixed by adjusting the Paged Pool Memory allocation (memory on your PC -not RAM- the game uses to handle data) both in-game and in Windows.
CPU: Athlon 64 3800+ (single-core 2.4GHz)
GFX: Radeon x1900 XT (256MB)
RAM: Corsair 3GB (2x512MB paired, 2x1024MB paired)
OS: WinXP Home
The only issues I had was some 'warping' of fast zombies was rushing the group; they'd disappear and reappear moments later. It's very possible this is more down to server lag than my PC, though.
Isn't that kinda like saying "I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist?"
(Hint: The above phrase is an extremely pessimist thing to say.)
The only reason I can see for you comparing it to CS is that you evidently never really liked CS enough to play it for a major amount of time, so you don't really have enough experience in CS to be able to make a valid comparison. If you don't like CS because it has guns that you can't spam forever and be 100% on target, and because you fail when you come up against people who have put in excess of 500 hours into the game, then for you L4D probably is like CS.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I have played CS and CS:S for hundreds of hours and I played the original competitively for a while so I think I know what I mean when I say L4D feels like CS against zombies. This would make sense because the idea of L4D is "let's make a commercial game out of CS:S Zombies because it is so fun." I agree with this sentiment and I would say that L4D is about as fun as CS:S Zombies, only it costs lots of money and you can only play with three friends at a time. I was most definitely playing on Expert mode though, so maybe that's it. Anything lower than Expert seems like it would be hilariously easy, and mowing down waves of useless bots with three friends doesn't seem like fun so I'll probably stick to Expert.
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->But if you look a bit closer into L4D you'll see that the default game mode will always give you second chances (because it's humans vs. AI and the AI Director paces the game according to your team's personal needs), there is almost no ######ing because you're all in it together, and most of the time you can just play with your friends, no other randoms required. Let's not forget the game even has difficulty levels.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
None of that really sounds like it's worth $45. "You can screw up and keep playing instead of waiting a round like in Counterstrike." "Nobody is a jerk" (which I sincerely doubt, although even if that's true there aren't really a ton of jerks in CS who don't just get kicked by the admin). "You can play with just your friends" doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me; four of my friends on a pub server in CS is basically just me, my friends, and a bunch of teammates we ignore, or in some cases who become new friends. And in CS I can fit a fourth friend. "The game has difficulty levels." Big deal; if I can clear Expert on my first time through I imagine the lower levels aren't that glamorous.
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->By your comment, it sounds like you just don't like fast-paced FPSes with even a modicum of 'realism' to them, in which case of course you won't like L4D, being a <i>frenetic Survival Horror FPS set in the modern day</i>.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I like Battlefield 2, Counterstrike, Counterstrike: Source, Insurgency, The Specialists, Ghost Recon, Rainbow 6, SWAT 4, Call of Duty 4 a little although not enough to buy it and the single player sucks, Max Payne, Max Payne 2, STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl, and Revolt: The Decimation. Last I checked those are all first person shooters that are slow to fast paced and have a modicum to a lot of realism.
<!--quoteo(post=1693227:date=Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM:name=Crispy)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Crispy @ Nov 12 2008, 06:02 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1693227"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I will admit I am growing ever-more bored of the stock FPS weapons of the three-a-penny modern day shooters out there. But L4D really isn't about the weapons, L4D is about <i>moments</i>.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Boring ones!