PC News and Game Reviews

Left 4 Dead launched in November 2008. Since then I have been playing it religiously. I can honestly say its the first game that has held my attention this long, without growing tired of the content or game play.

Like most players I did not invest much time in the single player game. Although the L4D bots are excellent, they are still bots and can never come close to human companions. For this reason most player were drawn online to the fantastic campaign mode.

If I can make one major criticism of L4D, it would be the lack of content from the outset. I thought that 4 “movies” was not enough content to launch with, and that delaying the game to add more movies would have been a better idea, and lead to a better product hitting the shelves. That said I was surprised how the AI Director really did make each play through a completely different experience, however it is not strong enough on its own to make up for a lack of content and the fact that after 6 months

Online campaign mode is excellent. With a good team you will quickly overcome the game on expert, and earn your achievements without too much difficulty. Valve (Turtle Rock) have managed to meld excellent multi-player FPS action, with scripted crescendo events that would usually be seen in Half Life 2. The union of of classic multi-player with scripted events allows the developers to get the best of both worlds. They can deliver a strong narrative, while still making a game with excellent co-op play.

Where Left 4 Dead has come into its own is the versus mode of play. While I battled my way through the campaign mode I spared little thought for versus, but having played it for a few months…I can never see myself going back to campaign mode again!!! Vs puts two teams of 4 players against each other. Both teams get to play as Survivors and Infected, which each round being scored based on how well you did (or how poorly you did!!!)

The jewel of the versus mode for me has to be playing as the infected. The level of co-ordination involved to bring down a team of good survivors is astonishing. Smokers can be used to pull a well disciplined team apart, right after a boomer has blinded the entire team with some well place vomit!!! To add to that the excellent Hunter class allows spectacular acrobatic leaps from rooftops right down on top of your unsuspecting victims!! What I really love about this mode of play is that the sometimes predictable AI director takes a back stage, as human infected players can set ambushes that the infected AI could never hope to match (The top of the ladder in Mercy Hospital Finale being one that springs to mind).

The only disturbing trend I have seen in VS mode is the “race” to the safe room you sometimes see. Basically the survivors charge as fast as they can, seriously limiting the amount of time the infected players have to spawn. The end result is the level is over with a handful of rounds fired!!! ITs an exploit I thing the developers need to address, because 12 year old spotty teenagers are getting a great kick out of doing it over and over…..

I would have to give this game a 9.5 out of 10, its a gem. More content please.