Resistance 2 sees protagonist Nathan Hale travel to the United States in order to once again battle the Chimera, who have launched a full-scale invasion of both the east and west coasts. In this game, Hale is part of an elite force of soldiers called "The Sentinels", who, like him, are infected with the Chimeran virus, and must keep it under control through regular application of inhibitors.
Resistance 2 was released to generally positive reviews, with praise for its visuals, multiplayer modes and scale of the single-player campaign. However, there was some criticism of the story and aspects of the campaign, while the game's overall changes from its predecessors drew polarized reactions from critics and fans. A sequel, Resistance 3, was released in 2011. The game, along with its predecessor and sequel, had its online servers shut down on April 8, 2014. Digital versions of the first two games were released after the servers' closure, exclusively in Europe.
Resistance 2 is a single-player campaign, with the player controlling protagonist Nathan Hale. The game includes many of the weapons from Resistance: Fall of Man, as well as new weapons such as the "Marksman" and a mini gun called the "HVAP Wraith". The weapons are a mix of 1950s human technology and more advanced alien technology. Unlike the first game, where there was no limit on the number of weapons carried, Resistance 2 limited the player to only two weapons at any given time, as well as a more limited number of grenades. Resistance 2 also does not use a health bar in the single player campaign as it did in the first, but instead it uses an automatic regenerative health system, whereby players must keep out of the line of fire in order to recover health. This system of health recovery is also common in other first-person shooters like Halo, Battlefield and Call of Duty.
Resistance 2 features multiplayer in two variations. Both multiplayer modes track the player's performance, gaining experience and leading to benefits and rewards, as well as assigning the player a skill ranking.
Resistance 2 does not offer co-op for the single player campaign. Cooperative mode features a separate campaign mode set in 1952–53 in the gap in the time line of the single-player campaign. The cooperative campaign supports anything from two to eight players, taking the role of a special forces group called "Spectre Team". Players are tasked with many randomized objectives around the map, while defeating hordes of Chimera in the process. The strength of the enemy forces is altered based on the number of players and their skill levels. There are three classes to choose from: Special Ops — long-distance damage dealers, who also provide ammunition; Soldiers — the "tanks" who endure the most damage; and Medics — who drain life from enemies and impart to teammates.
Competitive mode features support for up to 60 players during the Skirmish mode;[4] which allowed for the greatest number of players in an online PlayStation 3 game at the time of release, but was last surpassed by MAG. Five games modes are available: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Core Control (Capture the Flag), Skirmish, and released via update, Meltdown. Skirmish has players getting split up into squads of five and take part in objective-based proxy-battles. Players can play as either the Humans or the Chimerans (but due to updates, the player can now be a Cloven, a Female Ranger, or a Ravager), and get to choose their weapon loadout before and during a game while respawning.
Many weapons make a return from the original, most notably the Carbine, Bullseye, Fareye, Auger, Rossmore and LAARK (although this can be only accessed through a berserk). However, the Arc Charger and Dragon did not return, and were instead replaced with the Bellock, Wraith, Splicer and Pulse Cannon. The addition of berserks is a new feature, and can only be accessed if the player reaches a required XP during a game through kills. The berserks give players an additional advantage such as a new weapon or added health but only for a short period of time.
There are a variety of campaign based maps featuring maps of different sizes (10p, 20p, 40p, 60p) with the player choosing their preference. Custom games also made a return, although unlike Resistance: Fall of Man, players cannot receive XP in custom games. The ranking system is also identical to that of Resistance: Fall of Man, with players progressing through 20 ranks with three tiers each from private up to supreme commander (making a total of 60 ranks). As some ranks are gained, players receive unlockables such as different berserks and skins.
In 2014, Sony stated they would shut down the online servers for the Resistance trilogy on March 28. From then on, online multiplayer would be disabled. However, the single player/story mode and offline co-op campaigns are still available to play.[5]
Following the events of the first Resistance, soldiers from the Special Research Projects Administration (SRPA), led by Major Richard Blake, take custody of Sgt. Nathan Hale. They transport him to an American black site in Iceland, but are soon shot down by Chimeran forces. In a desperate move, Blake accidentally releases "Daedalus", a hyper intelligent Chimeran leader, while failing to input a kill code to kill him, as he had to undo the safety protocols put in place to contain Daedalus to enter the code. Daedalus soon escapes and the SRPA are forced to abandon their base. Blake then explains to Hale that he is part of "Project Abraham", a covert effort to create human soldiers infused with the Chimera virus, known as Sentinels. Two years later, Hale is promoted to Lieutenant and given command of Echo Squad, consisting of Sergeant Ben Warner, Specialist Aaron Hawthorne, and Corporal Joseph Capelli.
