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::PUBLISHER::
Valve/Electronic Arts
::DEVELOPER::
Certain Affinity / Valve
::GENRE::
First-Person Shooter
::RELEASE DATE::
11/20/08
::PLAYERS::
1-4
::LIVE::
Voice Support, Voice Messaging, Leaderboards, Marketplace Downloads, Players Co-op: 1-4, Players: 2-8
::COST::
59.99
::FEATURES::
Players: 1-2, Players Co-op: 1-2, Multiplayer Versus, System Link: 2-4, Dolby 5.1 Surround, HDTV 1080p, Hard Drive Required, Storage Device
Good: Co-op!
Bad: Very short game.
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Left 4 Dead Review
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Left 4 Dead is like the best haunted house you’ve ever been to and one that you can go back to time after time with new twists and turns. Me and Dameon White take a stab at this blessing of a game.
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Dameon White
Left 4 Dead is easily this year’s best multiplayer game as far as I’m concerned. Why wouldn’t it be? It’s 4-Player Co-Op was designed from the ground up with the sole purpose of playing with friends. To make sure that the game doesn’t get stale, a new enemy AI engine was created that changes where, when, how and how many enemies will attack you every time you play the game again. The engine will also change were items are placed or if the item will be in the level at all the next time you play. This not only keeps the game feeling fresh, but it prolongs the life of what is otherwise a pretty short campaign for both solo and co-op play.
L4D features a total of four scenarios where you must fight your way to a series of safe houses until you finally reach a rescue point. The game’s story is not unlike what you’d expect from a cheesy zombie action-flick, but is done well. Each level starts off with a showing of a movie poster that’s filled with each of the four characters, but in place of a character name are the names of you and your friends (default character names of Zoey, Bill, Louis and Francis will display when playing solo or when a party member is not filled). Following the poster is a quick camera pan of the area, a little chatter between members and a little radio chatter encouraging you to get to the rescue point. You start off in a safe house and must move to the next safe house, fighting hordes of enemies along the line.
Valve has introduced what to me feels like what a zombie action game is all about. Instead of following the traditional stigma of slow movie zombies, Valve programmed the AI straight from the flick from which game takes its name and various other Hollywood caliber zombie movies. What this means is that these bastards come hard, fast and in grossly exaggerated numbers that is nonetheless completely satisfying. You never really know what’s around the next corner. You may see one zombie creeping in the corner, but what you may not see is that there are actually 20 or more zombies lurking in the darkness behind him. Make a little noise – like accidentally setting off a car alarm or shooting very heavily – and you will quickly find yourself finding off hundreds of zombies at once. This gives a very strong feeling of urgency to the game and a respect for being as quiet as possible. The latter of which I will admit I’m no fan of and I will make as much noise as possible just so I can bask in a screen full of angry zombies. Yes, it’s that satisfying.
If there was anything I could possibly complain about it would be both the price tag of the game and the graphics. While the game is no graphical slouch, it’s no where near what you would expect from a game being developed under today’s standards. Those familiar with The Orange Box won’t have any time easily identifying the graphical engine that was used here, as it easily resembles a darker version of Team Fortress 2. This, of course, is not bad, but you can’t help but wonder what the game would it have been like if it had a bit more realism to it. To its credit, the artistic choice of the game most certainly allows for all of those enemies to appear on screen with no slowdown whatsoever, which would be pretty difficult if the visual flare was turned up a notch.
The price - while being a normal $59.99 - I feel is somewhat hard to justify give the fact that not only is the game incredibly short, you can’t help but feel like you’re playing what equates to an add-on more than a full fledged game. You can easily see this being just another game that could have been packaged with something like The Orange Box. Despite the AI changing each time you play, the fun will wear off quickly for some since the levels and paths from point to point remain unchanged and it gets easier and easier to beat each time you play. Most will play this game until they get the achievements they want and then will stop playing it until someone else picks it up for the first time or you want to just go have a little fun blowing the heads off zombies. Some add-on packs and extra levels will definitely increase the length of the game, but until they start showing regular support in the near future the price tag doesn’t quite justify what you’re getting.
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9
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9.5
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If the price doesn’t bother you, the game is definitely worth picking up if not for the simple enjoyment of blowing the heads off hundreds of zombies. Even if you’re not an achievement whore Valve has managed to make the experience worthwhile and you’ll have a fun and challenging time trying to unlock them all.
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