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Left 4 Dead Statistics Show That Players Love Brain Salad, Hate Witches

Nathan Grayson — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:39:20 -0600

While drowning in an ocean of famished zombies attempting to grind your brains to make their bread, paying attention to the blips and bloops of tiny achievement indications is a tad difficult. Fortunately, according to Valve's newly released list of Left 4 Dead achievement statistics, you're not missing much.

Oh sure, Valve has loaded its game with wacky (and easily pun-able) methods of undead dead-making, but at this early stage of the game, only a small percentage of players have truly lived during their short spurts of undeath.

Especially noticeable, not a single player has managed to slay their way to the "Zombie Genocidest" achievement, which forces players to sacrifice 53,595 hapless zombies in order to appease its dark whims.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, 73.9% of players have laid claim to the "Drag and Drop" achievement -- wherein, you're simply required to chop through a Smoker's tongue before one of your buddies takes any damage.

So, which L4D achievements adorn your trophy case? Is your zombpocalypse training nearly complete, or are you only beginning to learn your ABZ's?

Exclusive: Full List of Official Left4Dead Achievements

Norman Chan — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:25:32 -0500

We'd slay zombies all day just for the heck of it, but turns out you can earn some sweet rewards for putting down the undead. Steam (and Xbox 360) achievement points, to be exact. Valve Software has hooked us up with the official full list of Left4Dead's 50 game achievements, which can be earned on both the Survivor and Infected side (in Versus mode). Among our favorites in the list? "Zombie Genocidest", which requires that we kill 53,595 common infected zombies, and "101 Cremations", which you earn by setting 101 infected on fire with the molotov cocktail.

Edit: There are actually only 50 achievements, not 52.

Dead Stop    Punch a Hunter as he is pouncing.    10
Drag and Drop    Rescue a Survivor from a Smoker's tongue before he takes damage.    20
Cr0wnd    Kill a Witch with a single headshot.    30
Untouchables    No Survivors take damage after contacting the rescue vehicle.        30
Blind Luck    You or another Survivor take no damage after being vomited on by a Boomer.    20
My Bodyguard    Protect any Survivor from an attacking Infected 50 times.        15
Akimbo Assassin    Survive a campaign firing no guns other than pistols.        30
Field Medic    Heal 25 Survivors with a first aid kit.        20
Pharm-assist    Give pain pills to 10 Survivors.        20
Helping Hand    Revive 50 incapacitated Survivors.        20
Hero Closet    Rescue a Survivor trapped in a closet.        10
Hunter Punter    Shove a Hunter off of a pinned and helpless Survivor.    10
Tongue Twister    Kill a Smoker who has grabbed you with his tongue.    20
No Smoking Section    Kill 10 Smokers as they are pulling helpless Survivors.    15
101 Cremations    Set 101 Infected on fire.        20
Do Not Disturb    Sneak past all Witches in a campaign without disturbing one.    20
Man vs Tank    Single-handedly kill a Tank.    30
Tankbusters    Kill a Tank without it dealing any damage to a Survivor.    20
Safety First    Play through a campaign with no Survivors taking friendly fire damage.        30
No-One Left Behind    Beat a campaign with all 4 Survivors.        20
Unbreakable    Beat a campaign without ever using a first aid kit on yourself.        30
Witch Hunter    Kill a Witch without any Survivor taking damage from her.    20
Red Mist    Kill 1000 Infected with a mounted machine gun.        20
Pyrotechnician    Blow up 20 Infected in a single explosion.        20
Zombie Genocidest    Kill 53,595 Infected.        20
Dead Giveaway    Heal a fellow Survivor when your own health is below 10.        10
Ground Cover    Save another Survivor from a Special Infected while on the ground.        30
Clean Kill    Shove a Boomer and then kill him without him splashing on anyone.    10
Stand Tall    Survive a campaign without being incapacitated.        20
Back 2 Help    Leave a safe room to save an incapped teammate and bring them back safely.        20
Zombicidal Maniac    Survive any campaign on Impossible.        30
What Are You Trying To Prove?    Survive all campaigns on Impossible.        35
Lamb 2 Slaughter    Incapacitate a Survivor after he has entered and exited a safe room.        20
Nothing Special    Survive a campaign with no Survivors taking damage from Specials.        30
Burn the Witch    Light a Witch with a Molotov.    10
Towering Inferno    Light a Tank with a Molotov.    10
Spinal Tap    Kill an Infected with a single blow from behind.        10
Stomach Upset    All Survivors complete a campaign without being vomited on.    20
Brain Salad    Make 100 headshot kills.        15
Jump Shot    Headshot a Hunter while he's leaping.    20
Mercy Killer    Survive the No Mercy campaign.        15
Toll Collector    Survive the Death Toll campaign.        15
Dead Baron    Survive the Dead Air campaign.        15
Grim Reaper    Survive the Blood Harvest campaign.        15
Barf Bagged    Cover four Survivors with Boomer bile at once.    20
Big Drag    Drag a Survivor x distance with your tongue.    20
Chain Smoker    Constrict two Survivors on one life as a Smoker.    20
Double Jump    Pounce two different Survivors on one life as a Hunter.    20
All 4 Dead    Kill all four Survivors on one life as a Tank.    30
Dead Wreckening    Dole out 5000 total Survivor damage as a Special Infected.        20