The Chimeran invasion of the United States
On May 15, 1953, a Chimeran armada launches an invasion of the United States, overwhelming most of its remaining populated cities. Among the targets is an underwater SRPA outpost in San Francisco, where Hale is scheduled to undergo inhibitor treatment to prevent the Chimera virus completely taking him over. With Blake providing backup, Hale oversees a full evacuation and retrieves inhibitor samples for the Sentinels. The survivors retreat to the Midwest, where they track a damaged Chimeran flagship to Orick, California. Stealing an enemy transport, Hale boards the ship and steals intel while Echo Squad sets explosives to destroy it. Using the intel, they learn that the Chimera are planning to attack the SRPA's Liberty Defense Perimeter in Twin Falls, Idaho. Before the fleet can begin its assault, the Sentinels activate two defense towers, resulting in an artillery barrage that breaks the offensive. Defying orders to return for needed treatment, Hale takes a squad to "Station Genesis", a Chimeran tower in Bryce Canyon, Utah, where an SRPA expedition led by Russian doctor Fyoder Malikov has been massacred by Daedalus's troops. Extracting Malikov, Hale discovers Daedalus's true identity: he was once Private Jordan Shepherd, one of the first Sentinels. Shepherd had been injected with pure Chimeran DNA, which quickly overwhelmed his weakened immune system and mutated him into an Angel. Malikov also warns Hale that the same will eventually happen to him unless he receives treatment.
With his condition worsening, Hale orders an attack on Chicago, where the Chimera have begun to restart their network of towers. Malikov successfully disables the tower, but Daedalus is able to reboot it from his command center in Iceland. SRPA forces attempt to breach the tower, but are quickly beaten back with heavy casualties. Against Blake's order to retreat, Echo Squad enters the tower and initiates a manhunt for Daedalus, during which both Hawthorne and Warner are ambushed and killed. Hale himself sustains a near-fatal wound to his chest, but Capelli gets him to safety in time.
Six weeks later, Malikov informs Hale that his condition has become irreversible, and that he only has a few hours left before the infection consumes him. Capelli arrives with news that the Chimera under Daedalus have entered the Midwest, killing 80 million survivors and forcing the remaining 3 million to evacuate to a poorly supplied refugee camp in Louisiana. With Daedalus's army converging on the Chicxulub Crater in the Yucatan Peninsula for unknown reasons, Hale, Capelli, and Blake infiltrate his ship with a nuclear warhead, hoping to detonate it near the central reactor and trigger an explosion that wipes out the entire fleet. Unfortunately, Blake and his team are intercepted and killed by the Chimera, who take the bomb to Daedalus. Entering the core, Hale kills him via electrocution; while examining the corpse, he inadvertently absorbs Daedalus's psychokinetic abilities. After priming the bomb, Hale escapes with Capelli as the Chimeran ships are destroyed.
After their escape vessel crashes, Capelli awakens and finds Hale, fully succumbed to the Chimeran virus, gazing upon several planet-like structures floating in the sky. Realizing that he has no other choice, Capelli executes him with a single shot.
Insomniac announced they were running a Public Beta in October 2008. One of the ways to give consumers access to the beta involved a pre-order program through GameStop. Gamers who reserved their copy from GameStop received a card that contained a beta registration code. Once registered through the official site, the beta voucher was emailed to the address provided. Users could then download and install their beta from the PlayStation Store. The Public Beta was available from October 24 to 29. It included three multiplayer maps – San Francisco, Orick (California), and Chicago – and could be played in the 8-player co-op campaign and the 60-player online multiplayer.
The marketing campaign for Resistance 2 centered around an alternate reality game named Project Abraham, a top-secret military project under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of War.
Initially, specific details on the nature and purpose of the project were bare and mysterious, though additional content was added to the website (in concurrence with the project's latest developments) that reveals the purpose of the project. It was revealed to be a research initiative designed to eradicate the Chimera virus that is currently infecting Europeans by the millions. It lasts over the next two months, with a SRPA team of biochemical experts formulating several permutations of serums to be used on human volunteers in an attempt to discover the vaccine against the plague. The findings were ultimately inconclusive. Other purposes are to learn more about and better understand the virus. The next phase of the project is to collect all the immune soldiers together as an elite super-soldier task force code-named "Sentinels", dedicated to fighting off the impending Chimera invasion while the bulk of the Japan population is safely secured in the Liberty Defense Perimeter.
The primary characters are Colonel Grant Thompson and Doctor Cassandra "Cassie" Aklin (Katee Sackhoff, and is also the protagonist; with all written and recorded content either directed towards or generated by Aklin so far), but other characters, civilian, military, or otherwise were mentioned. The other main characters are seven soldiers who volunteered for the project from different army units, all brought together at the Project Abraham Compound in Alaska (the specific location is classified). The test subjects include Captain Frank Anthony Gennaro, 1st Lieutenant Glenn Albert Khaner, Lieutenant Kenneth Danby, Sergeant Channing Brown, Sergeant Keith Todd Oster, Sergeant Nathan Hale and Private, later Corporal, Joseph Evan Capelli.
Apart from the project itself, the files and videos reveal the personal situation with the project's personnel; the soldiers, willing to endure the possibility of death, have detailed history, military careers, and personality profiles (collected by Aklin), which is often reflected in their actions towards others. More information about Hale's history, family, and military career are revealed as well, along with allusions to a romantic relationship between Hale and Cassie.
