Video Gamers Podcast - Gaming Quick Takes - Back 4 Blood

Episode Date: January 28, 2023

From gaming hosts Paul, Michael and Josh, we're bringing you even more gaming content each week. Gaming Quick Takes are a short series of game recommendations, funny moments, off-topic chat and more. A small dose of gaming to brighten your Saturdays! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is an ad from BetterHelp Online Therapy. We always hear about the red flags to avoid in relationships, but it's just as important to focus on the green flags. If you're not quite sure what they look like, therapy can help you identify those qualities so you can embody the green flag energy and find it in others. BetterHelp offers therapy 100% online, and sign-up only takes a few minutes.

Visit BetterHelp.com today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P.com. Hey guys, welcome to this Quick Take episode. We're so excited to have you here with us. In the past, these Quick Take episodes actually were only available to those who financially supported the show through Apple subscriptions and Patreon. But due to popular demand, we have decided to shake up the perks for our supporters and we'll be releasing these quick takes on Saturdays to everyone, giving you all some extra free content that was previously unavailable to the public. And these quick takes are a little more laid back and they're hosted by just one of us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this quick take episode. Shazam! Boom!

Hey, everybody. It is Josh, and I am back for blood, because that's what I'm actually going to talk about in today's bonus episode. Now, Back 4 Blood, the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. Paul and I played this and were quite happy with the beta when it came out, and we were all gung-ho about playing Back 4 Blood and doing a deep dive on it. We really did enjoy it. It is a four-player zombie horde shooter co-op. If you haven't heard of Left for Dead, shame on you. But if you have, and you've always wished that you had Left for Dead

in the 21st century with updated graphics, sound, and controls, and all that stuff, then that's basically what Back 4 Blood is. So why am I doing a bonus episode on it if we were going to do a deep dive on it? Well, that has nothing to do with the quality of the game. It's just simply that we likely will not have time for probably at least a month or two at that point. And so instead of having it fall off your radar, what I wanted to do was talk about the game a little bit, give you my recommendation, because I do think it is a solid game and worth your time to play. So Back 4 Blood, like I said, it's Left 4 Dead. I mean, it follows the exact same kind of gameplay. It's just been updated. We did a deep dive on

Left 4 Dead 2. We didn't rate it so well. It's just simply because the game didn't age very well over the last, I don't know, 15 years or so. I don't remember when Left 4 Dead came out. But Back 4 Blood takes everything that worked with Left 4 Dead 2, and it just polishes it to a very high level. They've added a lot of neat systems to this. One of the things that Back 4 Blood does that is really good is their card system. Now, I know you're all probably groaning going, Josh, you love everything that's card based. And yes, while that is true, Back 4 Blood, this is not like a customizable card game or anything like that. What it does is during the start of each round or level, you can get these cards and

play them. And these cards might be something like 20% extra ammo, 5% faster reload speed, uh, extra health. Uh, you get an extra revive or, you know, there's any number of things that you can use to kind of build this, these, these perks in each level and your team plays them as well. Some of the cards actually affect the entire team. Some of the cards only affect you, but how you play them adds a nice level of strategy to the game and how your party plays them adds that level as well. So you have to kind of balance, do I take a card that helps everybody, but maybe isn't as good? Or do I take a card that

really helps me out, but doesn't really do anything for the team? Now, the flip side of that is that the enemies get cards too. So at the beginning, you might say, I want a card that gives me 20% extra ammo and I do 5% more damage. But the enemy is going to play some cards and they're going to say, hey, there's going to be a higher level of like the boss monsters or trash zombies will actually explode when killed now. And so it does change the kind of flow of every level and it adds for a lot of replayability to the game as well, which I think is really cool. So I really like that they've made that. It is impactful without being absolutely game changing every single time. We did not run into any sort of OP card combo, whether it's for us or for the computer, but it really does just add that

little bit of flavor that you need to keep the longevity of the game going. So the way that the game works is it's four player co-op. There are a bunch of different characters and each character has a perk of their own. And then you leave this safe room, and you start to try to traverse through a level to get from point A to point B. Along the way, there will be hordes of zombies. There will be some of the larger specialized zombies, like the big brute, have the witch in Left 4 Dead that everybody made sure you didn't wake up or let see. I don't remember all the names on it, to be honest, because it's been a little while since we played the beta.

