Left 4 Dead

Ah, Left 4 Dead. I had wanted to play this game for quite a
while, and as it happened I stumbled across an article on Kotaku
telling me that Valve was selling the game for $25 on Steam. As a
budget gamer, I am definitely looking for cheaper games, so I decided
to go for it. The download process was easy after I set up a
steam account. I mentioned the game to a friend, and he also decided
to pick it up. We tried to get a few others, but the PC platform is
not a viable option for some these days.. So we got it set up and got
started.

Wow. I love zombies. I love zombie movies. I love this game. I understand
what everyone has said about it having a pretty short life due to
only having 4 scenarios that you can play through pretty quickly.
But man, it is fun. Over the course of this week I've been able to
play the game with my buddy Sam for thirty minutes to an hour
nightly. The game is very intense, as one might expect. It has sold
me on fast zombies as well. I told my wife that I am going to lose
some zombie purist street cred as I am growing to like fast zombies.

I think that the idea of the director is pretty great. As you play the game
this AI evaluates how well you are doing and how much you have been
challenged and adjusts the encounters or puts in stashes of
health or weapons. It sounds pretty amazing, and it actually works.
Mix this with great sounds that let you know what you are facing in
the next few seconds, and you have a great suspense-filled, action
packed game. The witch is probably one of the best ideas for an
enemy that I've seen. She is completely passive, lying in one
location, sobbing. You begin hearing the sobbing from a good
distance away, and you know you are in trouble. It brings your advance to
a crawl. You have to shut off your flashlight, for fear of spooking
her. This makes the darker areas hard to navigate and more
frightening. There are clues with the music and lighting that let
you know she is close. Sometimes the computer sends a horde of
normal infected after you, or one of the other special infected.
They might distract you enough to make you spook the witch. No
matter what, it is tense as long as you can hear her sobs. It is possible
to sneak by her, and sometimes you never even see her. It is just frightening knowing she is around.

The game is great as a shared experience as well. There is nothing like a
good thrill with a friend. Once we got our sound working properly,
we were able to play as we talked to each other. Profanity spills
from our lips like flames from a thrown Molotov cocktail as we play
this game. Once you get a feel for the game, I definitely recommend
ramping up the difficulty. It really increases the intensity without
making the game unplayable. There is even an option to vote on a new
difficulty if you happen to get stuck.

If you like horror movies, and zombie films in particular, this is your
game. Each scenario plays out like a movie. The four survivors
start off somewhere semi-safe, and have to move through infested
areas to get to a point of rescue. We had a very movie like
experience in our first finale of the game. Sam and I had made it to
a rooftop and were awaiting a helicopter rescue. Suddenly, the tank
(a huge, hulking infected beast-man) come rampaging through our midst.
With a massive punch, it knocked Sam from the roof, where he could
not be saved by the rest of us. The remaining survivors and I
managed to fight the behemoth off and get to the 'chopper. As the
credits rolled, it said “In memory of Sam.” It was a
perfect ending to the scenario. Bittersweet, and a little funny.

What a fun game. Even more good news is that Valve will release some free
content in the next month or so to help prolong the game. Looking
forward to it.