Left 4 Dead

"If you like co-op, this is for you"

Left 4 Dead Review

From Valve, the creators of such games as Counter-Strike and all the hits included in the Orange Box, comes Left 4 Dead. In this co-op centered game using the Source engine, players can either battle through zombies hordes to reach the end of one of the four campaigns together, or they can divide up into two groups of four and take each other on in a versus mode. So is it fun, what makes it fun or not fun, and what are the elements that stand out as amazing or terrible? Let's start with the little stuff and work up to the big.

Graphics, Art Style, Audio, and other Aesthetics

Let us be frank; this game is not gorgeous. All it takes is one look at screenshots or videos of the game to be able to discern that much. With that said, it isn't completely ugly either. The overall art and graphical style is vaguely cartoonish but mostly realistic. If you have played Team Fortress 2, then you pretty much know what to expect, just make everything a little darker and set at night because of the zombie-filled setting and voila.

The animations are not always the best. For instance, when healing yourself or a teammate, the characters will move their hands around in a very sloppy manner that gets the point across, but just looks terrible. Most zombies' attacks are similarly poorly animated. This ties into the various issues you would expect out of an early PC or PS1/N64 game with things sticking through walls that obviously should not be, characters standing on nothing, etc. These sorts of things are fairly annoying, but considering the fast-paced nature of the game and everything that is going on, it is very forgivable, especially when you barely have time to dwell on anything let alone a minor glitch here or there.

The audio is pretty decent, all things considered. Though the music is hardly memorable and occasionally it gives away what would otherwise be a surprising and fun scare, it at least suits the mood well. What is more important by far is the voicing of the characters and the various sounds the zombies make, all of which are well done. The zombies have their moans and shrieks and growls that you would expect. The characters all have lines and accents with just the right amount of character to them. For instance, Bill the old veteran has a gruff tone and occasionally recalls his experiences back in ‘Nam. These sorts of things add to the overall experience.

One Player and Offline

In all honesty, if you are going to get this game and cannot play online, you are in for a huge disappointment. While the campaigns can be fun by yourself, the problem is that they simply grow too old too fast without the company of others. After two or three run-throughs of an area, you can feel the “same old, same old” setting in. This is especially bad considering most runs probably will not even last an hour. Your computer allies, while not as incredibly useless as they can be in other games, seem to only be good for helping you back up and occasionally healing you. The real icing on the cake here is that there are no cutscenes or anything to tell a story here; that sort of necessity to hold your interest in a one-player game was cut to help streamline the multiplayer.

Want to play with friends offline? Make that one friend. Left 4 Dead only supports 2-player split-screen. While you could potentially use the system-link feature to hook up two 360s with two copies of the game and play on two TVs for a true four-player offline experience, look at all that stuff you need to do so. In the end, getting it all together simply is not worth it and for most people it simply will not be an option.

To recap all of this, if you are not going to play online, you are not going to get very much out of the game.

Multiplayer and General Gameplay

Left 4 Dead is a first person shooter with an emphasis on its co-op. Playing with three other humans you can co-ordinate, communicate, and strategize with is a must since it delivers a good portion of the fun. Hearing your team panic or instantly analyze, assess, and draft a solution to the situation is half the fun.

So what are you actually going to be doing in the game? Probably what you expect: shooting zombies.

The game has some fairly basic controls: left stick to move, right stick to aim, d-pad to select items, then buttons to crouch, melee, shoot, and all the other stuff you might expect. The fact that everything is responsive and feels right in place is a godsend and really helps make the experience a fun one. Far too many are the games that simply handle poorly and ruin everything else.

The actual levels are divided up into several parts with the goal of each part being to make it to the safe house at the end of the level. Of course, with zombies afoot this is no easy task. Your basic zombies are made menacing by the fact that they seldom come alone and will often come in massive groups over a hundred strong. Taking on massive amounts of enemies like this is part of what makes the game so satisfying despite being so simple. But the enemies are not merely limited to regular zombies.

Indeed there are various boss zombies who will do things such as pounce on the player or pull a teammate away with their large tongue or cloud your vision with vomit that attracts more regular zombies. This is why teamwork is so essential; getting caught by yourself with no one to help you out pretty much guarantees death. Having friendly fire constantly on with no option to turn it off also contributes to making the team work together, and while it is a nuisance to some players it adds that much more to the game once you get used to it.

The best part about these enemies is that, unlike almost every other game out there, they are not spawned at pre-determined points and thus pattern-memorization will get you nowhere. Instead, using the AI director, the game will spawn enemies and items at particular places depending on how the team is doing. This innovation helps keep each run through a level different, especially when you play with different people who each have a different way of going about things.

The game's various difficult settings are also quite good with each level accurately representing the challenge it claims to set. The fact that the expert mode remains something of a challenge even after playing through each level on that difficulty is one of the many things that will likely draw you in for more.

Conclusion

Once again, Left 4 Dead is fun because it really pushes co-op. If you're not one to really enjoy working with others, then this game is probably not for you. Single player is a huge waste and playing online is the only real option for an enjoyable multiplayer experience. It may not stand out for having some sort of gimmick or amazing graphics, but at its core is a solid game that enthralls with its simple and action-packed core.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/08

Game Release: Left 4 Dead (US, 11/17/08)