Left 4 Dead: Best online zombie game ever! (Left 4 Dead (PC))

Member Name: rambo26

Product:	Left 4 Dead (PC)
Date:	10/10/09 (90 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Innovative, fun, replayable, new content over time

Disadvantages: No plot, best played online, some players are objectionable

Left 4 Dead is an innovative co-operative first-person shooter with zombies from Valve. Valve have brought us the legendary Half-life series and are also well known for purchasing and developing successful mods, these are Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat and Team Fortress 2. Clearly Valve has produced or been involved in the development of, great first-person shooters and enjoyable multiplayer shooters. As for zombie games, I love the Resident Evil series and other nice horror titles, zombies can provide great entertainment when included properly in films and games.

I only heard about this title from a friend a day or two before it was released. As a new title I don't believe it had anywhere near the level of hype that sequels to classic games can receive. The game cost around £28 from Game on the high street. The price has fallen a little since then and is quite a good deal, games like this can have great replay value as every online game is different.

L4D simply involves four human 'Survivors' plotted against the endless 'Infected' zombies and some 'Special' infected. There were initially three game modes; 'Single player', 'Campaign' and 'Versus', but later 'Survival' mode was added in a major update.

The human characters are a deliberately diverse group, with outfits that stand apart from each other. There is Bill, an old veteran wearing a green beret; Francis, a tough biker with tattoos and a bald head; Louis, a black IT worker in office clothing; and Zoey, a young college student with a red jacket that seems to stand out. There's lots of voice acting for each of them so they yell out relevant and sometimes funny lines throughout the game. I like the design of these characters, they are unique and memorable, the graphical detail is very good and the voice acting is spot on. I tend to pick Francis, his jokes can be funny, just for their timing.

Avid FPS fans will want to know what guns you can use! This is a fairly realistic (perhaps excluding the zombie apocalypse) game and the weapons are typical firearms that people would want to get their hands on. Players always wield a sidearm M1911 pistol, this is weak but very accurate and has infinite ammo. Find another pistol and you can dual-wield! The first primary weapons you will use are an Uzi and a pump-action shotgun. You can only choose one of these, so the choice is important as they're really different. The more powerful weapons on later levels are the Assault rifle (M16A3), Remington Automatic shotgun and the Hunting rifle. Again your tactics must suit the weapon you choose. I tend to use the shotgun all the time, it's really powerful and I like to run up and blast zombies with it! There are also fixed miniguns at a few places, for a team member to man and mow down enemies in it's range. Some may think there should be more choices of guns, but I think the selection is fine, these are realistic, fun to use, and let your team specialise.

Other items are 'grenades' and healing items. You can pick up a single 'grenade' if you find one. This will be a Pipe-bomb, or a Molotov cocktail. You throw a beeping pipe-bomb and watch the infected rush towards it, only to be completely blown up. It's a fun addition that you will enjoy using in panicked moments. The molotov is great for setting certain enemies on fire, it can also block entrances for a number of seconds, this is usually my preferred 'grenade' weapon. There are also gas tanks and petrol containers that can be picked up and detonated by a well aimed round. To heal are 'Pills' and 'Medkits'. Pills will restore your health, but only temporarily. Medkits restore almost all health but take a while to use. This simple range of items are all useful and work really well. I especially like how you can heal your teammates or throw them some pills, giving the team a real feeling of comradery.

The 'Infected' enemies are what makes this game special, these include unique characters that impress with their ugliness and special abilities. The most common zombie enemies are your standard drones that will usually only prove deadly in large groups, they can run quite fast at times, but generally you just mow them down with the rest of your team. The 'Hunter' is an agile chap in a hoodie that can pounce, jumping large distances and if lucky, land on a human to start tearing them up on the ground. They can also perform a simple scratch. The danger with this enemy is that you can't escape a pounced hunter unless a teammate shoots or hits him off! The 'Smoker' is a tall ugly guy with an absurdly long tongue to grab a human with. You can't escape once he's wrapped you, so you've got to look out for each other. The 'Boomer' is a hideous, obese fellow that literally showers you with a toxic vomit mixture that temporarily blinds you and attracts zombies like nothing else. When you shoot the Boomer, he explodes, so you need to stay back or risk getting covered in bile! This character is just a great if disgusting innovation and my hat is off to whoever came up with him. The 'Tank' is the final enemy, he's the boss and is just a huge lump of upper body muscle that runs around hitting you or throwing a big rock (a lump from the ground I guess). He takes a lot of concentrated fire to take down and will often crush the human team single-handedly. Throwing a Molotov does conveniently set him on fire. This diverse bunch that make up the Infected will be there to stop you on every level and game type, their unique abilities create very interesting scenarios and are what make this game such good fun!