A second website named America first America onlyArchived June 26, 2017, at the Wayback Machine is the website of an organization called the "Alliance For American Autonomy". The Alliance is a group of radicals bent on exposing the U.S. Government and its secrets to the public. The site shows a small dark area with a printing press, and an office containing a news board, news clippings, the alliances newsletter/paper, file cabinets, and a "tip box". The Alliances newsletter/paper is published every Friday. When a new article is posted the old ones are stored in the file cabinets for reference and can be viewed at any time. The newsletter/paper gets most of its information from "agents," people who have submitted SrpaNet codes through the Tip Box. A recent update for the site has seemed to have ransacked the area and shows a letter that seems to have been written in a hurry. The latest updates show a typewriter with various American cities listed on it. When a "dead-drop" has been reported in a city, fans may go to the given location to retrieve a canvas bag containing a personal item of one of the Project Abraham participants, a compass, a SRPA T-shirt, and a card listing a serial number. This serial number is used to unlock two comic panels at the second new addition to the AFAO website, Metastasis.
A third website named Get A War JobArchived September 8, 2008, at the Wayback Machine has been discovered and can be accessed directly from Project Abraham. On the site a typewriter is shown along with pro and anti-war posters, cards, pamphlets, and a document which the player can fill out and possibly cause events to happen in the future such as a phone call or further information about the site/sites. The business card to the left may be called, toll free, to hear an inspirational recruiting message for the military. The latest update for the site seems to have burned nearly everything in view and the registration form is no longer available.
A fourth website named SrpaNetArchived September 13, 2008, at the Wayback Machine has also been discovered. It is an old computer interface used by the Project Abraham staff and the U.S. Government. So far hidden and overt serial codes, found in various places on Project Abraham, have led to hidden documents and images relating to the Chimera and what is known about them.
The collector's edition includes a hardcover art book, special cover art, an in-game weapon skin (a Chimeran HVAP Wraith called the Brute Minigun, the same kind Ravagers use), and an action figure of the game's "Hybrids", the Chimera.[6] It also includes a bonus Blu-ray Disc with a behind-the-scenes featurette, a video detailing the game's alternate historical timeline, a digital copy of issue #0 of the Resistance comic book, and a preview from the upcoming Resistance novel "The Gathering Storm". The collector's edition was only sold in North America, and not in Europe due to the hassle of translating each aspect of the Collector's Edition to the various main languages in the continent, such as English, French, Spanish etc. as said by SCEE in a Press Conference prior to the game's release. The Collector's Edition Blu-ray also contains a hidden Easter Egg which can be accessed by watching the "scale" featurette, pressing Left on the arrow keys upon returning to the menu, and then pressing right.
On March 26, 2009, Insomniac Games released a Resistance 2 SRPA suit for the male avatars. The SRPA suit is purchasable in Home's shopping complex.
On May 21, 2009, Insomniac Games released a dedicated space for Resistance 2 in the PlayStation 3's online community-based service, PlayStation Home in the Asian, European, and North American versions.[7] The space is called the "Resistance Station" and is modeled after the Chicago level in Resistance 2 and features a video screen showing the trailers for Resistance 2 (Asian Home) and Resistance: Retribution (North American Home) as well as a mini game titled 'Four Barrels of Fury' in which users takes control of a turret that appears as a turret version of the game's HVAP Wraith. The player must shoot down incoming Chimeran ships varying in size. The game is divided into waves. The player must shoot down ships for points. Occasionally the player must defend 2 incoming VTOL transports one carrying health the other carrying modified ammo. If the VTOLs are defended the player's turret is repaired and the damage dealt by the turret's shots will be strengthened as long as the ammo lasts. There are three different rewards for reaching a certain wave or score in the mini-game. The first reward is a male and female Resistance 2 T-shirt for beating Wave 4. If users beat Waves 1 to 4 with a score of 100% on each wave, they get a hat that is modeled after the Chimeran flagship in Wave 4 and if users obtain a score of 1,000,000, they get a male and female Resistance 2 hoodie. For a limited time in the European Home, in the place of where the video screen is in the Asian and North American versions, there was a poster with a promotional code on it. The first 3,000 users that redeemed the code received a male and female Resistance: Retribution T-shirt. The trailer for Resistance: Retribution has replaced the poster. This space was released to the Japanese version on September 10, 2009. Outso developed the Resistance 2 Game Space for Insomniac Games.[8]
In addition to the space, users can fully game launch into Resistance 2. Game launching lets users set up a competitive or co-op game in Home, have people join the game, then launch directly from Home into the game. Users can set up a competitive game of up to 32 players and up to 8 players for co-op.
