I am here to tell you the story of four people, on a deserted highway full of abandoned vehicles and hungry zombies. The survivors first grab some first-aid kits and weapons from the trunk of an empty car. Suddenly a swarm of zombies ran at the four from all directions, coming even out of the forest surrounding the highway. In the midst of the frenzy, one of the survivors accidently shot all the others in the head, with his wide-spraying shotgun. On the next attempt, another of the survivors noticed that one of the others really didn’t use their ability to push back zombies (which can kill zombies after a few whacks, and keep them at bay to reload, or put them at a better distance to shoot without fear of hitting the other survivors), but instead of calling him a “noob”, yelling at him for doing something that will get everyone killed, they simply reminded him every time he accidently hit one of others, to push a zombie back before shooting, if they were too close to another survivor.
Around the second act, things were picking up and getting more intense. Poorly aimed molotov’s that flew over a Tank’s head; Witches startled unnecessarily; the entire group wiped-out because someone threw their pipe bomb too close/soon. And yet, everytime, nobody yelled, got angry, blamed the game for glitches, or called each other names.
By the third act, the four survivors were melding so well together that everything seemed to flow effortlessly, and it was suddenly all about the survivors, as a whole unit, just trying to make it to the evacuation point. Each alleyway, and every store was gone through as a group. When anyone needed to get something, nobody went alone. If they were huddled together, they pushed back the horde as one, and reloaded at separate intervals, so supressing fire was never in short supply.
Each time that the survivors made it to a safe house, all four made it inside, every time. Nobody left anyone behind, who wasn’t already completely dead, no matter how dreary the situation would put you in to rescue them. To each survivor, two shotguns, or assault rifles, were always better than one. Nobody wanted to be left alone. Nobody wanted to be a rogue getting the highest score. Everyone wanted to have at least one other person there to watch their back.
The final act, and the four survivors make it to a house on the water’s edge, and radio a fishing boat to rescue them. One survivor on the gatling gun, one man keeping the zombies off him, one man covering a stairway, and another covering the nearby doorway. Everyone in line of sight of the other. When a Smoker’s tongue grabbed someone, they were instantly recovered. Every Hunter that pounced, was immediately knocked off of the teammate. They needed every bullet they could possibly spare.
The first Tank arrives, and one of the survivor’s goes down. Not good. One less combat shotgun to take down the next Tank that would inevitably show up. Outlook: grim. The lost survivor speaks directions and warnings from beyond the grave to those remaining alive. Three minutes left before the boat arrives. Within moments another wave attacks. They take them down, but barely. All remaining survivors are close to death, and jumpy as hell with the adrenaline rush.
The second Tank, just as the fishing boat comes into view, climbs up the side of the house. All three remaining survivors jump off the balcony, one is incompacitated in the process. He shoots a gas can, setting himself and the Tank aflame. The Tank makes quick work of him, moving on to chase the remaining two. A boulder thrown at one of the two, is then beaten senseless by the now charred-black Tank. The last survivor strafes through the trees with the Tank and a swarm of zombies hot on his heels, just as the fishing boat arrives at the end of the dock.
The screams, shouts and cheers echo forth from my headset as the only survivor left is rescued and the campaign is finally completed.
That was my night last night. Two and a half hours to complete the full Death Toll campaign on Expert. It was truly epic.
Now for the real review, or more accurately, the comparison, as I believe all reviews are merely a series of comparisons to other things put together.
I want to say first that, I believe, Left 4 Dead is the first -truly- co-operative first person shooter ever. I have played many FPS’s for a very long time, from the first Turok games on N64, Goldeneye, Half-Life 1 and 2 (and all the other expansions side stories with it, Opposing Force, etc) as well as Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 1 and 2, Call of Duty 4, Halo 1-3, Metroid Prime series, Battlefield 2142, as well as many other games that require a group (Mario Party, Rock Band, WoW) or team. But most of the time, working as a team is merely a suggestion, when all that matters is that your team, as a whole, got more kills than the other, or captured the flag more times than the other did. Even still, such success only really requires one really good player on the team to achieve the goal of winning. This is not the case with Left 4 Dead.
Left 4 Dead is doing for First Person Shooters what Rock Band has done for Parties. Complete strangers getting together, bringing their various strengths and weaknesses to the table, and just having a terrific time, even if you dont always win, or get the best score. This is something that, in my opinion, has -never- been seen in multiplayer first-person shooter before: The desire to not pwn everyone and get the highest score, while simultaneously making your team hate you by calling them names, just because you have anonymity and want everyone to know you have more free time to devote to video games than they do.
