i'm still really enjoying the game too. i think that's what pisses me off even more. this game is so close to perfect on what i was looking for. 

it's not that the animations themselves are bad (although some really are that bad) but that the method which they move the models is extremely poor.

I forgot to say, I completely agree. At first you think it's just bad animation cycles (although I wouldn't say they're stellar) but it really seems like the speed of animation and speed of movement are almost always out of sync. In all seriousness, I wouldn't say it's a significant improvement on morrowind anims. 

Atleast there is half decent lip-sync - what worries me more is a CTD near the start when I pick the lock to the overseers office. Damn... 

hmm... if you can't get round that, there is a key. Might require a slightly immoral course of action though. Ahem. 

1st impressions after playing a few full rounds online.

+ Shotgun is meaty, and can take out 5-6 zombies with 1 shot if your lucky.

+ Zombies animations are absolutely fucking amazing, its totally convincing when a bunch of them come at you from around the corner, also the ragdoll effect when they die is possibly the most realistic ragdoll effect I have seen in a game. Hey look here Bethesda! :P

+ Boss infected work really well, I particularly like the Witch, as some idiot 14 year old I was playing with thought it would be funny to run up to her and shoot her in the face, she proceeded to rip him to shreds while we all laughed!

+ Co-op gameplay! It just works brilliantly here, you can see where all your team mates are even through walls as silhouettes, and your characters automatically shout to the rest of your team when they see a boss infected, or are reloading. You are also warned when one of your team mates is taking a pounding so you can try and rescue them.

+ "Play with friends" online option is a godsend, if you host then only your steam friends can join, which as Vondur so eloquently put it so many years ago, this "removes morons out the way".

- Game levels are a little under-detailed in my opinion, but im guessing they needed to pull the detail down a notch as they cannot gauge how many zombies are going to be in an area at any time.

- Most boss infected die too easily I think, smokers and hunters can be taken out with a few shots, all the other bosses are fine however. It may be that each time I played my entire team focus fired the bosses as soon as they appeared...

- I'm sure this is because the demo servers are getting hammered to death right now, but 8/10 times when starting a round the server will disconnect or time-out. Very frustrating!

Loving it so far, now excuse me I must play a few more rounds ;) 

awesome 

This game fucking rocks. That's really the only coherent thing I can say at the moment about the game without going overboard on the gushing. 

Is quite cool yes, the demo is painfully short though, can't wait to play the rest of the maps! 

Downloading . . .

Steam name ijed, though I'm probably online at odd times. 

Valve makes the rest of the industry look foolish. Even if connecting fails constantly.

Alot my reaction is 'why isn't it normally like this?'

Weapons that do realistic damage, for example.

Keep looking for quicksave as well.

I wouldn't say smokers / boomers are even meant as bosses, just variants - its their attacks that are the danger, not an invisible bullet proof vest.

The witch nearly got me first time as well :P 

Been playing it some more... (lots more!)

+ The levels do actually differ in layout slightly on each playthrough, I have noticed that sometimes a wall has a hole in it that leads to another part of the map, while in a later game on the same map the wall is intact, forcing you to take a different route.

+ Play on advanced/expert difficulty! Normal is just too easy in its current state, and I end up just running around shooting everything because I know I can get away with it, on advanced/expert mode you really do need to stick with your team and cover each other all the time, and it makes the whole experience work much better.

+ Valve released a few bug fixes for the matchmaking system and server setups, so it is a lot smoother now. Not quite where it needs to be yet, but certainly a step in the right direction.

+ I found the option in the in-game menu called "take a break" that puts your character in cpu control so you can go for a piss or whatever without fucking over your entire team, very nice insight there!

This game really does just keep getting better and better the more I play it :) 

Yeah, I expect Normal difficulty will ramp up more in later maps, but for these 2 maps, it's best to just try at first to get used to the game, then it's all about Advanced/Expert for some actual fun.

And be sure to kick idiots on Expert who run off and get themselves killed, they just fuck your team. 

do I have to preorder to play the demo? 

The demo will come out later, possibly when the game proper is released, but the only way to get it early is with a preorder. I suspect my ageing rig isn't going to cope, so I'm gonna have to hold on until that demo rolls around rather than preorder something I'm unlikely to be able to play. 

Demo is coming out on the 11th, so best to wait a few days if you're unsure about your purchase. 

I would say L4D has similar performance to the Orange Box games, perhaps slightly more demanding in certain instances (Zombie horde rushes, etc) but it works as a basic guide. 

Hoe bind je met Armagetronad Ik Snap er niks van? 

Ik Weet Niet Hoe Je Moet binden ik snap er niks van Jullie laat het me horen ! 

Na het doornemen van dat Babelfish, I' niet helemaal zeker m welk spel you' het re spreken over (Armagetronad?), maar enkel in geval it' s Radioactieve neerslag 3, u kan rebind controles door gaande Montages --> Controles --> De Afbeelding van de actie, en dan het klikken op " Device" aan schakelaar tussen muis en toetsenbord.

(After running that through Babelfish, I'm not quite sure what game you're talking about (Armagetronad?), but just in case it's Fallout 3, you can rebind controls by going Settings --> Controls --> Action Mapping, and then clicking on "Device" to switch between mouse and keyboard.) 

Googling "Armagetronad" leads me to some Tron light-cycle remake? Looks kind of cool...

(Googling " Armagetronad" me leidt tot ��n of andere Tron licht-cyclusremake? Kijkt vriendelijk van koel...) 

Armagetron(ad) is great, try a 4-player-drunk-LAN-match. 

toetsenbord is a much better word than keyboard 

http://www.foddy.net/Athletics.html 

Thanks for effectivly killing me and Lunaran's productivity. 

i managed to hobble to the 10m mark... also got a few strides in a row that sort of looked like running...

this game reminds me of a science museum i went to as a kid... they had a bicycle set up with mechanical legs attached to the pedals, and four pneumatic pistons each connected to a button. You could make the legs pedal the bike with the right sequence of button presses.

This is a lot harder because in addition to timing, you have to keep your balance.