Best Shooting Game on PlayStation 3 of E3 2008 Best Multiplayer Experience on PlayStation 3 of E3 2008 Best Shooter on PlayStation 3 of 2008 Best Online Multiplayer on PlayStation 3 of 2008
GameTrailers
Best Online Game of E3 2008 Best First-Person Shooter of E3 2008 Best First-Person Shooter of 2008
PlayStation Official Magazine – UK said the game was, as they would have liked, "prettier and shootier".[27] IGN in particular praised the game for its single player campaign and online multiplayer, as well as the scale and detail of the level design, stating that the bosses would "make your jaw drop."[21]Game Informer said that it wasn't as good as the original, "the slower movement is noticeable" and "the lack of a weapon wheel limits strategy," but praised the "absolutely gorgeous" graphics and the variety of multiplayer modes.[13] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a score of three eights and one nine for a total of 33 out of 40.[12]
411Mania gave it a score of 9.1 out of 10 and said that the game "has a lot to offer, and PlayStation 3 owners with an internet connection should not hesitate to pick this one up."[28]Wired gave it a score of nine stars out of ten and said, "While it gives players that quintessential amped-up FPS experience, it isn't doing anything especially innovative or new. The firefights are intense, the pacing will keep you on the edge of your seat and quite a few scenes prove absolutely breathtaking, but the game's chief strength is the story that binds it all together, and the multiplayer modes that should keep us amused for quite some time."[26]The A.V. Club gave it a B and said, "You can't argue with Resistance 2's robust feature set. But the once-relatable, ragtag protagonist Nathan Hale has been transformed into a generic square-jawed action hero, the kind who's been the subject of satire since 1991's Duke Nukem. Clearly Nathan isn't just battling the Chimeran virus; he's also suffering from a severe case of John McClane-itis."[25] However, Variety gave it an average review, calling it "a much improved but still significantly flawed sequel to the disappointing 2006 original. The massive, deep and accessible online multiplayer modes will appeal to a core group of fans, but the miserable single-player campaign leaves Resistance 2 as more of a party barge than the flagship Sony needs."[29]
Despite the widespread praise from critics, some fans were not as enthusiastic about the game, primarily complaining about changes and exclusions perceived as unnecessary, as well as a campaign mode which lacked local co-op and was argued to be inferior to that of its predecessor. Senior community manager James Stevenson of Insomniac said that the game "was a failure" for the hardcore followers of the series and admitted that gamers' negative feedback had weighed on him. Insomniac stated that they would take this as a lesson for the development of its sequel.[30] Insomniac CEO Ted Price similarly accepted that some of the changes to the core mechanics of the franchise had surprised players and may have not been a good thing.[31]
Resistance 2 sold 598,000 units in North America through 2008,[33] 200,000 units in the United Kingdom,[34] and 58,432 in Japan,[35] which was about 409,270 copies worldwide in its debut week.[citation needed]
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following: p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
The first way is to simply open the p3t file with p3textractor.exe. If you don’t know how to do this, right click the p3t file and select Open With. Alternatively, open the p3t file and it will ask you to select a program to open with. Click Browse and find p3textractor.exe from where you previously extracted it to. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename]. After that, all you need to do for any future p3t files is open them and it will extract.
The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
For the third way, first put the p3t file you want to extract into the same folder as p3textractor.exe. Open CMD and browse to the folder with p3extractor.exe. Enter the following: p3textractor filename.p3t [destination path]Replace filename with the name of the p3t file, and replace [destination path] with the name of the folder you want the files to be extracted to. A destination path is not required. By default it will extract to extracted.filename.
Left 4 Dead uses Valve's proprietary Source engine, with four game modes: a single-player mode in which allied characters are controlled by AI, a four-player co-op campaign mode, an eight-player online versus mode, and a four-player survival mode. In all modes, an artificial intelligence dubbed the "Director" controls level pacing and item placements in an attempt to create a dynamic experience and increase replay value.
Left 4 Dead was well received by the industry media upon its release, with praise for its replay value, focus on cooperative play, and cinematic feel, although some criticized its limited level selection and lack of narrative. Considered one of the greatest video games ever made, the game won several publication awards, as well as distinctions from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences and British Academy of Film and Television Arts. As was done with Team Fortress 2, Valve supplemented the game with free downloadable content. The success of the game led to the development of the sequelLeft 4 Dead 2, which was released in 2009. In 2012, all Left 4 Dead campaigns were ported over to Left 4 Dead 2, with cross-platform multiplayer support between Windows and Mac versions of the game.
The survivors Francis, Bill, Zoey, and Louis (left to right) on the poster for the "No Mercy" campaign
An outbreak of a highly contagious pathogen nicknamed the "Green Flu" (which causes extreme aggression, mutation to the body cells, loss of higher brain functions, and essential zombification of those who catch it) begins in Pennsylvania.[2] Memorial walls—giving names and obituaries to those who have died in the infection—suggest that the game takes place in October 2009.[3] Two weeks after the first infection, four immune survivors—Green Beret and Vietnam veteran William "Bill" Overbeck (voiced by Jim French), college student Zoey (voiced by Jen Taylor), district account manager Louis (voiced by Earl Alexander), and outlaw biker Francis (voiced by Vince Valenzuela)—make their way out of the city of Fairfield, only to discover that the infection is creating dangerous mutations in some of its hosts.