L4D uses an 'AI director'. This is basically a clever system that the developers have created which means the Infected will attack in different ways and at different time intervals on all the levels. This is key to making the game re-playable and full of suspense. You will be shocked, scared and sometimes laugh at the different ways things turn out.

In most games, the team of four Survivors start in the 'Safe room'. This is a small room with firearms, ammo and some medkits. The safe room separates levels, and gives the team a respawn point in the event of failure. This is a convenient feature to connect levels and I like the similarity with Resident Evil games.

There are four campaigns, each with five levels. (There is now a new 5th campaign that I haven't got around to playing yet!). These tend to get progressively more difficult and they end with a final level where the team aims to escape on some sort of rescue vehicle. They are very different in appearance and style, ranging from a hospital, a house by the sea, an airport and a spooky farm. There are nice locations that make for good gaming, including bridges, an elevator and a rooftop. There are several 'Event' points, where the team activates a mission critical object and is immediately attacked by several waves of Infected. These are great, they add suspense and let the team employ more cooperation and planning.

Single player mode does not realise the game's potential. It is simply Campaign mode but with no other human players. It's a good choice for new players and for obtaining certain 'Achievements' but you don't get to enjoy the game as it was intended. Saying that, the AI of your team is quite impressive, but just doesn't compare to the spontaneity of humans. Campaign mode is a good starting point. You can choose from Easy to Extreme difficulties, and you will find the difference certainly is extreme. Campaign is the best for a long game with a team of supportive players. There is an engaging thrill during intense moments when teamwork becomes even more important. I want to add that some players, known as 'griefers', are such nihilistic scum, that they join a game only to crush yours and others fun by killing you. This can really hurt on the Extreme difficulty and mess up your game. It's a shame people like this exist.

Versus mode is probably the best for playing over and over. This involves up to eight players, split between Survivor and Infected sides. Playing as Infected is even more fun in my opinion, and as far as I know unique to this game. Each team plays as both sides on each level, whilst a team score builds up over the five levels of a campaign. Playing as the Tank and other special Infected is great fun, especially when you learn some tactics and strategies. For example, on one level as a Smoker, you can drag a human player right off of a ledge and they fall 30 odd feet to the ground and are usually doomed. The other Infected types have all sorts of places to hide and exploit, you can also use teamwork to your advantage just as effectively when playing as the Infected. Versus is my favourite game type, it can be hilarious and a real challenge. With human players working closely on both sides you will always have a different experience.

The biggest update from Valve has been an entire new game mode! This is the great advantage of the Steam content delivery system and shows dedication from Valve as they continue adding to long released games. The new mode 'Survival', is different in that you play as the Survivors against unending waves of Infected. Your sole goal is to survive for as long as possible. This is a completely different game mode and is lots of fun as your team fights frantically. There are also lots of levels to play and achieve a record time for, including the new 'Lighthouse' level. Your team has all the time to prepare, setting gas tanks and petrol containers, before one of you activates the switch and the infinite horde approaches. This game mode probably requires the most serious teamwork and communication to succeed. I really like this addition to the game, it adds much more value to an already very good multiplayer title.

I should comment on the sound and music effects. The voice acting and sound are all virtually perfect and suit the game. Sound effects like alarms and machinery add to the ambience. The music is linked to events. For example the Tank boss enemy has a distinctive theme and the music changes violently when zombies storm your team. The music is another brilliant aspect of the game.

Like many modern games, players can permanently earn 'Achievements'. Perhaps a little obsessively, I enjoy obtaining these. Some new ones have been added since, but I played tirelessly to finally nab all of them. With Survivor mode's addition, 'Medal' achievements in bronze, silver and gold are available for every level. This is a nice incentive to play this mode and achieve the difficult gold (10 minute) survival times. I like the presence of an achievement list, I feel it encourages playing the game in different ways that one may not usually do and is just really rewarding to complete the list.

A very recent update has added a fifth campaign and some achievements. I have not even played this yet, but I will add that it goes to show how generous Valve are with updates, providing so much new content free of charge. Left 4 Dead 2 is due out in November. I'm sure it will also deliver as a great online game. Some in the community are annoyed at this sudden sequel and just want more free updates, but it is completely reasonable for Valve to charge for a new product they have worked hard to create.

In conclusion, Left 4 Dead is an outstanding multiplayer game. It's much less of an experience in Single player mode, so don't buy it for just that. It's a better experience with reliable friends (I have added lots that I found while playing), and as with all online activity, there are rude and destructive people. The game lacks a real plot or story, so treat it as a multiplayer-only classic.

(Review also at Ciao)

Summary: One of the best online FPS games