||||Zombie Cleanup Crew

Killing Floor has been my sole attention this past week. I’ve climbed the learning curve fairly well and am gaining perk levels at a nice pace. I’ve achieved most 2nd level perks – the only notable exceptions being Firebug, which I haven’t tried at all yet, and Demolitions which I’ve gained experience yet but haven’t chosen as a perk yet. This brings up a interesting feature built into the game: you can gain experience in a perk that isn’t active. For example, I’ve gained 2 medic perk levels since I started last week and haven’t used that perk actively at all yet. Some perks do level up on their own better than others, while others take a bit more of a proactive role.

Other notable stats:

• I’ve attained 14 achievements (out of a current max of 65) so far.
• Playing on normal difficulty and in long (10 wave) games. Won on 4 of the original 5 maps.
• Currently enjoying Commando perk the most

This week I also took some time to set up a dedicated Killing Floor server on my linux machine. I tend to start it up when I play and shut it down afterward, but I may keep it up 24/7 at some point if I password-protect it and make it ZCC-access only.

Killing Floor

I had good intentions of finishing the What Are You Trying To Prove achievement in L4D this past weekend, but got distracted when I picked up the “other” zombie coop shooter on Steam. Killing Floor was on sale for $15 during its “play for free” weekend and I couldn’t resist. I had always intended to purchase this one day; its a zombie coop shooting game, so why the heck not!? I guess I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I expected. After three days of spending my evenings playing this I can say without a doubt that its definitely worth what I paid for it. I probably would have paid up to $40 for this actually. Some people are put off by its dated graphics (its powered by the engine from Unreal Tournament 2003/2004) and the fact that it began its humble beginnings as a mod, but there’s a reason why it has a cult following and the game-play is where it shines.

The classes and perks are my favorite aspect of the game. I’ve spent most of my time playing as a Sharpshooter as it seems like the newbie class of the game – pointing at heads and pulling the trigger doesn’t need much explaining. This evening I tried out the Berserker, which is all about getting into the zombies grills with an axe and not being afraid of getting hurt. I’m not sure how long this game will keep my interested more. I still think Left 4 Dead is the more enjoyable game, but there’s got to be something said about trying something new and enjoying yourself with it.

So I’ve played a fair amount of Left 4 Dead this year. I’ve totaled 200+ hrs and reached 66 of out 68 achievements. I used to focus most of my time on Versus mode, but I’ve been enjoying Coop Expert a lot lately. At the moment I would like to finish completing the last 2 achievements remaining: What Are You Trying To Prove and Untouchables? What Are You Trying To Prove requires completion of expert on all four original campaigns.  According to my stats I have only finished expert on Death Toll and Dead Air, but it indicates 3 out of 4 on the progress bar. I have finished No Mercy on expert so its most likely a glitch. Regardless, I will work on the Blood Harvest campaign in expert next – it will be interesting to see whether this completes the achievement for me or whether I’ll have to go back and work on No Mercy again.

A few weeks ago I decided to try and run my own dedicated Left 4 Dead server. It seemed like a good idea because I have a server machine running Ubuntu linux. After a couple days of following various tutorials around the Internet I managed to get it up and running. I decided that it would useful to create a Steam group associated with the server – hence the creation of Zombie Cleanup Crew. The idea was that those who I enjoyed playing with or who enjoyed playing on the server could join Zombie Cleanup Crew, since only group members are able to create a lobby and start a game for the server. So far the group only consists of my gaming neighbour and myself. I’ve come to realize that I don’t have that many consistent gaming buddies online that I could invite to Zombie Cleanup Crew. If you are reading this and are interested in being part of this group, let me know!

Welcome! I am Marshal.

I just finished setting up Wordpress on my Ubuntu server and am glad to finally get this blog started. I call it Zombie Cleanup Crew and its based on anything zombie related. My primary focus at the moment is on the game Left 4 Dead and its sequel arriving very shortly. However, I will also discuss zombie movies and other zombie related games as my focus expands.

The banner of Zombie Cleanup Crew

Zombie Cleanup Crew is also a group I have created on Steam. My nickname in-game is Marshal - recently changed from rek075 (my steam account name). You can usually find me playing L4D on my dedicated server in the evenings. Free free to join me and/or add me as a steam friend. Say “hi” in-game or on this blog and I’ll gladly chat with you about all things zombie related!