Rank the Left 4 Dead Campaigns

[Nagorak]

Now that Left 4 Dead 2 is out, and many have a chance to play it, I thought it would be interesting to see how people would rank the official campaigns we've seen for L4D1 and 2. Basically, just put down your favorite campaign at #1, and your least favorite at #9. You can rank Crash Course or leave it out, since it's only a half campaign. Oh, and only rate campaigns you've played. If you haven't really played it through at least once on campaign mode (or versus if you think you've seen enough of it) then leave it out.

In case people have trouble remembering all of the campaigns I'll list them here:

L4D
No Mercy
Death Toll
Dead Air
Blood Harvest
Crash Course

L4D2
Dead Center
Dark Carnival
Swamp Fever
Hard Rain
The Parish

[clerick]

Hard Rain
Dark Carnival
Dead Center
The Parish
Swamp Fever

[Nagorak]

1. No Mercy
2. Dead Air
3. Dark Carnival
4. Death Toll
5. Dead Center
6. Hard Rain
7. The Parish
8. Swamp Fever
9. Blood Harvest

This is how I feel about the campaigns at the moment. I believe it's possible that Dark Carnival, Hard Rain and The Parish could move up in the rankings after playing them more. Blood Harvest is definitely my least favorite (not that I dislike it, I just like it the least), and Swamp Fever just seems pretty drab and boring.

[spindoctor]

1. hard rain
2. dark carnival
3. no mercy
4. dead air
5. the parish
6. dead center
7. blood harvest
8. swamp fever
9. death toll

[GanjaStar]

swamp fever
hard rain
dead center
the parish
dark carnival
crash course
blood harvest
dead air
death toll
no mercy

[Nunz]

No Mercy on the bottom ganja?

What. The. ****.



Hard Rain
No Mercy
Dead Center
Dark Carnival
Dead Air
Swamp Fever
The Parish
Crash Course
Blood harvest
Death Toll

[Nagorak]

Some interesting rankings here. Looks like most people were more impressed with Hard Rain than I was. The campaign just didn't do much for me. The idea was interesting and the weather effects were alright, but in the end you pretty much just play the same levels twice. The flooding was neat to see, but it's not as varied an experience as having 4 different maps. I think I can understand why people like it, but it just didn't impress me as much as some other campaigns.

It looks like not everyone has a high opinion of No Mercy either.

If I had to rate Crash Course, I'd probably put it somewhere near the bottom. I was underwhelmed when it was released. The 2 maps aren't bad, maybe better than some other campaigns, but the fact it's only 2 maps means I can't get too excited over it.

[{0}Salamander{0}]

I quite liked Hard Rain, sure its 2 maps played through, then reversed, but I thought the whole experience was a good one. It was also a very good looking map, totally blowing away Dead Centre and The Parish, which in places look very low on detail.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by Nunz

No Mercy on the bottom ganja?

What. The. ****.

well i ony rated Versus, and that is the easiest campaign in versus. map 3 is awesome, ill give you that, but overall as a versus match it can be quite tame, unless the teams are balanced.

[spindoctor]

i like hard rain because it is a very dangerous map, particularly on the return journey. it's also the only campaign where i feel a defib is actually more useful than a health pack. in fact, carrying at least one defib on the way back is absolutely essential... maybe even two.

[{0}Salamander{0}]

I was quite disapointed that Valve didn't change some of the L4D1 maps to make them more "balanced", after all, they made changes to Team Fortress 2 maps in order to provide better balance.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by {0}Salamander{0}

I was quite disapointed that Valve didn't change some of the L4D1 maps to make them more "balanced", after all, they made changes to Team Fortress 2 maps in order to provide better balance.

the comunity did release what they call "pro maps".

these are basically l4d 1 maps with the most obvious camp spots blocked of,a nd generally they are made to slow down survivors a bit more then some of the original maps.

[0mar]

L4D2 > L4D in terms of actual gameplay. Any of the L4D2 campaigns are more enjoyable because they remove what made L4D bad, namely corner camping, shiva stacking, auto-shotty spamming bore fests.

In terms of environments though, I like the L4D campaigns better. Blood Harvest and Death Toll are my two favorite campaigns in terms of setting. For some reason, I really don't like the daylight campaigns in L4D2. The Dark Carnival is a lot of fun and probably is the best of the lot in L4D2.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by 0mar

L4D2 > L4D in terms of actual gameplay. Any of the L4D2 campaigns are more enjoyable because they remove what made L4D bad, namely corner camping, shiva stacking, auto-shotty spamming bore fests.

