Thanks to the community’s achievement (no pun intended) earlier in the month, Valve, true to their word, have released Dead Air “2” for L4D2 as a beta, from the upcoming Cold Stream DLC pack.
Dead Air Re-Released As Beta For L4D2
News & Rumors
Available as a PC-exclusive (the Xbox 360 version will only come with the full Cold Stream DLC out “later this summer”) the beta features all Dead Air levels, completely playable, with the new L4D2 gameplay mechanics. Seems to be available on all game modes, and Valve is even trying something new with the Scavenge map in the beta. They won’t give it away, so try it out right away!
The levels have been changed. Most notably, the finale plays out differently, partly due to L4D2’s new gameplay tweaks and changes, and partly due to some brand new map changes. The opening in the plane wreckage on the runway, in the finale, where the plane flies off through, is now blocked off by a line of fire produced by the plane crash in the opening. It’s an interesting game change, but it looks a bit strange, can set spawning Tanks on fire unintentionally, and makes the finale look silly (the fire should cause some hefty damage to the plane’s engines and wheels). The metal detector Panic event has also been made into a mandatory Crescendo event. The crashing plane is also bugged – it has a strange hue that definitely does not look natural. Then there’s also the infected spawning inside the finale escape plane, and Louis feels the need to shout “That’s for Bill!” after killing a Tank… despite the fact that Bill is standing right next to him. The skybox also looks a bit odd – could be a problem with the 3D skybox’s fog. This could be what’s causing the crashing plane color bug.
Not sure, so if I got anything wrong, please don’t laugh at me. Well, if you do want to laugh at me, do it in the comments section. And tell me what I got wrong. We need comments. Otherwise, the beta is very enjoyable. You couldn’t even tell it’s a beta, it seems nearly complete.
So head on over to Left 4 Dead 2 and try it out!
Happy BIRTHDAY, VIC!
Thank you, pal!
The new wall of fire is indeed weird, the engines should have at least stopped working since they can’t operate at that temperature, but then the fire magically disappears.
I think the cubemaps have changed too, the reflections look more accurate, that might be just me though.
Overall I think it’s the best (most successful) Left 4 Dead 1 port so far and one of my favorite campaigns in the Left 4 Dead series, playing through Dead Air 2 with a melee weapon or a Desert Eagle can be very fun.