The truth is that Left 4 Dead is the first FPS I have ever played that, in the very nature of its gameplay, weeds out people who dont work well with others. I have logged many, many hours into this game, and played every campaign several times through on Advanced and Expert. And every time I’m in a new group, by the end of the campaign, the other 3 I played with are on my friends list, and I am eager to play with them again some time in the near future.
The fact is that, you really do have to be nice, and be friendly, and realize peoples similarities, and differences, and adapt to them as best as you can. Otherwise nobody gets anywhere, and you start back from the beginning. In my opinion, L4D is also the first truly survivial-horror game, in the sense that, you dont get to save, and the checkpoints can either seem reeeeally far away, or really close depending on the campaign, act, and how pissed off The Director is at you. If you make it to the last 2 feet before the safe house, and everyone dies, you start back from the beginning. Now, usually, this would tick me off about a game, but L4D happens to do this with a new finesse that somehow makes this just fine, and even more exciting and visceral. Somehow, when you dont make it, it always feels like you didnt plan correctly, or execute the plan correctly, rather than the sentiments that the computer AI is over-powered, or your teammates are being “noobs”. If your teammates are “noobs” you have no choice but to help them when they go down. Even if they kill one zombie thats one zombie you dont have to, not to mention that your teammates pills, pipe bombs, molotov’s and med kits will save your life no matter how good they are or aren’t.
This leads me to my next point. The fact is, the premise of the game is that of four strangers having to work together to make it to a safe place, alive, and that everyone relies upon everyone else to survive. No matter the differences of gender, age, or race, the four survivors are all in the same predicament: they’re not infected, and it’s a long way to safety. This is why I personally love the ‘matchmaking’ system. In L4D, you dont get a server list to select from. You pick the campaign and difficulty you want, and whether you want to be in a game that has already started, or one that is about to start. Thats it. For me, this adds, very much, to the in-game idea of four strangers working together. You have very little time to learn your teammates level of skill, experience, weapon of choice, and accuracy. You just run, shoot and figure it out on the fly. Nobody disagrees; everyone gives their two-cents here and there as to the best strategy, but nobody really knows what is coming and therefore nothing can really be planned accurately, since you never know what is around the next corner, thanks to The Director’s random spawns. You can, however, find out how your team works as unique individuals and accommodate your style to best suit the situation, so that you are all functioning, together, as one.
I have been lucky enough not to run into many (if any) glitches that I could say were definitive ‘bugs’ in gameplay. Nor have I played with anyone who used or showed me any ‘exploits. I am not sure if thats because I have been lucky so far, or not. I have read of many issues with glitches, and I really wish I had these glitches, because then I could better understand those who call this game ‘unpolished’ or ‘unfinished’, or even ‘too expensive for what was delivered’. I truly apologize to anyone who has been having any technical difficulties, and I hope that someday soon Valve will fix the issues, and you may be able to experience the game as I have.
In conclusion, I cannot say that this game is ‘perfect’ simply because I dont think such a thing exists. It is everything and more than I thought it would be, based on the demo, it has kept me entertained for hours everyday since its release, it has allowed me to make many new friends, its made me feel physically jittery and jumpy long after I stopped playing, and it was worth every penny I spent on it.
This game can only get better as new updates and releases of maps come out, and I’m sure that there will be terrific player-generated content sometime too. As the game is today, it is everything I could have asked for, and dreamed of in an FPS zombie survival horror game, even surpassing beloved RE4. It is -truly- scary, when you get jumped on by a Hunter, and it is -truly- exhilarating when you complete the campaign, even if your character died.
If you own this game already and haven’t experienced any of what I have mentioned here, I suggest maybe playing this game with friends, playing more often (I may be just lucky to have gotten awesome teammates every time), or play on Expert difficulty. And lastly, if Left 4 Dead disappointed you, or didn’t meet your expectations, maybe you should re-think your expectations before you realize no game will ever meet them.
And if you don’t own this game, and FPS’s or zombie movies and games is your thing, what in the hell are you waiting for???
Thank you for reading!
P.S. I also find it terrific that L4D is the first game that, while spectating, waiting to be rescued from a closet, is still thrilling and exhilarating, anyone else feel that/agree?
