The only situation in which a hunting rifle is viable (at least in competitive play) is when the rest of your team knows what they are doing very well and, most importantly, do not ALSO have hunting rifles, they need to have m16s or auto shotty’s.

It only works if there is one person with it who is very good, and they are only really useful in save players who are trapped by the boss infected (or shooting down hallways/through walls, as the hunting rifle shot will penetrate through multiple zombies)

Also, although this seems rather counter-intuitive, the hunting rifle is the slowest weapon in taking down a tank, both in time-to-kill and ammo clips-to-kill. It takes roughly 3 clips of hunting rifle ammo to kill a tank, where as an assault rifle takes about 2 and a shotgun takes 14-16 shots.

The fastest way to take down a tank is 4 people with auto shotguns in close quarters (an elevator, vent, closet), but the most efficient way is to light them on fire with a molotov or a cannister and then run away, as once they are on fire they will die after a 30 second timer runs out, regardless of their life total.

And anyway, it has the best emergent stories of any game I’ve ever played–by which I mean, not scripted in by the programmers, but stories that arise naturally out of the combination of anxiety and teamwork. Like the time my friend and I were playing with two brothers. The older one was good but the younger one was sort of annoying: He’d always run off by himself and then get into trouble, etc. So at some point during the final scene, my friend and the younger brother got caught outside of the house surrounded by a massive infected swarm, and the kid went inside and shut the door, leaving my friend outside to fend for himself. Later my friend was a little pissed, and he was saying “what the hell? why’d you leave me outside?” That sort of stuff actually happens in horror movies, and it’s a sign of great design that those stories happen by themselves, with subtle prodding by how Valve designed it.

A: GRAAAAAAIIINS!

Like the game was insufficiently terrifying.

But I could be wrong- I haven’t played every gun game evar, after all…

I think I’ll agree with you that there could have been more zombie variation. Actually, my biggest criticism is that they could have done more to make the zombies LOOK different. All the Boomers are identical carbon copies. Compare to Grand Theft Auto, in which each pedestrian has a randomly assigned mix of clothes. You never kill the same person twice.

And I agree with you that L4D seems way too frenetic for a sniper rifle. I never use it. HOWEVER, I’ve heard that those bullets are the most powerful shots in the game. It’s the quickest way to take out a Tank… but you have to be talented enough to aim on the fly. So it’s really a weapon for the shooter junkies.

@Francis, you’re totally right. What’s more, when they try to *act* professional, it’s a sure sign that someone is about to get it in the neck.

@Coldheart – that would be awesome. There could also be a question of when to pull the trigger and start the swarm… do you wait for more zombies to accumulate, or rush them now before the old guy picks up the AK47 in the next room?

So, question: in Left 4 Dead, since you start out as a regular person, does the game let you do things like reload faster or aim better as you play more? Do you have to know how to use one kind of gun before being able to use another properly? That sort of thing- does your character *learn* and thus, I guess you could say, level up?

Another of the many great things about this game: It’s different every time, because the “AI Director” places zombies differently every time you run through the same map. As a result, it’s the first game I’ve ever played where you’re playing against the computer and your team’s tactical cohesion routinely falls to shit. One second, all four of you are a tight unit, walking closely and covering all angles, and then the next you’re swarmed by a horde, blinded by Boomer vomit, firing frantically in all directions. Maybe you’ll accidentally shoot your friend down, maybe he’ll accidentally burn you to death with a molotov.

I suppose this is the difference between a typical action movie and a typical horror movie: In action movies, the protagonists are well-trained and usually in control of most situations. In horror movies, the protagonists are normal people, and when confronted with the need for violence, they often find a way to mess it up. For some reason, that’s fun. Who knew?