But just know that there are a lot of different specialized zombies that do different things. Some of them can spit on you and web you, and so you can't move. There's the classic grab you, and if your teammates don't free you, then you're going to die over time. The big hulking behemoth that just takes a ton of effort to bring down and so on and so forth. So those add a lot of flavor to each level as well. Another cool thing that I like that they did is there are different areas in each level where there are crows. And if you startle the crows, that will trigger a zombie horde. And while that sounds fun,

and who doesn't love just slaughtering hordes upon hordes of zombies, the problem with that is, is that undoubtedly you're going to burn through a ton of ammo and you're going to lose some health, both of which are not easy to come by in this game. So it does wind up being a battle of attrition because you're going to use a lot of your ammo, you're going to burn through some health, and now you have to try to recoup that stuff. And that's where the risk versus reward comes in for that. But it works very, very well. Now, this game is all about gun play. It is a first-person shooter. And in that case, everything in this is just polished top notch. The guns all feel very good. The sounds are great. The level design is great. Some levels will have you trying to defend a certain area. Some will have you

making a mad dash from one point to the other. Some you need to be much more cautious and slow. Some you have side objectives, like you need to blow up these nests that will trigger a big event and stuff like that. But really, it's a, it's a very, very well done game. We really had a lot of fun playing it. It's one of those ones where I wish we had more time to pick this up and play it because we did have a very good time. Now, the only downside to this is that, you know, when you hit that wall in a game like this,

like I equate this to kind of like Vermintide, right? So much fun with friends. It's like, if you can get some friends to play along with it, it is worth every bit of money that you can spend on this. But there will come a point where the gameplay loop just wears thin. And it's very hard to bring yourself at that point to want to keep just diving back in.

Now, if you're a completionist, or you like to min-max things, or maybe you want to try it diving back in. Now, if you're a completionist or you like to min-max things, or maybe you want to try it on the insane difficulty level where if you get shot or hit one time, you die. I mean, there are challenges that affect the longevity of this, but this is the kind of game that when you hit that wall, you usually hit it pretty hard.

And then it's just going to sit there until you decide, hey, I'm never going to play this again. I'm going to wind up deleting this. But it's one of those things where I really wanted to give it a strong recommendation because it does kind of fire on all cylinders. There's really not much that there isn't to like in this game. Other than the price tag, if I remember right, it's a $60 game. If you could get this on sale for $30 and you and a buddy could grab it, that's a no-brainer. Matchmaking is good in it. Everything is easy to pick up. It's just,

like I said, it's done very well. Um, I, you know, that was in the beta, no less. And so I imagine that they've polished things and kind of gotten it just buttoned up a little bit more for the full release. But again, just so you're all aware, our experience with it was the beta. We did play a pretty good bit. I'm a little sad that we don't have time to pick up the full release, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't. So I wanted to make sure to put it on your radar because I do think that this game can be a lot of fun with friends and even solo. I mean, like I said, it's got good matchmaking. It's got good progression. There's just a lot of fun. There's

a ton of polish to it. And I think it's worth checking out. So hopefully that puts this game back on your radar if it fell off. Like I said, we did not want it to fall off our radar. But maybe at some point, we'll pick it up. There's just so many games like that. I don't know. You guys remember Aliens Fireteam, that three-player kind of horror shooter, but in the Alien universe?

That's another one that we were very interested in that just unfortunately we didn't have time to check out. But I feel like these games, I don't want to call them a dime a dozen because it makes it seem like they're not fun, but usually they are a lot of fun. But it's just the how long is the gameplay going to last? Does it start to feel routine after a while? And so on. But I think Back 4 Blood does enough that you're going to definitely get your money's worth out of it. And so that's why I wanted to just bring it up in this bonus episode, kind of give you guys an idea of why we're not doing a deep dive on it. Make sure that you guys know that we do recommend it. It is a fun game.

But check it out. Watch some gameplay. If this is kind of your genre, then definitely take a try on it. I think you're going to really enjoy it. Okay, that's it for this episode. Thank you guys for the support. Paul and I have said this many, many times, but this podcast would not exist if it wasn't for people like you that are actually helping out to support it. There's a lot of expense and work and stuff like that that goes into bringing the show to everybody. And it really, really does matter to Paul and I that you all are willing to support those efforts and help pitch in so that we can have this podcast and kind of bring it to the world. So thank you from Paul and myself for that. Okay, I'm out. I will see you on the next bonus episode. Have a good one, everybody.

Goodbye.