Dev/Pub: Valve
Platforms: PC, Mac, Linux, Xbox360
Released: November 17th 2008 & November 17th 2009
Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 are by far two of the best games out there, in my opinion. I’m shocked I haven’t reviewed it as of yet. I’ve played the hell out of this game and just have some achievements to work on.
Now here we will talk about that line of what people consider horror. Horror purists will say that it isn’t a horror game if you can fight back. They prefer game in which you can’t fight back, like Outlast, and will argue that if you can fight it is action and not truly horror no matter what you are fighting. I say, fuck that. If a zombie, demon or crazy lost wife in some backwater hillbilly mansion is trying to rip your intestines from your body, it’s horror.
Now, back to the game. Each episode has a movie poster and you are starring as one of four characters. In the first game it’s Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey. In the second it’s Coach, Ellis, Nick and Rochelle. I will point out that in the second game you (at least on PC) you have access to all of the episodes from the first game and it’s characters. However you can only play the characters appropriate to the mission, meaning you can’t play L4D characters in L4D2 episodes and vice versa.
So the story, it’s the zombie apocalypse, you’ve met 3 strangers and have banded together to try and make it out alive. This is a FPS survival horror game. You are equipped with a pistol that has infinite ammo and you can pick up various weapons you find. The weapon list isn’t long but can be entertaining. You have machine guns, rifles, machetes, frying pans, grenades, Molotov cocktails and more. However, any gun that isn’t a pistol has a limited ammo supply. You have first aid kits, pain pills, adrenaline shots and even defibrillators to keep your character going. All this with a variety of dead things to attempt to kill you. From your normal zombies that run to your specials. Tank, Smoker, Boomer, Jockey, Spitter, Hunter, Charger and the damned Witch that will ruin your day fast. All of them horrible and deadly in their own right but when these bitches gang up on you while the normal zombies keep coming, it’s down right infuriating.
Now this is a game without end, sorry for spoilers but it’s literally about surviving. This isn’t looking for the cure or the reason it’s just surviving which is one of the reasons that I love it so much. It’s you verses them, that’s it. Get you and your friends out. I’m sure that doesn’t sound exciting to everyone but they add so much to such simplicity. It’s hard to get everyone out alive when a smoker has your buddy dangling off the edge of a building, strangling them while you’ve got a zombie hoard at your back that the AI or your friends is trying to deal with. It’s constant team work or cursing at the AI for being stupid. You always have a full party of 4 with you and if it isn’t your friend it’s the computer.
Bottom line, it’s an amazing game that immerses you. I always get caught up in it and
find myself yelling, laughing and dying often. Oh and if you thought that the game was over once you did all the episodes, you are mistaken. After that, you get to go into verses matches. Play maps as the survivors or the special zombies mentioned above. Great for up to 8 people. Trash talking strongly encouraged.
What do you think? Have you played it and loved it, hated it? Interested? It’s available on Steam.
Huge Left 4 Dead Fan? There is a Fan Movie Left 4 Dead – The Movie, I’ll review that soon.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/112665788
