"Braaaaains..." (Left 4 Dead (PC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Left 4 Dead (PC)
Date:	24/06/09 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb zombie throwback...

Disadvantages: A little limited with maps...

We all love zombie films, and Left 4 Dead, the latest offering from gaming maestros Valve, who turn to gold virtually anything they touch, is about as close as you're going to get to participating in a full-blown zombie invasion. It fuses Valve's FPS experience from the Half Life series with the sheer, unadulterated chaos of multiplayer fare to create a game that is a uniquely frenetic, highly entertaining gaming experience.

The premise is incredibly thin, but like many of the best zombie films, less is more as far as exposition goes - the burned out cars and abandoned streets say as much as you need to know, and to be honest, the ambiguity and not-knowing is far creepier and more effective anyway. The game follows you and three companions as you attempt to survive the zombie invasion. What's great here is the sense of comeraderie between you all - the lines exchanged between the members are frequently hilarious, and totally reinforce the B-movie atmosphere that the situation entails.

And what's special about Left 4 Dead is that the friendly-AI isn't just window dressing like in so many other games - they are vital to your survival and vice versa. These characters aren't just grunts - they have personality, and the fact that there are only three of them with distinctive dress codes and looks, must make this easier. In short, if you venture off away from your buddies, you will be savaged rather quickly. Injury also makes you move slower, so you have to keep your wits about you, and also check to make sure you're not leaving any injured teammates behind. Further still, friendly fire is enabled, meaning you REALLY have to keep your eye out when firing upon the enemy.

The game also avoids the pitfalls of many other survival horror games by always remaining unpredictable and fresh. Despite offering only 4 campaigns which last a little over an hour each, a character called the Director checks in on you ever so often and alters variables such as enemy distribution, health packs etc to accomodate you. If you're finding it too easy, it'll ramp the difficulty up, and vice versa, making this a very well optimised game for a variety of gamers.

What is perhaps the game's real treat, though, is the multiplayer option. There is a delightful versus option wherein you can take part in 4v4 deathmatches, 4 playing as humans, and 4 playing as the infected. Playing as the rabid, savage zombies is something few games have properly attempted before, and here, it is deep and varied: some can vomit on the enemy, some can run, and if you're lucky, you might even land in control of the steroid-pumped, monstrous beast that turns humans to mush in a few hits. The only real downside is that you can only use two maps from the campaign, for some strange reason.

Visually, the game is pretty good for something running on the Source engine. It's not going to rival Crysis or anything for that reason, but there's a high level of detail and a lot of effort put into atmospheric effects like the lighting and use of shadow. Aurally, also, the game finds success - voiceover work is realistic but also presents levity a lot of the time, and the sounds of the zombies attacking sounds like something out of a Romero film if you pumped it with seroids.

Summary: A bold attempt at a much-tread genre