Achievement Unlocked: More Please

<a href="/david_murphy">David Murphy</a> — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 20:13:53 -0500

I realize I take a lot of pot shots at Microsoft. Sometimes, it's just that easy. From the eternal screw-ups that are the Vista operating system, to my continual annoyance at overpriced Xbox Live items, to Microsoft's utter failure in just about any area they try to expand into... well, you get the idea. It's like a Will Ferrell sketch; Microsoft's always good for a laugh, even if you don't get a gut-buster each time.

But I will hand it to the company, the one thing they've managed to get right has been enough to turn me away from the PC as a gaming platform. And I'm still amazed that the concept -- Xbox Live/Games for Windows's achievements -- hasn't permeated across the entire PC gaming marketplace. It's just that awesome, and would surely give us computer enthusiasts a reason to play games like Overlord on our PC, instead of the console.

For those living under a rock, here's the achievement system in a nutshell. When you play any Xbox 360 game or either of the two Games for Windows-branded titles, there are a number of little goals you can hit: kill five guys at once, explore the entire map, jump off a building, et cetera. Nail one, and you get points on your "gamerscore," which is just a running tally of all the cool achievement stuff you've done that's tied to your Live account. Basically, the entire system runs on the concept of bragging rights, but it's a powerful system indeed.

I've been chugging through Overlord lately, because I will always play any game that even remotely resembles the hilarity of the Dungeon Keeper series. Although I completely forgot that this game is dual-platform. To attest to the power of the achievements system, I've actually been giving serious thought to dropping the PC version I've been playing. I'm hardly egotistical when it comes to gaming, but I just don't see much of a thrill in digital experiences that don't give me some kind of external gratification beyond playing the game as-is. Sure, I can come in to work and be all, "Hey guys, Overlord rocks! I killed a bunch of guys!" But it's just not the same as being able to show my friends exactly what I've done. And better yet, match my in-game accomplishments against theirs.

It's the exact reason why I play one song in Guitar Hero II so religiously -- I want people to see that I've nailed a 500K score, or over 1,000 notes in a row. Achievements are a perfect way to bridge a multiplayer setting into a single-player experience. And at this point, I could care less what Microsoft may or may not have a monopoly on, because I would be more than happy to have a single, unified system of achievements for every game that comes out on the PC. At the very least, it would give me a way to have a history of all the game's I've played purely for nostalgia's sake. Sure, Xfire can accomplish that; so can an excel chart. But neither is as fun (or as addictive) as Live achievements.

That said, the achievements system could use a bit of tweaking. I like it when achievements are directly related to the style of the game -- like Shadowrun, for instance. Since it's entirely multiplayer, it makes sense to have nearly every achievement be tied into playing the game with other people. Easy 'nuff. But it sucks when achievements are attached to modifiers over which you have no control -- like killing 100 Vista gamers if you're an Xbox user, or vise versa. I'd rather my achievements be based purely on skill or some in-game element I can actually do. Face it, games have a lifespan. And nothing is more infuriating than trying to beat a game to its 1,000/1,000-point completion, only to find that 300 points or so are nigh-impossible tasks, like "play online with one million people at once," or "get this fancy viral achievement from someone else even though the servers are empty wastelands right now ha-ha."

I like pretty graphics, dual-monitor support, and all the fancy trappings of modern PC games. I've always been a PC Gamer at heart, and I consider The Vede the brother I never had. But give me a choice between a title's PC or console version, and unless the gameplay is absolutely ill-designed for my 360, you'll find my ass on the couch and a controller in my hand 9 times out of 10. Pull my gaming sessions out of their lonely, single-player trappings, and I'll gladly go back to my desk.