Recent reviews by Mkinger25

Labeling as received for free, as all my playtime was from the free weekend.

This game has enough potential that I do see it doing well, but only if they buff out the kinks it has. This, as I'm sure you've noticed, is a L4D clone.

The Good: The main difference from most clones is that this game keeps very similar to L4D, which is a good thing. The main appeal that keeps L4D2 alive right now is that it is a pickup and play game. Haven't played in over 10 years? You can start L4D2 back on expert mode, whether on the same account or a new one, and it would be the same experience. No need to level up, no forced tutorial. This game gets that right. The atmosphere and environment of the game is great. It really felt like the setting is a place people lived in. There are chairs and tables thrown about. Bathrooms and dorms show evidence people were still in them. You can feel the place used to be alive. The gameplay deviations that are most notable from L4D2 is that the guns are different. There seems to be 3 weapon slots. Primary, pistol, and special. There are 3 base primaries: an smg, a laser/plasma rifle, and a shotgun (essentially). The primaries have 4 attachments that change based on floor loot to keep things interesting, such as overcharged for faster shooting or the receiver delivering energy crystals instead of plasma. There is only 1 pistol, period. The special weapon is a large hitter like a sentry or minigun that you can't replenish ammo on. There are also matter compilers that add 1 special upgrade when found, encouraging exploration. There's anti-speedrun measures in that there are objectives that need either 2 or all players present to proceed, so flying past your teammates through a level will only get you so far.

The Bad: This game has, like, no direction when you're walking around. If you use quickplay and haven't played all the episodes yet, you will get tossed into a random mission and be completely lost. Characters don't really talk about the objective much, and oddly enough, the objectives are always something rather than "escape" so they DO actually have a goal in mind, but you won't really know unless you started the game from the beginning of the episode. It's downright confusing at first to do quickplay. Speaking of communication, the game doesn't give audio cues that someone is incapacitated. The best they give you is a text box at the top of your screen and someone calmly saying they're taken. A unique audio cue for when you're grabbed or downed would help keep people informed A LOT. I had too many times when someone was gooed and most of the team didn't know, as a brute was nearby. Who looks at the top of the screen when there are 100 aliens running at you? Additionally, for sound design, most L4D clones fail at making getting hit noticeable and this is no exception. I can never really tell when I get hit which is important in this game as the aliens move FAST, so knowing if the movement I do is working or if I'm eating claws is important. There's barely any visual feedback and NO sound feedback at all. That is a major flaw to me, as it is why I don't really return to Back4Blood. The zombies there will claw at you freely, but your character doesn't flinch, and the zombies aren't slowed down at all from ripping flesh.

The Ugly: If you're on PC, and you don't immediately start your games by B-lining to the settings for graphics and key bindings, then you should probably make that a habit. This game's default settings are a bit weird. Most complaints of the game are of the audio (from what I've seen), but many of them are not as bad when you realize the game's default volume is 65%. Not 75%, not 100%, 65%. The game at 100% volume is already pretty quiet, but I couldn't imagine trying to hear ANYTHING at 65%. There is an accessibility setting that makes a special enemy's attack (the Flasher, who makes your view too bright to see enemies) less intense. If getting flash banged in a fps is not really an issue to you, turn it off. It's part of the experience to have it on, but if you have a reason to keep it off, please do. The setting to reduce it is just on by default. Tutorial hints are on by default, but they are WAY too informative. It would constantly tell me about things I can pick up and highlight it for me, like I was 10 years old, and it was my first real video game. I recommend turning it off after your first playthrough.

I enjoyed the game time I had to play, there are issues with it, but they're not within the mechanics making it very possible to iron out the issues people have. I recommend it if you need a breath of fresh air, also there's no text chat as I can see from when I posted this.