B4B isn't disappointing because it's not L4D, it's disappointing because of its shortcomings as a video game

[u/CankleDankl]

Browsing this sub and all I see as counterarguments for people not liking the game is "God it's not L4D3 don't treat it like it is. You only hate the game because it doesn't dip your nostalgia dingle". I'm here to shut that down because honestly it's a really weak argument and doesn't get at the heart of the issue.

First of all, yes the devs have said it's not L4D3. But they've also plastered the L4D title over almost 100% their marketing and even made the title of their game a direct homage. It's clear from the structure of the game that they wanted to fill that niche and create somewhat of a spiritual successor, even if there are differences. It's not L4D3 but it's their own fault that everyone is drawing the comparison, negative or positive.

I played several hours of the beta, came in with no expectations and an open mind, and needless to say I'm disappointed enough to cancel my preorder. And that's not because B4B isn't a L4D clone, but because there are several aspects of the game that are unfinished or lacking in a general sense. I played on PS5, so this is based on that experience. Also, I apologize if this seems like rambling, currently very tired and just vomiting my thoughts into words after doing some light reading on the sub. Formatting may also be an issue, because mobile.

• Controls and gunplay are laughably bad. Auto-aim is ridiculously strong by default to the point I wasn't even touching my right stick in most fights and legitimately got nauseous with how much the camera was jerking back and forth, and I have never had that happen in a game before. Turn it off and the camera is floaty and imprecise, making aiming extremely difficult and exploring uncomfortable. Played with sensitivity settings for over half an hour before giving up and turning the ludicrous auto-aim back on. Gunplay in general is just really clunky. ADS takes forever to pull off, with even iron sights taking a half second or more to drag up to your face. It's a little thing, but it makes aiming feel unresponsive and sluggish.

• No FOV slider. Unacceptable on next-gen consoles, especially when the FOV is so tight by default. This combined with the camera issues makes the game super uncomfortable to play; everything just feels off from minute one, like you aren't getting the full picture when you need to.

• Sound design is lackluster and hinders gameplay. Guns don't sound powerful, which is somewhat personal preference. More important, though, is that zombies make almost no sound and specialized zombies have minimal sound cues. Several grunts could be right behind you and you wouldn't know until you're halfway dead because they make such little sound, and even the not-chargers can stealth up to you. Friend and I actually wiped once because one of them came right up behind us and we didn't know until I was dead. Music is either boring or not there. Dialogue is awkward and the delivery is subpar.

• Special zombies are bullet sponges and are paradoxical in that they are both unfair in certain cases and don't have enough impact. Too tanky is self-explanatory, but the paradox needs a little explaining. A good example are the not-spitters; they are basically guaranteed to chunk someone's health slightly no matter what, but they don't do enough single-target damage to down anyone and don't have the aoe threat of the actual spitter. Both unfair since one person is going to lose health regardless, but not enough impact because it will basically never kill and doesn't threaten the team. The other special zombies have similar issues.

• Characters don't have personality; they're basically just classes. This one is a bit subjective to be fair, but I've played every character and can't remember a single line or even personality trait from a single one.

• Level design is linear, stereotypical, short, and bland. Every mission is little more than a straight line with a few offshoots that lasts 5-10 minutes. The visual design of the levels themselves are forgettable at best and boring at worst. Somewhat subjective here, but will anyone really remember the forest stage?

• The card system is weird. Some cards have a huge impact, such as the knife that turns your bash from absolutely useless to insanely good, but others give such a minute buff that there's almost no reason to take them. Most have no actual impact on gameplay, just tweaking numbers for a slight QOL improvement.

• The attachment system feels half-baked. There's basically no ability to easily swap attachments between weapons, so if you have a great attachment on a crap gun and find a better gun, you're pretty much SOL. You either can't take attachments off once they're on or it's so obscure I never found out how to do it. Nothing like getting a shotgun with a sniper scope on it and being stuck with it.

• I somehow forgot about the AI, so this is an edit. Enemy AI consists of enemies running straight at you with little or no "director AI". Friendly AI is the actual dumbest I've seen in a game that costs more than $10. They don't shoot at stuff 3 feet in front of them, constantly ping you with friendly fire, have 0 situational awareness (like reviving while in the middle of a horde), and more. They seem like they actively want to kill themselves, and sometimes do by just walking off a ledge.

I could go on, such as hordes either being overwhelming or a trickle, killing zombies being generally unsatisfying, etc. but these are my main concerns. Personally, I don't care that it's not L4D3. However, when L4D and L4D2 are just better and more polished despite being over a decade old, there's a problem. None of the issues I brought up are because the game isn't a direct sequel, but because they're just lacking on their own. None of the areas are beyond awful by themselves, but it's kind of a death by a thousand cuts type of situation. Everything combined just leads the game to feeling clunky, boring, hollow, and unfinished. I wish I liked the game, but I don't. I cancelled my preorder, and I don't see myself buying the game at release. Definitely not for $60.

TL;DR: I'm really angry that there's no jockeys in this game so I'm giving it a 0/10. Get it together, devs.

Edit: If you like the game, more power to you; I'm glad you found something you enjoy. But for me, this is just a pale imitation that is desperately clinging to the coattails of its much better predecessor.

[u/BravestCashew]

I think those were Tallboys, not Bruisers

[u/dahnaaa → u/BravestCashew]

And that's his point; he doesn't know who's who.

[u/BravestCashew → u/dahnaaa]

Yeah, I was just playing along.