In terms of environments though, I like the L4D campaigns better. Blood Harvest and Death Toll are my two favorite campaigns in terms of setting. For some reason, I really don't like the daylight campaigns in L4D2. The Dark Carnival is a lot of fun and probably is the best of the lot in L4D2.

if you like blood harvest then swamp should be your top one. it basically is blood harvest on steroids.

toughest campaign in versus by far.

[Perky McGiggles]

Okay, after finally completing all the L4D2 campaigns from start to finish, I'm going to have to vote Hard Rain as my favorite.

Man, the storms were just intense. Sounded amazing on my headphones, and had me going. Plus the way the map was laid out was nicely done.

So my ranking would have to be:

Hard Rain (L4D2)
No Mercy (L4D1)
Dead Center (L4D2)
Dark Carnival (L4D2)
Death Toll (L4D1)
Swamp Fever (L4D2)
Blood Harvest (L4D1)
The Parish (L4D2)
Dead Air (L4D1)
Crash Course (L4D1)

It might be because I'm excited about L4D2 and L4D1 seems weak in comparison, but I feel the majority of the L4D2 campaigns are a lot better done than the first games were. I like how they weren't all A to B, and there was some nice change ups in how you complete the map. I had a lot more fun, anyway.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by Perky McGiggles

It might be because I'm excited about L4D2 and L4D1 seems weak in comparison, but I feel the majority of the L4D2 campaigns are a lot better done than the first games were.

yep, valve has made l4d 1 completely obsolete. they better just port the maps soon and be done with it.. the current price on steam tells you all about how fast the game has died and been forgotten by the majority.

I still go and laugh a bit at the steam l4d 1 forums to see how the last remaining boycotters try to justify their actions.

all the hardcore players will stay, because l4d2 is for casuals.

when i hear that i have to laugh because versus is so much more challenging, stating otherwise is just delusional.

[Perky McGiggles]

Originally Posted by GanjaStar

when i hear that i have to laugh because versus is so much more challenging, stating otherwise is just delusional.

True that.

Versus is incredibly different. I remember getting pretty bored in L4D1 but the new additions, especially the spitter, means the survivors CAN NOT STOP and/or corner camp anymore. It's so much more competitive now. Anyone who thinks L4D1 is superior is, as you say, delusional.

Now, could Valve have upgraded L4D1 to what L4D2 is without making a new game? That is debatable. I think there are enough changes worth making it a new game, but part of me still feels a $30 expansion or add-on would have been the best solution. But the point is probably moot now.

[GanjaStar]

Originally Posted by Perky McGiggles

Now, could Valve have upgraded L4D1 to what L4D2 is without making a new game? That is debatable. I think there are enough changes worth making it a new game, but part of me still feels a $30 expansion or add-on would have been the best solution. But the point is probably moot now.

yeah, its a moot point, but still interesting becuase once you dig deep it becomes much tougher to draw the line between a sequel and an expansion.

some games were called a sequel for offering less, but then again, some have more and still end up being an expansion.

I payed $34, and nothing yet makes me regret it. im getting close to uninstalling l4d 1 actually because it almost feels like an amateur mod for l4d 2(someone said this on steam forums )

or in other words. l4d 1 is to l4d 2, what zombie panic source is to l4d.

[Nagorak]

I wish it had been an expansion simply because then the new infected probably would be playable in the original campaigns out of the box. The thing is, combined L4D and L4D2 have a good amount of content. Individually both are pretty skimpy.

It really is embarrassing how little L4D had when it was released. No versus on two campaigns. No survival mode. It was a totally unfinished game. Even with the limited amount of content it had, all of it was not completed until well after release.

I think people have a right to be a little upset because both games should have just been combined and released as one. I don't regret buying either one, but I also don't think Valve was particularly generous with either one.

At this point I want to be able to play L4D campaigns in L4D2.

[{0}Salamander{0}]

Both games use Source, so therefore, there was really no need to make it a new game. Its not like they made major code changes between the releases that would make it impossible to change aspects.

They could have put melee into the first game and thrown the charger and spitter in there too. It wouldn't have been the first time they made major changes to a game (TF2?) after release.