Left 4 Dead

Being a gamer, I've found myself pitted against Zombies many, many times. However, none were so intense as Left 4 Dead; a co-operative first person shooter, developed by Valve and Certain Affinity for PC and X-Box 360 respectively.

Left 4 Dead puts players in the shoes of 1 of 4 survivors, pitted against not only many hordes of regular zombies, but also 5 special "Infected".

STORY
Left 4 Dead takes place after the outbreak of a Rabies-like Virus which manifests itself as massively increased aggression and the loss of many higher brain functions within its victim. That's really the only information that the player is given, and they may have to fill in the blanks themselves.

Players take control of Bill (an aged war veteran), Zoey (a horror movie buff), Louis (an office intern) and Francis (the tattooed biker) as they battle to safety in various settings, surrounded by infected.

Alot of the story is related to you via scrawlings on the walls of safehouses, courtesy of earlier survivors. Alot of these give the player insight on what is happening, as well as conveying a good amount of humour.

PRESENTATION
Left 4 Dead looks and feels like you would expect the zombie apocalypse to be. There's a sense of danger in this game that's always present, and each play-through will NEVER be the same.
Settings are dark and eerie, with clear signs of destruction and abandonment littered around, such as burnt out cars and broken walls/fences.
Valve has effectively created a terrifying environment, so much so, that zombies could be replaced with teddy bears, and you'd still get the feeling of a Zombie Apocalypse.

Music is controlled by the Music Director, and each players audio mix is affected by what they have experienced. Say for example a game has 4 players in it; each player will hear a different mix.
The spooky music composition really helps to convey the mood of this apocalyptic setting.

Voice Acting in Left 4 Dead is of fairly high quality, and helps to endear each character to the player, making us feel for them whenever they get pounced on by a hunter, or downed by the witch. Although cut-scenes with dialogue don't appear, their voices will alert players to certain aspects of the game, such as the presence of pills, first aid kits, guns and certain special infected. There isn't a whole lot of variation to the lines though.
By the end of my time with it, I was dreading each time Louis spotted some pills, and cheerfully yelled "PILLS HERE!".
One may think he had an addiction of some kind... but i wont insinuate that...coz he's black... and people might think I'm racist.

Sounds made by the infected also raise the quality of the presentation; and help set the horrific scenes. Players may hear a witch's sobbing, sending a chill down their spines. I know this happened to me on more than one occasion.

GAMEPLAY
The Gameplay in Left 4 Dead is fairly straightforward; you have a gun, go shoot things. However, unlike most first-person shooters, L4D has a primary focus on Co-operative play. 4 player co-operative campaigns are available to play online, as well as split-screen co-op and even a single player campaign (where the player is accompanied by 3 AI players).
When I say the focus is on co-op, i really mean it. Special infected such as the tank, or the witch will need to be taken down as a team to minimize damage taken; and others such as the smoker or the hunter require a team-mate to rescue you if you're attacked by them.

Controls work well and the difficulty of each play-through is controlled by the AI Director, along with other things such as the placement of ammo and supplies.
A rather small variety of weapons makes the game seem a little more realistic, and the Director's rare ammo drops really heightens the sense of danger the player will feel.
Weapons work the way you would expect them to, but most are missing an Aim Down Sight feature; so unless you use the hunting rifle, its not easy to blow a zombies head off at 50 metres away.
Left 4 Dead works perfectly fine in single player, and you wont have to battle with your 'tard team mates over who has to play as Zoey.

Now to the point that really made Left 4 Dead stand out to me; the ability to play as the special infected in the online VS mode.
After a while, all first person shooters seem a bit familiar when played online; but not L4D. With the ability to play as Boomers, Hunters, Smokers and Tanks whilst trying to destroy the 4 human controlled survivors, this game offers hours of infected fun, on top of a pretty cool, if not slightly repetitive Story Campaign.

REPLAYABILITY
Valve's Zombie party (aka L4D) holds replayability as one of its biggest selling points. And i completely agree with it, to a degree. Thanks to the AI and Music Director, no encounter will ever be exactly the same. Both Zombies AND supplies spawn at different spots in each play through, creating a different experience each time.
However, you only have a limited amount of areas to play through over and over again, and they start to feel a bit the same after a while. Despite the different experiences each player will have, gameplay may get a bit repetitive after a while. And players may get fed up with being stuck as Zoey. Or Louis. I'm not racist!

The multiplayer feature (versus that is) allows for many more hours of game time by allowing players to take control of infected, and run rampant through maps hunting for the survivors. This feature alone may have gamers rushing back to this game for more Infected fun.

OVERVIEW
This review may seem shorter than previous reviews because, as much fun as i had with L4D, it wasn't particularly long at all. But what little of it there is, is actually quite fantastic.
My main problems with the game were the lack of a detailed story, as well as no infected gameplay for singleplayer or even splitscreen. And as different as the AI Director can make each encounter, it still feels rather similar each time around, no matter what happens.
The feeling of repetition isn't helped by the limited dialogue, though the voice acting is quite high quality.

I hate saying this, because it really goes without saying, but this game is one that gets better with other people. But isn't that true of so many things? I'm sure I'd have had more fun with Far Cry 2 if it were Co-op, but that doesn't mean its good. But what DOES make Left 4 Dead truly exceptional is the presentation and simple but effective gameplay. No other game has given me such a sense of danger as Left 4 Dead has, and that's why I'd recommend it to anyone with the means to play it.
This game is fun, despite repetition, and its really a must-try in my opinion.

But god i hate Louis.... he startled the witch, what can i say?.... I'm not racist!


It was nice to finally see a game revolving around zombies, not just featuring them as enemies, replaceable with ninjas or soldiers.
Definitely had fun in this one, not sure where my next reviews gunna go. So keep checking back, and I'll see you next time. =D