Lesser Mutations

The first two mutations, Realism Versus and Bleed Out, both appealed to me as challenging new game modes.  I enjoyed playing both, and would quite happily return to either.. so I was quite happy to see that Realism Versus is to be added as a permanent game mode.

On to the newer mutations..

The third mutation was Follow the Liter, a mutated Scavenge mode in which only one group of cans appear at a time.  Testing out this mode on the last section of The Passing, I found it made the level a little too easy.

Normally, my group communicate using mumble, with the exception of the odd one or two who don’t have voice.  We’re fairly good at working together, and on this level at least, are quite efficient at clearing out groups of cans while still being able to defend ourselves.

I feel that this mode just removes the need to communicate.  Everybody knows where to go, reducing the need for communicating to simply dealing with the infected.  I’m afraid to say this mode didn’t really get much of a replay during the week.

This week’s mutation involves my favourite little guy, Gnome Chompski!

In Last Gnome on Earth, the mission is much the same as when completing the Guardin’ Gnome achievement – carry the gnome through the level to the finish and thereby rescue him.  The difference is that this time, Gnome Chompski is a beacon for the common infected, and they will swarm to anybody carrying the gnome.
We found this added to the difficulty a little, which was nice, but having rescued the gnome so many times in Dark Carnival, this felt a little bit too much of the same.

Next week’s mutation will be an “encore week”, with either Bleed Out, Follow the Liter or Last Gnome on Earth coming back for another showing.  I’m voting for Bleed Out 🙂

First Mutations

With the release of The Passing, Valve also started on their series of Mutations; weekly game modes with changes in gameplay which could turn out to be very interesting, and some of which may be made permanent in the game..

The first mutation was Realism Versus, combining the multiplayer versus mode with the rather tough Realism mode.   I wasn’t convinced when I first heard of this game mode, expecting it might be a bit too hard to be really fun.  However, with some awesome friends and a voice server, it was a decent challenge, though the infected side of course had the edge.  A quick attack could easily lead to valuable time ticking away while other survivors located the downed player.. fantastic for infected, frantic for humans, but great fun all the same 🙂

Bleed Out was the second mutation, this time for the campaign mode, and released via slightly temperamental update on Friday evening.   This game mode was billed to allowed the use of temporary health only: characters start off with their health ticking away from the off.  I didn’t expect this mode to be too difficult: when playing with friends, we’re used to rationing our health and surviving on pills for some time anyway, and this is how it turned out for us here too.

We discovered a slight flaw in the final level of The Passing, though, with the original survivors throwing down health packs.  However, you don’t have to use them 😉

I’d be quite happy for either of these modes to be made permanent.. both were a different challenge from the usual game.  Looking forward to seeing the other modes over the next few weeks too..