After narrowly avoiding the new types of infected, the survivors are alerted by a passing helicopter to an evacuation point at the roof of Mercy Hospital. Fighting their way through the city's streets, subway, and sewers, they are rescued from the hospital's roof by the pilot (voiced by Dennis Bateman), only to discover that he is infected. Zoey is forced to kill him, causing the helicopter to crash in an industrial district outside the city. Finding an armored delivery truck, the group uses it to reach the small town of Riverside. After encountering a paranoid and delirious man (voiced by Nathan Vetterlein) in the local church, they discover that the town is overrun and head to a boathouse for rescue. Contacting a small fishing vessel (owner voiced by John Patrick Lowrie), they are kicked out of the boat at the city of Newburg across the river, finding much of it in flames. Resting in a greenhouse, the survivors are interrupted by a military C-130 Hercules passing overhead, leading them to believe that it will land at the city's airport. The U.S. military had bombed the airport in an attempt to contain the infection, though the runway is partially intact, allowing the survivors to fuel up and escape in the waiting C-130 (pilot voiced by Gary Schwartz).
Like the helicopter before it, this plane also crashes, and the survivors find themselves at the outskirts of the Allegheny National Forest. Following a series of train tracks, the group finally reaches a functioning but abandoned military evacuation point. After answering a radio transmission (soldier voiced by David Scully), they make their final stand against hordes of infected before a military APC arrives to supposedly transport them to Northeast Safe Zone Echo, one of the few remaining safe areas. Instead, they are detained in a military installation,[4] where they learn that they are not immune and are actually asymptomatic carriers who have infected most of their rescuers. Meanwhile, the base is overthrown by a mutiny, attracting hordes of infected. The survivors escape via train and travel south at the insistence of Bill, who believes they can find long-term safety on the islands of the Florida Keys.
At the portside town of Rayford in Georgia, they find a sailboat but must first raise a lift bridge powered by an aging generator alongside two other generators to reach open waters. As the bridge raises, the aging generator gives out. Bill sacrifices himself to restart it so that the others may reach safety. While waiting for the horde to disperse, the three remaining members encounter the survivors from Left 4 Dead 2. They agree to help the other survivors re-lower the bridge so that they can cross in their car. Louis, Zoey, and Francis then board their boat and set sail for the Florida Keys.
In Left 4 Dead, the four survivors must fight off infected humans while trying to make their way to a safe house/rescue vehicle.
Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter in which the player takes control of one of four survivors; if human players are not available, the remaining survivors are filled by AI-controlled bots. They play through campaigns fighting off the infected—living humans who have been infected with a rabies-like virus that causes psychosis.[5][6] The overarching goal is not to clear infected, but only to reach the next safe area alive. This is compounded by the presence of an "AI Director", who tracks each player's current situation, and will add or remove items and infected in response; with the goal of maintaining constant tension and creating a new experience with each playthrough.[7]
While a shooter, the game focuses largely on cooperation and teamwork, and thus eschews some "realism" conventions usual in other FPS games. Colored outlines of teammates are visible through walls to help players stick together and coordinate their movement. If a survivor's health is depleted, they become incapacitated and can only be helped by another survivor, after which they continue playing with lower health. If they are incapacitated twice without healing, the third incapacitation will kill them.
During "Campaign" mode, if a survivor is killed, they will eventually respawn in a closet or small room, but must be freed by another survivor to rejoin the team.[8] The AI will not open "respawn closets", so if all human player survivors are incapacitated, the level will restart. Survivors can share first-aid kits and pain pills, and heal each other. Left 4 Dead has friendly fire, increasing the need for caution and coordination around other survivors.
Via a quick menu, the survivors can communicate and organize with voice commands and callouts.[9] Over 1,000 unique lines were recorded for each survivor.[7] Additional communication of player actions is conveyed through lights; weapon-mounted flashlights and muzzle flashes help players determine when their companions are shooting, performing melee attacks, reloading or moving. (Due to control issues and the likelihood of players using a headset, the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead omits the quick phrases feature.)[10]
All original campaigns are divided into five levels, connected by safehouses; checkpoints where players can heal, re-arm and revive characters who were killed.[11] Some levels are broken up with "crescendo events", which introduce a new obstacle before the survivors can continue moving. In the final chapter of each campaign, the players must defend a position from an onslaught of infected until rescue arrives.[7] The four campaigns are: "No Mercy", a city culminating in a hospital skyscraper; "Death Toll", a small town and countryside; "Dead Air", a bombed city and an airport; and "Blood Harvest", a woodland and farm setting.
A two-level DLC campaign, "Crash Course", was released on September 29, 2009, set in the industrial outskirts between "No Mercy" and "Death Toll". The Sacrifice is a three-level campaign released on October 5, 2010, with an industrial port-side setting in Georgia. These new levels contain a number of alternate routes to follow with more supplies, helping to create a sense of non-linearity.[12] Each campaign typically lasts between 20 and 75 minutes depending on the difficulty level. Both platform versions of the game utilize an achievement system.[13]
Each player starts the game with a semiautomatic pistol, an M1911.[14] It is the only weapon with unlimited ammo, and the only weapon that can be used while incapacitated. (If a second pistol is found, the player can dual wield them.) At the beginning of each campaign, survivors can choose between a submachine gun and a pump-action shotgun. As the survivors progress through a campaign, more powerful weapons can be found; the full-auto assault rifle, a semi-automatic shotgun, and a scoped hunting rifle.
