Killing zombies has always been fun, right?
But after you’ve played through a survival-horror game involving zombies, you come to expect where a zombie will be and where they won’t be; the suspense and surprise fades after a while. Not with this game, though. With Left 4 Dead, there is a unique AI algorithm (aptly named The Director) that changes everything on the fly. Weapon locations, health locations, and even zombie locations–you name it. So, in essence, every single play-through, whether it be by yourself or with friends, is majorly different. For instance, you could be playing through the first act, titled No Mercy, and encounter very few zombies and just a couple of “specials” (Hunters who pounce from a distance, Smokers who constrict with their lengthy tongue, and Boomers who vomit horde-attracting bile). The second time you play through it, you could encounter a horde of special zombies and hardly any weapons. With that, it changes the suspense and surprise, and that’s the shining point of Left 4 Dead.
The sad part about the game, though, is it has only four movie-length campaigns. Also, it’s not set up in a story-book fashion; from what I could tell as I played, each campaign didn’t have much to do with each other. With few campaigns, playing through on normal only took me five hours (yes, in one sitting). However, if you amp up the difficulty, it’d add plenty of longevity. Knowing Valve, though, they’ll most likely release more campaigns as DLC, which will probably be welcomed with open-arms by the consumers.
On the multiplayer side of the game, it’s basically the same. The only difference is that there’s a scoring system in the Versus game mode that pits two alternating teams against each other. One team is the survivors, and the other team is the infected zombie mass. While most people would expect that being the infected is better, it’s actually more difficult. Like being the survivors, you must work together. The exact same could be said for the survivors; you need to work together to reach the safe house and stave off your infected buddies.
All in all, Left 4 Dead is an amazingly great game. It’s even better if you have three other friends to play it with, because you’ll actually have someone to speak to (or have a shoulder to cry on) while you’re surviving the zombie apocalypse.
Rating: 
December 13th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Pretty ballsy giving 5 stars to a 4 hour game that’s only fun with multiple people.
I like your style.
December 13th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
The world needs ballsier people, but I’ll take that as a compliment.
Thank you, kind sir.
December 13th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
I would certainly five star it as well. I’m an unabashed fanboy of Left 4 Dead, though
In spite of it being short, I think that it’s infinitely replayable, and with Versus, well, you’ve got me by the stones.
December 14th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
It was totally a compliment! While it was definitely well-received by the press, I don’t think it earned many “perfect” scores. It’s so easy to echo the sentiment of other reviews (especially when ours usually come out a bit later), that it is nice to see someone deviate from the norm and stand behind it.
I like it, but I’m not in love with it. But my girlfriend can’t stop playing it, so I can definitely see the point of view of those who can’t get enough of it.
December 14th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I had only seen one score for L4D, but I knew what I liked about it and I’m not going to butter it up or something because others are doing it. It pays to be honest.