my 1st try at Left 4 Dead

First, fan-art:
http://mysticdragon3.deviantart.com/art/tails-1-animated-gif-285517252

Last night, I tried Valve's "Left 4 Dead" for the first time.  And it was surprisingly fun.  0.0!
I was visiting my brother, and it turned out that he found the game on sale, with all the downloadable content, already included on disk.  It was a little unusual that he bought it, because he doesn't play first-person shooters.

It was a little unusual for me too.  A lot, actually.  I *especially* don't play first-person shooters.  A little too intense for me.  I can barely handle _3rd-person_ horror-survival games.  I can't get past the intro for the first "Dead Space", and after just 5 minutes of "Resident Evil: Code Veronica", I just had to stop the disk.  #~___~#;;;  I tried some "Halo" once before, and one of the "Call of Duty: Modern Warefare" games.  But that was because I was desperate to do anything besides all that overly-personal, girly chit-chat that the other girls at the party wanted to do.  I can't exactly say that FPS (first-person shooter) games are counter-intuitive for me, but for someone who plays almost nothing but 2-D fighting games and hack-n-slash games, I was getting too confused with the interface to really have fun.  ;_;

Not so with "Left 4 Dead".  ^_^  Even though I expected the same awkwardness that I usually have with FPSes, "Left 4 Dead" was just sooooooo intuitive.  Partially because I was used to playing Tenchu and overly-using the targetting viewer.  And partially because Kingdom Hearts had gotten me used to analog sticks for POV control---and that took me *forever* to get the hang of.  Perhaps this type of control scheme is a popular trend that Valve was smart to pick up on.  (I reeeally don't play enough FPSes to know...~_~; )  Whatever the reason, such intuitive play controls lessened the bite of that annoying acclimation time that usually makes games utterly unenjoyable for me, if it weren't for my stubbornness to get through it.  I'm still getting accustomed to FPS and "Left 4 Dead", so it was really surprising that by the end of the night, my brother and I had finished an entire mission.  O_O!  That never happens so easily for us!  I had no idea we could do that in such an open game, without strategy guides, FAQs, or knowing what the heck we were doing.  It gave a sense of accomplishment that makes playing the game again, less intimidating.  And not only did it give confidence in the game being rewarding with the next try, but it also built *my* confidence against those horror games.  ^_^  It reminded me of that exhilerating, empowered feeling from playing the first Devil May Cry.  I had always heard from people, watched documentaries, and seen Valve's craftsmanship in cutscenes, as well as in-game clips, but now I can finally see first-hand why Valve is proclaimed as one of the great game publishers/studios. 

So how did the "No Mercy" mission with my brother end?  Right when the helicopter was about to rescue us from the zombies, that huge Tank enemy punched me off the roof.  x_x;;;  Ironic and hilarious.  But not as entertaining as the "in memory of md3" line right before the end credits.  ^u^  Oh, Valve!