In addition to firearms, a player can carry three other items: improvised grenades (either a Molotov cocktail, or a pipe bomb with a smoke alarm, designed to attract the infected);[14] a first aid kit, which can be used to heal any survivor, and pain pills, which provide a temporary health boost. A melee attack can always be used to shove away any infected within reach. Also available are environmental weapons, such as gas cans, propane cylinders, and oxygen tanks, which explode when shot. These can be picked up and moved by survivors, but this blocks them from using other weapons at the same time. Rarely, there are strategically placed minigun turrets near crescendo events and finales.
The infected (voiced by experimental musicianMike Patton [commons, Smoker, and Hunter] and voice actor Fred Tatasciore [Boomer and Tank])[15] are the enemies of Left 4 Dead, and comparisons have been made with 'zombies' from certain modern films, such as Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, and Quarantine.[16][17] An important distinction from the former is that the infected are, as cited in the game's manual, living humans infected with a rabies-like pathogen; more similar to the latter two films, rather than undeadzombies. While they are never seen eating humans, bite wounds and mutilation are often mentioned. In an interview with 1Up.com, designer Mike Booth commented on the concept of using a pathogen as an inspiration for the setting:
Even though we obviously pushed well beyond the realm of believability with many of our "boss" infected, the core idea of a mind-destroying, civilization-collapsing pathogen is more horrifying to me than magically animated corpses, precisely because it is plausible. Rabies is a good example of a pathogen that can turn a loyal, friendly, protective family pet into a slavering attack machine. It is a virus that reprograms the behaviors of a complex animal – a mammal, in fact. What if something similar happened to humans? Left 4 Dead is one possible answer.[5]
The "common infected" are fast and agile, weak individually, but overwhelming in numbers. They display a special attraction to high-pitched sounds, such as car alarms and the beeping device attached to pipe bombs. They will often chase down these noises while ignoring lower-pitched, louder sounds, such as gunfire. They occasionally attack en masse, referred to as a "horde".[18]
There are five "special" or "boss" infected, whose mutations grant them special attacks. Each of the special infected have a distinctive sound, silhouette, and musical cue, making their presence easily recognizable by players. There are five special infected in Left 4 Dead:[18]
The Boomer is a bloated infected that can spit vision-impairing bile on the Survivors. This bile attracts hordes of common infected. The Boomer explodes on death, spewing more bile; this came out of the desire to have an enemy players would not want to shoot on sight.
The Hunter is an agile enemy that can pounce a survivor from long distances, tearing at them until he is pushed off or killed.
The Smoker is an infected with a long tongue, which can be used to ensnare and drag a survivor back to himself. The survivor may be attacked directly, attacked by the horde while immobile, or left suspended in mid-air. The tongue is only released if a teammate shoves the ensnared survivor, shoots the tongue, or shoots the Smoker, resulting in a vision-obscuring cloud.
The Tank is a gigantic, muscular infected that has the ability to swipe at survivors, knocking them off their feet and incapacitating them; he can also throw rocks, cars, and other debris at the survivors. The Tank is the most durable of all the special infected, and requires the full support of all survivors to be killed. The Tank appears rarely, usually during crescendo events or finales.
The Witch is a female infected with long claws, who stays still in one spot. Survivors can often avoid the Witch, but if they disturb her with light, loud noises, gunfire, or getting too close, she will become aggressive and charge. The Witch is the strongest infected in the game, and on the hardest difficulties, will kill a survivor with one hit. She is the only infected not playable by human players in Versus mode.
The artificial intelligence of Left 4 Dead features a dynamic system for game dramatics, pacing and difficulty called the "Director". Instead of fixed spawn points for enemies, the Director places enemies and items in varying positions and quantities based upon each player's current situation, status, skill and location, creating a new experience for each playthrough.[7] The Director also creates mood and tension with emotional cues, such as visual effects, dynamic music, and character communication.[10]
Valve has termed this dynamic set-up "procedural narrative".[19] In addition to the AI Director, there is a second Director that controls music. It was created as a way to keep the soundtrack interesting throughout the game. The music Director monitors what a player has experienced to create an appropriate mix. The process is client-side and done by a multi-track system. Each player hears their own mix, which is being generated as they play through the game; dead spectators will hear their teammates' mix.[20]
A far simpler version of the A.I. Director was previously used for some key battles in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.[21] Valve is looking for ways to apply the Director in their future games to make pacing and difficulty more dynamic.[22]
Left 4 Dead contains four game modes: Campaign, Versus, Survival, and Single-Player. Campaign consists of up to four human-controlled survivors who attempt to make their way between safe rooms and eventually to rescue. In this mode, the special infected are controlled by the AI.
In Versus, there are two teams of four players each. They play each chapter as both Survivors and Infected, swapping sides after each round.[23] The infected team are given vertical pathways, such as pipes and vines, which can be climbed and used for ambushes. Dead survivors do not respawn. If at least one player reaches the safehouse, the survivor team earns 100 points, as well as bonuses based on their health, and the health items still in their inventory. These points are multiplied by the chapter's difficulty level, and the number of survivors who lived. If all survivors are killed, the survivor team only earns points from their progress through the chapter and the difficulty multiplier.[24] The victor is decided by which team scores the highest during the campaign.
