Day 13
It’s been two weeks since the outbreak. Forgive me if I don’t feel like celebrating the anniversary. The zombies are showing no signs of giving up – they’re still too fast, there’s still too many of them. They keep on coming, wave after goddamn stinkin’ wave. Now there’s only four of us left, and we’re stuck on this rooftop, overlooking streets packed with these freaks ripping corpses to bits.
How I survived, I haven’t got a clue. Dumb luck, I guess. I’m just Louis the computer geek. The others, I can understand a little more – Bill, he’s an old man but he’s fought in more wars than I knew ever happened… Francis, I think he’s the only guy in the world who punched the air when he heard the zombie apocalypse was happening… and Zoey, she may seem harmless but she’s schooled herself in the art of undead-beating from countless hours of horror movie watching. All we have left is a couple of guns and our immunity to the disease. And, I guess, we still have hope.
Day 14
We have a chopper! It showed up late in the night, declaring to any survivors that they need to make their way to Mercy Hospital. Leaving our safe base is a risk, but if there are people out there who can get us away from this hell of a town, it’s worth it. Bill knows his way through the city, but it seems we’ve got to get down through this building onto the streets, down into the subway tunnels, then into the sewers, before finally fighting our way up to the roof of the hospital building. It’s going to be dangerous, but we’ve got each others’ backs and, if we watch out for…
(Journal ends here)
Louis’ fate lies in your hands. Will he make it through the endless hordes of zombies? Only you and his friends can make that happen. To be honest, the odds are stacked up against the team of survivors. The regular zombies are fast and agile, not lumbering or dumb. There isn’t a voodoo curse behind this outbreak, this is an advanced form of Rabies, which takes over the body and pumps it full of rage, hunger, pain and adrenaline. Be quiet – loud noises like car alarms and machinery attract them, and when they’re bothered, they come at you in waves. Crowds. Riots. Individually they are weak and easy to pick off, but as a horde? Good luck.
Those are just your regular, common garden undead. Standing out amongst them are the Special Infected. They include Tanks (massive mutants who take a lot of bullets to bring down), Hunters (who will leap on survivors and tear them to shreds if they can’t get help from a team mate), Smokers (they will wrap you up in their massive tongues and explode in a cloud of disorientating smoke when killed), Boomers (obese beasts who are full of zombie-attracting bile – avoid their vomit!) and, the most sinister of all, the wailing, skinless Witches. Whatever you do, do not disturb them – they will decimate you.
With enemies like these, it is vital that the four player characters stick together and work as a team. There are four scenarios available – the one detailed above is the first, while the other three are set in the country, in an airport and in the woods. Each of these is split up into five parts, and during these parts, it is down to the team to drag themselves through the zombie madness to reach the safe houses. By sticking together and keeping an eye out for everyone else, they should just be able to make it. To help you out, there is a small selection of guns (too small, in fact, and the sniper rifle is all but useless), fun grenades and boring Molotov Cocktails, and some First Aid supplies.
Put together by the good folks at Valve Corporation, Left 4 Dead feels a lot like an amped-up version of Half-Life 2, albeit one splattered with blood, disease and fear. You will see the game through the eyes of your chosen survivor, while the other survivors hang around you, watching your back and shooting Hunters when they jumbo on you. Of course, you’re expected to return the favour. If they are controlled by AI bots, your team will follow your lead, but by hooking up to Xbox Live or by splitting the screen you can replace them with real human players, allowing for plenty of options for tactical zombie-smashing.
If you don’t fancy working alongside your friends and would rather eat them alive, then the novel Versus mode should entertain. The players will be split into teams of two – one playing the Survivors, the second playing the Infected. These roles will alternate so that each player gets to play every part of the scenario as both human and living dead. This is a fun idea, but is lacking in a few areas. Playing as the Infected is limited, frustrating and, ultimately, very brief. They are all too difficult to control, and you will get blown apart within seconds if you get anywhere near your human foes. Then there’s a massive, lengthy respawn ordeal. The mode is fun for a while, but I can’t see anyone playing this version of the game in six months time. If you want to play Left 4 Dead online, play it co-op. The opportunities to work together in intelligent, strategic ways outweighs any gimmick of playing as a big, fat vomiting dead dude.
While there is not much in the way of raw gaming material (each scenario will last about an hour, depending on difficulty), there is plenty of replay appeal. This is due to the AI Director, who controls the random nature of each level, mixing up the placement of weapons, supplies and monsters so that no playthrough is the same as the last. The voice-acting is equally as varied. The characters have hundreds of lines between them, so there’s always something new to listen to. The environments look brilliant (beautiful and disgusting at the same time) but there are multiple routes through them, so not even that gets on your nerves.
Left 4 Dead does have some weaknesses. The replay value is high, but it won’t last forever. However, there is rumour of downloadable content coming soon, which will presumably mean more maps. And also, there should be more weapons. Two machine guns, two shotguns and a rifle might satisfy all the basic needs for firepower, but where’s the fun in that? I expected more from the team that brought us the Gravity Gun, the Portal Gun and the Antlion Spores. However… I’m shocked to say that these minor gripes are about all I can manage. I feel like I should be frustrated by Left 4 Dead’s limited nature, but in a way, that works to its advantage. Keeping it a simple, visceral zombie-blaster, swimming away from the rivers of dull plot development and down the high-energy gaming rapids, means that you won’t have time to get bored of Left 4 Dead. You’ll be too busy running.
I have enjoyed an easy twenty hours of Left 4 Dead, which is unusual as there is only about five hours of gameplay here. Plus, I’m looking forward to at least twenty more. There’s a lot of fun to be had playing by yourself or with friends, and Achievement hunting is a great incentive for repeated play, the achievements being fun to earn and they reward long-term gameplay without being insanely anal or demanding. Besides, who ever gets sick of shooting zombies?
It’s basic, but atmospheric. Stripping out any complexity and replacing it with thrills has worked for this particular zombie romp. It may never stand up to the all-mighty Resident Evil 4, but I reckon if Resi’s fourth installment ever saw Left 4 Dead in a pub, it would buy it a pint.