8xid_Burned: A Developers Perspective

Review: Left 4 Dead

Review: Left 4 Dead



Being the sucker that I am for zombie films, comics, and (you guessed it) games; I'm sure that you all could have guessed that as soon as the smell of rotting flesh came withing “smelling distance?” I would be picking up Left 4 Dead. Unfortunately, being the editor of RPGX doesn't exactly pay much, so I had to wait a week before I could scrounge up the bread to start the head shot fest.



The game is produced and put together by Valve. If you have played anything Valve then you already know the quality of what we are talking about here. Initially when I saw the screens for this game during beta, the graphics actually didn't look as appealing as I would have liked. However, I knew that the game was running the HL2 Engine so I reserved judgment for the play through. Once loaded, the game looks great. A few artifacts here and there, but nothing that I cannot easily overlook. The one thing I don't like about the HL2 engine is the smoothness that everything seems to have. At times I do feel like I'm still staring at polygons of the old days, but at other times I can barely tell. I have always had a very love hate relationship with the engine, but in this case not only does the style actual “suit” the game, it improves upon earlier ideas with genre significantly.

The opening movie for the game is simply... breathtaking. The only downside to it, there aren't more. The game is set up as 5 different scenarios that take you through the course of 5 different movie clichés . The opening movie gives you a little bit of lead way into the first scenario, but the rest of the “plot” (I use the word loosely) is left up to the players imagination. About the movie, I really would have liked to see an opening sequence like this for every scenario that's started, but I guess you can't have everything.

I mentioned before that there really is no plot or story line that is followed. To some that might sound like a bad thing, but this is a game based on clichés, and once you get playing you will discover that you actually already know the plot. The game runs four characters all with different personalities. There is no difference in playing any one of them, so pick the one you think looks cool. I don't want to spoil it, but the flavor dialogue that goes on between the four of them during the game is priceless.

The game has a single player mode, but there's no point to it. It's exactly like co-op and if you have an Internet connection you're always going to find a full lobby to join. I tested the single player, and the AI is decent. But, nothing will ever substitute for the feeling you get playing with 3 other humans.

Each scenario is spine tingling and challenging enough for any skill level. Easy is... easy, and so on. The difficulties are well represented. The scenarios do what they do well. The main feature of the game is the infinite replay value of the game. No attacks, creatures or events are scripted (accept for a few horde triggers like switches, car alarms, and lights.) Zombies are spawned randomly and at different points in the game. Don't fear, they are spawned before you get anywhere near them, but the game IS always different. Your enemies are made up of a few different zombie types.

Your standard zombies don't do much but claw and bite (and sometimes you can catch them napping.) But one big thing I should mention is they are fast as hell. It doesn't take long for a horde of screaming, running, and clawing zombies to have you surrounded as you run out of ammo.

Then, you have hunters; zombies that can leap a good 40 yards and pin you to the ground while they tear you apart.

Smokers are a particularly nasty zombie creature that have tongues that can grab you from about 100 yards and drag you in. If you do not get a shot off in time, it will be up to your friends to kill the creature before you die.

Boomers are fat zombies that explode when you shoot them causing damage equal to a grenade. Also, if the manage to vomit on you, you will be covered in a slime that attracts the zombie horde to attack you (and you will be blinded for a while.) All there is to do is shoot wild and hope that you don't shoot your team.)

Witches are attracted to light and easily bypassed. But if you should piss one off, she will destroy you in a heart beat in a rage filled frenzy. You will know one is around because the sound like children crying.

Finally, the tank. I need not elaborate because it's exactly what it sounds like. A hulking beast that plows through other zombies to get to you, throws environmental objects at you, and takes a hell of allot of ammo to bring down.

Aside from all this co-op madness, the game actually has a vs. mode. Although a little lame, it's kind of fun. It's team based killing. One side plays as survivors and the other side plays as the zombies. Good for a kick, but I'm not starting a zombie clan any time soon.

Pros: This is an awesome game with high replay value that encourages teamwork and super bad-ass ninja gun skills.

The downside of this game: There aren't enough scenarios. I can play through the entire game in about 4 hours. While replaying the levels does feel great every time, I sure would like some new levels and objectives. The shortness of the game DOES NOT make it feel any less complete, but it does let me down quite a bit. In spite of this, the game is still very close to the top of my favorite games for the year and fairly high on my list of games EVER. I hope that in the future this game will benefit from the add on of DLC scenarios, weapons, and possibly characters.

1. Comment by King_Rat, Dec 22 2008, 06:49 PM

   That video made me pee myself. I want this game so bad.

2. Comment by x8xid, Dec 23 2008, 03:56 PM

   I was readin a review of this game over at Xplay. They gave it 5 out of 5 stars. While this is probably one of the best damned games of the year how can they overlook the fact that the game is short as hell. No to mention COMPLETLY unbalanced vs. mode?!?

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