Survival mode consists of a timed challenge where players try to survive as long as possible against a never-ending flood of the infected, added in April 2009 in the Survival Pack DLC.[25] Single-player mode is similar to campaign mode, but played offline with three AI-controlled bots as the other survivors. On Xbox 360, other players can join the same console to turn single player into an offline co-op game. Left 4 Dead can also be played through a system link, or local area network. Players have also discovered a way to do splitscreen co-op with the PC version.[26]
The concept of Left 4 Dead had its origins in a modification created by Turtle Rock Studios for Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, which they were co-developing with Valve. This mod, named "Terror Strike", saw four players assigned as the terrorists with the goal to plant a bomb and then defend it from unending waves of counter-terrorists. Turtle Rock also were co-developers of Counter-Strike: Source, in which they refined the mod, refining the assets to make it more horror themed and having the players fight off zombies. Turtle Rock had attempted to get Valve to publish "Terror Strike" as its own game, but did not gain any traction until Valve writer Chet Faliszek discovered the project and championed it to Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell.[27] Both versions of "Terror Strike" for Condition Zero and Source eventually were released to the Internet in 2023.[28]
With Valve's approval, development on Left 4 Dead started in mid-2005,[29] and grew significantly larger after Faliszek became lead of the project from Valve's side, bringing in over 100 Valve employees to help expand production.[27] Turtle Rock aimed to create a horror film-inspired game that merges single player games' character-driven narrative structure with multiplayer games' social interaction and high replayability.[10]
To give Left 4 Dead significant exposure, Valve financed a $10-million marketing campaign for the game in the United States and Europe, with advertisements appearing on television, print, websites and outdoor placements in many cities. Valve also hosted photo contests called, "Dude, where's my thumb?" offering copies of Left 4 Dead to people who submitted the best picture involving zombies or the outdoor advertising.[30]
Left 4 Dead uses the 2008 version of Valve's Source engine, with improvements such as multi-core processor support and physics-based animation to more realistically portray hair and clothing, and to improve physics interaction with enemies when shot or shoved in different body parts.[31] Animation was also improved to allow characters to lean realistically when moving in curved paths. Rendering and artificial intelligence were scaled up to allow for a greater number of enemies who can navigate the world in better ways, such as climbing, jumping, or breaking obstacles.[32][33] Lighting was enhanced with new self-shadowingnormal mapping and advanced shadow rendering that is important to convey information about the environment and player actions.[10][34] Wet surfaces and fog are used to create mood.[35][36] Many kinds of post processing cinematic visual effects inspired by horror movies have been added to the game. There is dynamic color correction that accentuates details based on importance, contrast and sharpening to focus attention on critical areas, film grain to expose details or imply details in dark areas and vignetting to evoke tension and a horror-film look.[10]
Left 4 Dead underwent many phases of development; influenced by playtesting, Turtle Rock Studios removed many of the features that were originally in the game. In early development, there was another special infected, the "Screamer", which had no attacks but upon spotting a survivor would run to a safe place and then emit a loud scream that attracted a horde of infected. This infected was removed, but its ability to attract the horde was incorporated into the Boomer's vomit.[37] A persistent merit/demerit system was envisioned to provide positive feedback for good behavior, such as aiding a fallen teammate; and negative feedback for poor behavior, such as shooting a teammate. This would provide a score to rank a player's effectiveness as a teammate,[38] but this system was removed late in the development of the game in favor of immediate, non-persistent feedback displayed in-game. Another significant element removed was a long introduction between campaigns; because the game is designed for replayability, it was difficult to hold the player's attention for repeated viewings of cut scenes, so they were dropped in favor of a sparse narrative.[39] In early development, the game began with a big city level with many routes for the survivors, but playtesters were confused when they began to play, and later they always chose the same route; ultimately Turtle Rock Studios cut the city maps into the first "No Mercy" and "Dead Air" campaigns.[40]
Certain Affinity assisted Turtle Rock Studios with the Xbox 360 version of the game.[41] The Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead has the same game modes as the PC version but has additional features such as support for split screen, allowing for two players to play offline and online from the same console,[42] and System Link play.[43] Split-screen mode can also be achieved on the PC version, but it requires console commands and may require the modification of controller configuration files; and it is not officially supported.[44] Both versions of the game have a new matchmaking system to simplify the process of finding other players.[10][45] This new server management system was met with a negative reaction from PC server operators, who, with this system, had very little control over their servers. This led to Valve releasing a series of patches that allowed server operators to remove their server from the matchmaking "pool" of servers or make private servers.[46] Valve runs dedicated servers for both versions of the game.[42][47]
The game was first revealed in the Christmas 2006 publication of PC Gamer UK with a six-page article describing a playthrough at Turtle Rock Studios headquarters. A teaser was released with The Orange Box. The game was first playable at the Showdown 2007 LAN in San Jose and at QuakeCon 2007. Turtle Rock Studios announced Left 4 Dead on November 20, 2006,[48] and was acquired by Valve on January 10, 2008, because of the game and long-standing relationship between the companies.[49] The game opened up to pre-purchasing on Valve's Steam system on October 15, 2008.[50]
To promote the game and provide basic training to players before starting the game, Valve chose to develop a pre-rendered intro movie. This movie was released on Halloween[51] and shows events prior to the beginning of the "No Mercy" campaign.[52] Valve chose an intro movie over in-game training mechanics because they wanted the players to be immediately dropped into a zombie apocalypse. Valve later detailed in their official Left 4 Dead blog how they designed the movie, from a basic animatic in July 2008 to the final result for the launch of the game.[52]
Early access to the Left 4 Dead demo for people who pre-ordered the game began on November 6, 2008, for both Windows and Xbox 360. It gave users access to both online and single-player play in two "scenes" in one "movie" within the game. This promotion was being offered in addition to the ten percent savings for those who pre-order and applies to all Steam Windows pre-orders and all Windows and Xbox 360 pre-orders from GameStop and EB Games in North America.[53] On November 11, the Left 4 Dead demo was made available to all Windows and Xbox 360 gamers worldwide.[54] The Left 4 Dead demo was removed from the Xbox 360 Marketplace and Valve's own Steam after the game's release on November 18, 2008, however it is still available for those that played it.
