Left 4 Dead 2 will have a Realsim and a Scavenge Mode

Posted by on Oct 7, 2009 in News

At a hands-on event in San Francisco tonight, Valve pulled the covers off of a new competitive multiplayer mode that will appear in Left 4 Dead 2 — “Scavenge.”

This new mode (designed to be shorter than the traditional competitive) has four survivors fighting to find 16 gas cans across the game map. Using the cans, the goal is to fill up a generator to win the match. Split up over six rounds (three per team), each starts with 120 seconds; each gas can will add an additional 20 seconds to the overall time. If time runs out, yet one survivor is still holding a gas can, the game will go into overtime until the generator is up and running or an infected knocks it from their hands.

On the opposing team will be the Infected, who are doing everything they can to feast on human flesh and (of course) stop the survivors from restarting the generator. Not only can infected knock the gas cans from the hands of the survivors, but special infected like the “The Spitter” can light the cans on fire with its phlegm. Survivors must also watch their fire — one stray bullet can set the can on fire as well.

Valve are planning to ship Left 4 Dead 2 with six maps for “Scavenge” mode, each reconfigured maps from the game’s campaign. “Motel” is one such area, and Hamza “The Shark” Aziz is going hands on with it as I type. Details, impressions, and more soon… if he survives.

VALVE ANNOUNCES L4D2 SAVENGE MODE
Left 4 Dead 2′s Fourth Game Mode Revealed

Valve, creator of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Scavenge, the fourth game mode to be included in its upcoming zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead 2.

Scavenge mode challenges players to compete in round-based games of up to 8 players (Survivors vs. Infected). The Survivors must battle both the Infected and the clock as they collect gas cans to refuel a generator located in each map. Every can the Survivors pour into the generator scores their team a point and adds time to the clock.

On defense, the Infected team plays as the boss Infected (including the new Spitter, Jockey, and Charger). They must keep the Survivors from fueling the generator by attacking them, destroying the gas cans, or running out the clock. During a round, each team gets an opportunity to play both sides, with the round going to whichever team successfully delivers the most cans.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 promises to set a new benchmark for co-operative action games and become one of 2009′s marquee titles. Set for release on November 17, the title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more.

L4D2 also introduces the AI Director 2.0, adding the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players’ performance. The result is a unique game session custom-fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Finally, with new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and a brand new competitive mode all available at launch.

Along with the announcement of the new Left 4 Dead 2 mode, Scavenge, looks like Valve accidentally leaked something they didn’t quite mean to… 1Up’s preview makes mention to a ‘Realism’ mode that’s meant for the “super hardcore” players.

But, as we wrap up our playtime, David Ellis notices a mysterious option in the menu as we wait for a new match to start: “Realism mode.” I ask Faliszek, and he coyly comments, “that’s a special modifier that we forgot to hide for this demo.” We then ask Valve VP of Marketing Doug Lombardi, and he quips that it’s something for the super hardcore player, and slightly elaborates, “Take Portal for example: We had our best internal players who could blow through that game in about 30 minutes, but within weeks of launching it we had people on YouTube beating [the testers'] times by 10 minutes or more. Realism is for those players.” We’ll keep an eye out for more details about Realism, and any other surprises as Left 4 Dead 2 gets closer to release.