Left 4 Dead is Still Alive
I first wrote about Left 4 Dead in 2008 and promised you a review. You might have noticed that it never came - I started writing two times, but there was always something more important (which sometimes meant playing the damn game instead). I think I have sunk more than 200h into L4D, which probably makes it my most played game ever. My Steam profile shows barely over one hundred hours, but it is my second Steam account - I have sold the first one together with game when I realized that I was getting addicted to it.
But while the review remains to be written one day (or not, because of what use would it be now?), there is one thing in particular that I wanted to draw your attention to, namely a free Left 4 Dead comic. Yes, good people from Valve are giving away a full-blown (120 pages!) digital graphic novel for the price of nothing to accompany to the release of the latest L4D DLC. Now if that's not long-lasting support of their game, then I don't know what is.
The comic in question is called Sacrifice, just like the new episode, and it tells the story of how one of the original four heroes of Left 4 Dead sacrificed themselves in order to let others live. I expected much less from it, what with it being free and all, but it is, in fact, a very good graphic novel, one that I would probably pay for in normal circumstances. The story gives a little background to our rather anonymous game protagonists and at the same time bridges the original title with its sequel. The art direction is really neat and quite characteristic - I immediately recognized the style of Michael Avon Oeming (Wiki note, official site), whose work I have remembered from B.P.R.D. comic, a Hellboy spin-off.
Not only can you watch the whole Sacrifice comic online, but also download it in PDF for watching on your netbook or iDevice (click on Extras to go to download page). Valve, I love you.
I first wrote about Left 4 Dead in 2008 and promised you a review. You might have noticed that it never came - I started writing two times, but there was always something more important (which sometimes meant playing the damn game instead). I think I have sunk more than 200h into L4D, which probably makes it my most played game ever. My Steam profile shows barely over one hundred hours, but it is my second Steam account - I have sold the first one together with game when I realized that I was getting addicted to it.
But while the review remains to be written one day (or not, because of what use would it be now?), there is one thing in particular that I wanted to draw your attention to, namely a free Left 4 Dead comic. Yes, good people from Valve are giving away a full-blown (120 pages!) digital graphic novel for the price of nothing to accompany to the release of the latest L4D DLC. Now if that's not long-lasting support of their game, then I don't know what is.
The comic in question is called Sacrifice, just like the new episode, and it tells the story of how one of the original four heroes of Left 4 Dead sacrificed themselves in order to let others live. I expected much less from it, what with it being free and all, but it is, in fact, a very good graphic novel, one that I would probably pay for in normal circumstances. The story gives a little background to our rather anonymous game protagonists and at the same time bridges the original title with its sequel. The art direction is really neat and quite characteristic - I immediately recognized the style of Michael Avon Oeming (Wiki note, official site), whose work I have remembered from B.P.R.D. comic, a Hellboy spin-off.
Not only can you watch the whole Sacrifice comic online, but also download it in PDF for watching on your netbook or iDevice (click on Extras to go to download page). Valve, I love you.
