Left 4 Dead Review
One thing before I get started, if you’re reading this and you live in the US – HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Alright, let’s keep it rolling. I have yet another game to talk about today, this time it’s Valve’s Left 4 Dead. Now, I first have to issue a bit of fair warning. For the most part I tend to condemn the behavior associated with “fanboys” of any kind – that is people whose loyalty to a game, developer, console, or company stays devout despite any wavering in said institution’s quality of product. That being said, if there was any one developer that I could be labeled as a “fanboy” for it would probably be Valve. Since Valve came about I’ve liked literally every game they’ve made. I maintain that this is just a fact that they work really hard on their games and never let anything hit the market until it’s perfect, not to mention the fact that they tend to weave great stories into their games and, because they’re an independent developer, they have no fear of trying something different (the immensely successful Portal comes to mind). The same could be said of Left 4 Dead.
As a testament to Valve’s openness to great yet unproven ideas, Left 4 Dead actually started as a mod based on Valve’s Source engine, but after seeing the great work the original team (Turtle Rock) was doing Valve picked the game up. If you don’t know what Left 4 Dead is, it’s basically every zombie movie fan’s dream in video game form: four survivors are caught in the middle of the zombie apocalypse and are forced to rely on themselves and each other to make it through with their lives intact. As a result of this simple concept the game is heavily based on 4-player co-op which is a total blast. Honestly if you plan on getting this game but you’re not an online player I would have to say you’re missing out. The whole point of Left 4 Dead is to play with some buddies.
The game is broken up into 4 chapters, each of which takes place in an entirely different locale. The four chapters hold up on their own as individual “movies,” which further shows Turtle Rock and Valve’s commitment to tipping their caps to John Romero’s work as well as more recent films like 28 Days / Weeks Later. They’ve gone so far to nail the movie vibe that upon completion, each act of the game presents you with credits which, rather than displaying actor information, gives you stats from that round of play. Each movie is split up into 5 smaller chunks, and gameplay in these mini-levels is all about getting from one safe room through a pack of zombies to another safe room, with the inevitable hope for escape. As I said the levels vary quite a bit, whether you’re playing chapter one (titled No Mercy) wherein you’re trying to escape by chopper from Mercy Hospital, or my personal favorite chapter 4 where-in you’re attempting to be rescued by the army from a zombie-ridden Allegheny National Forest. I have to say when I started chapter 4 and saw a sign for Allegheny Nation Forest I had to give the game 10 bonus points, just because that’s practically my back yard. 
The point is the locales are varied enough that the environment never gets stale.
Graphically the game is pretty impressive. The Source engine continues to amaze me, particularly the fact that despite its age it can still produce excellent-looking games via Valve’s revisions and improvements over time. Left 4 Dead almost has a cel-shaded look at times, and a brutally realistic look at others. You’ll go from looking at one of the game’s characters and think “jeez, this is one or two passes away from being a new class in Team Fortress 2″ to being attacked by a gruesome and disgusting zombie and thinking you’re watching a horror movie. All around the environment and look of the game have been executed with precision.
The enemies, surprise surprise, are zombies. This is a potential fault of the game because, despite the fact that killing zombies is fun, once you’ve killed 1,000 of them you might get a little fatigued. Thankfully this potential problem is remedied by a repertoire of super zombies, each having their own abilities making them much more intimidating than your standard infected. Whether you’re running away from a massive tank zombie, quietly sneaking around a witch zombie, or getting lassoed by a smoker zombie’s tongue you’ll always have a reason to keep on your heels. Obviously this helps to create a great feeling of tension as you make your way through the game. The coolest part of the game is the “director AI” which changes each level everytime you play it. Basically the director AI chooses when to let loose a super zombie on you, when to unleash a zombie horde on you, and when and where you get extra weapons and ammo. Because a level is different everytime there’s a load of replay value, which is good because all said the 4 chapters can be beaten pretty quickly.
That’s where I get to some of the negatives of the game. The chapters are short. If you move slow through a chapter it might take you as long as an hour, but if you really step it up you can make it through a chapter in a little over 20 minutes on an easy difficulty setting. So what that means is that the entirety of the game’s campaign can be as short as 2 – 4 hours. Obviously that’s kind of disheartening. Still, the director AI gives plenty of incentive to play through the game multiple times (as I have) without getting tired. There’s also a competitive multiplayer campaign where you can play as one of the zombies and try to thwart other human survivors. That being said, for a $60 release I would have liked to see another chapter or two. I’m assuming that the idea is to release new chapters as downloadable content down the road, and once that starts to happen I’ll be a lot more satisfied about the game’s length.
Another complaint I’ve heard is that you can’t zoom, or use iron sights with the weapons. Personally I think this is a meaningless complaint for a few reasons. First, there hasn’t been a single Valve game using the Source engine that I can think of that has used a zoom feature where it wasn’t absolutely needed (i.e. for sniper rifles, or guns with scopes). Second, I’d say 90% of the combat in Left 4 Dead takes place from within 5 feet of the character. You generally find yourself surprised or in the middle of a horde of enemy at such a close range that there’s really no reason to have iron sights. Lastly, the one gun that actually makes sense to have iron sights/zoom, the hunting rifle, does.
All-in-all I have to say Left 4 Dead is my “unique” game of the year. You haven’t played a game like this yet. Sure some people might point to Dead Rising and say that they’re basically the same type of games, but aside from the fact that they both have zombies in them, they aren’t. L4D is a purely cooperative experience that must be played with friends, and will give you a ton of memorable moments to remember as you play. Don’t believe me? Just watch this short video that’s been circulating the internet, it’s pretty funny and completely representative of a good round of Left 4 Dead (NSFW, there’s a few well-deserved F-bombs thrown):
So if you’re looking for something a little different this year, something that’s pretty unique and extremely fun, give Left 4 Dead a shot. If you’re still not sold and concerned about the length of the game you could always wait a few months and pick it up when the price drops a bit.
Now Playing:
Dropkick Murphys – Boys on the Docks (Live)
Call of Duty : World at War