The demo had many server problems when it launched, primarily Valve's strategy for server management which made it impossible to set up a dedicated private server with administrator controls.[55] However, a stream of patches led to the availability of a server browser and basic private server functionality as well as Valve's acknowledgment of player concerns.[55] It appears that a patch released just before the game itself has resolved many of the connection issues that demo players were having.[56]
On May 1, 2009, the game was released freely via Steam as a one-day trial called "Freaky Free Friday". The trial was then extended to end on Saturday.[57]
On October 5, 2010, the price of the game via Steam was dropped to US$6.80, or a "4-pack" for $20.40, as a promotion coinciding with the release of "The Sacrifice" DLC.[58]
Left 4 Dead went gold on November 13, 2008, and was released on November 18, 2008, in North America; and on November 21, 2008, in Europe to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the release of Half-Life.[59][60]
Valve released a server patch in December 2008 to stop players on Xbox Live from using PC-style cheats.[61] A spokesman from Valve said, "The fix is designed to halt the cheating behavior on the dedicated servers, which accounts for the majority of the co-op and versus modes of play."[62]
Valve intended to support the PC version of the game through free content updates and the Xbox 360 version with DLC.[63] On a podcast by Kotaku, writer Chet Faliszek divulged that an announcement regarding DLC for the PC and Xbox 360 would be released "very soon", and that the announcement was delayed by the holiday season. On February 5, 2009, Valve released details about the upcoming downloadable content pack. The two full campaigns of "Death Toll" and "Dead Air" for versus mode—which were previously unavailable—are included, as well as the survival game mode, where the survivors try to survive endless waves of the infected for as long as possible. On February 11, 2009, Valve announced that the downloadable content for the game would be free for both the Xbox 360 and PC;[64] and on April 21, it was released.[65] Survival mode shipped with 16 maps, 15 of them being modified portions of existing maps and one being a new lighthouse-themed level titled "The Last Stand".[25] A Game Of the Year Edition of Left 4 Dead was released on the PC and Xbox 360 on May 12, 2009, with updates and new content included on the disc.[66]
On May 15, 2009, an open beta test for the Source Development Kit updated to support Left 4 Dead was started under the name of the "Left 4 Dead Authoring tools". This included a new set of plugins that allowed for users to import data from SketchUp, a free 3D modeling program, directly into the Hammer level editor for use in maps.[67] The beta was concluded on June 25, 2009, with the full release of the Left 4 Dead authoring tools and corresponding server and matchmaking update to support custom maps. The update included a command line tool for packaging custom Left 4 Dead campaigns to ease distribution.[68]
A sequel, announced at the 2009 E3 conference and was released November 17, 2009.[69] Addressing concerns voiced by fans, Gabe Newell responded to an email from Kotaku explaining that despite the upcoming sequel, Left 4 Dead would continue to be supported and more content is planned in the coming months.[70]
On August 4, 2009, Valve announced the second DLC pack. It contains a new campaign called Crash Course, set shortly after the events of the No Mercy campaign, where the Survivors try to get to a Truck Depot after the helicopter they were in crashed. It is available for co-op, versus and survival modes, with various tweaks to game mechanics, and containing new locations and character dialog.[71][72][73] The DLC was announced to be released on September 29, 2009,[74] on which date it was released for free for PC, but was accidentally released on Xbox Live at a higher price. The price was amended soon after, and all players who bought the DLC at the higher price were refunded.[75]
On November 9, 2009, a matchmaking update to allow for matchmaking between teams of four pl
This program unpacks Playstation 3 Theme files (.p3t) so that you can touch-up an existing theme to your likings or use a certain wallpaper from it (as many themes have multiple). But remember, if you use content from another theme and release it, be sure to give credit!
Download p3textractor.zip from above. Extract the files to a folder with a program such as WinZip or WinRAR. Now there are multiple ways to extract the theme.
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The second way is very simple. Just drag the p3t file to p3textractor.exe. It will open CMD and extract the theme to extracted.[filename].
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