Left 4 Dead is a game published by Valve and released in North America on November 18 2008. Using the source engine and a very cunning AI director the game produces the feel of a zombie apocalypse quite well albeit a little cartoony at times. The AI director places items and zombies randomly throughout the levels, which increases replay value. The game features 4 campaigns with 5 levels each, single player offline (campaign only), online cooperative, versus mode, and survival mode.
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The Characters
Survivors
They are immune to the infection and need to fight their way to the evac point.
Bill- He's a veteran from the Vietnam war. He's older, smokes, and is pretty gruff. He doesn't have a very good sense of humor and tends to take automatic weapons.
Francis- He's a biker. He's not too smart, makes mean comments, and hates almost everything. He enjoys making fun of the other characters and tends to take the shotgun.
Louis- He's a manager. He's pretty smart, a worrywart, and sometimes even tries to be funny. He regularly pokes fun at Francis and Bill and tends to take automatic weapons.
Zoey- She's a college student. She's not too bright, makes pointless and stupid comments, and tends to not be much help. She is hard to miss with her pink jacket and tends to take the sniper rifle.
While most of the characters are pretty good, Zoey is not. While she is good with the sniper rifle, she does not switch out during a finale and thusly becomes pretty pathetic, she also makes pretty stupid comments like "hey guys I think we're at the airport" when we are looking at the airport and a destroyed plane is chilling right next to us just to name one. Each of them has their own little flaws as well (though I admit they could've easily made a better Zoey).
~~All in all I believe the survivors deserve a solid 86/100.
Infected
They were not immune to the infection and are hungry for survivor meat.
Boomer- A morbidly obese zombie. Perhaps the undead version of a hedonist. Tends to fall to its own demise or on top of survivors. When not killing itself it will either vomit its bile over survivors or be killed by survivors in very few hits (hopefully for the boomer, spraying bile on them). When in contact with bile (which wares off after a certain amount of time) a hoard of normal infected swarm in and attempt to kill the survivor(s).
Hunter- A hoodie wearing zombie. Perhaps the undead version of a thief (hoodlum?). Tends to make annoying screaming noises while attempting to pounce survivors and can attempt a pounce an infinite number of times before it is dead (instead of having cool down it can just keep using the pounce move over and over). Not too strong when it hasn't pounced you, the deadliest when you get stranded from the rest of the survivors and when pounced the only thing you can do is watch. Hitting the hunter with a melee attack or killing the hunter will stop the pounce.
Infected- Many different zombies. The common folk, no special, not very deadly zombies. Die easier than all special infected except the boomer. Usually roam around doing things like hitting each other or vomiting. Sometimes they lie down to fool survivors, or hide on the side of doorways where they are hard to see.
Smoker- A tall and lanky zombie. Perhaps the undead version of a.. uh.. smoker. Tends to hide in high places waiting for the chance to strike. Easily identified by the green particles it constantly emits. The tounge (I still think it is more of an intestine) can stretch out pretty far and grabs survivors, pulling them away from them with ease. Shooting the tongue, hitting the player with a melee attack, or killing the smoker will end the strangle. While being strangled the only thing you can do is watch.
Tank- A very powerful and muscular zombie. Perhaps the undead version of a steroid junkie. Tends to appear at the most inopportune times and only once or twice a level. It has massive amounts of health and the melee attacks can throw survivors across levels and off of buildings, can hit cars and other heavy objects, destroys doors including the safe house door, and has a ranged attack that has splash damage (hurts things near the impact zone) or maybe it just is that big of a projectile. The whole team is needed to take one of these out, especially on higher difficulty levels. When on fire the tank dies after a certain amount of time, it will also die when it hasn't hit a survivor for a while, or when it gets stuck on levels. Tanks will also cancel out a reload or taking pills when it hits you (even if you're backed into a corner) which can get very annoying. Also Explosives will stun tanks for short periods of time, use this to your advantage.
Witch- A very very powerful mostly easy to bypass zombie. Perhaps the undead version of a depressed person. Tends to appear off the beaten path enough for a dodge, some times appears in your direct needed path, but only once or twice a level. The melee attack incapacitates survivors in one hit, except on expert in which the first strike is fatal. It is easy to identify by the music, the crying, and the survivors talking (listen to them). If everyone dodges it you're okay. It has about 1/4 the health of a tank, but has about 4 times the damage, but only will target one survivor, once that survivor dies she runs away. If set on fire it will eventually burn to death, but not after a nice long run.
There is a solid cast of infected in the game. The boomer is pretty much not broken, it can cause a lot of damage, but take very little. The hunter on the other hand is a little broken with an infinite pounce ability. The common infected are not broken at all, and I enjoy their company. The smoker is also pretty well made, though I believe should take a little less damage before it dies. The tank is a little bit overpowered and a little bit thick skinned, but with teamwork it shouldn't be too much of a problem. The witch is slightly broken only in the fact that they place it directly where you need to be going.
~~All in all I believe the infected deserve a solid 90/100.
The Story/Level Design
There is no story. Well that would kind of be incorrect to say, they're a very subtle story, for each campaign it's a little different than just surviving a zombie outbreak. In fact, the whole game is you going from safe house to safe house trying to get to the evac point, every now and then having a crescendo event where in order to advance you have to alert a hoard to your position. The levels are very straight forward and are made so you won't get lost, there are plenty of offshoot rooms and halls in which to find supplies. On some levels there are cars with alarms on them, if you shoot or touch them then a hoard of zombies gets summoned.
Blood Harvest- The four of you apparently were camping in the woods when the outbreak occurred, now you have to escape to an old farm house and call in the military. This campaign is well done with lots of open areas and trees for things to come out of nowhere from. Speaking of the trees, the problem I have is that they aren't very realistic, they don't move when they get hit by zombies, and you can pass right through everything but the trunk. The creshendoes are an emergency door and causing a train to smash into a bridge. The finale is a farm house battle (barn and corn field included). and the escape vehicle is a military APC.
Dead Air- The four of you apparently were camping out in a greenhouse on the rooftops when a plane goes overhead and you realize the airport is your best bet. This campaign is well made with some pretty open but populated areas. The only problem is that tanks don't die from falling off the roof. The crescendos are having a crane lower a dumpster, burning down a barricade, and forcing a van to crash through a fence. The finale is a battle on the tarmac. The escape vehicle is a military cargo plane.
Death Toll- The four of you apparently were driving along in a cop car when you couldn't go any further and you decide to go try to find help in riverside. This campaign is well made, and has the crescendo in the game (the church). The only problem is . The crescendos are lowering a bridge in the sewers (I guess it's to stop the flow of sewage in reality), a crazy guy ringing a bell in a church, and lowering some concrete with a forklift. The finale is a battle at a small seaside house with a dock (there's also a one room cabin you can do it in). The escape vehicle is a boat (fishing trawler?).
No Mercy- You just escaped a hoard of zombies and a tank (watch the demo video at the beginning and you'll see). A helicopter comes by and reports that he can help, as long as you get to the roof of Mercy Hospital. This campaign is pretty well done, except for the subway where they tend to stick witches in the subway car you need to pass through. The crescendos are starting up a generator, taking a scissor lift, and calling an elevator. The finale is a rooftop battle. The escape vehicle is a news helicopter.
The lack of story is made up for by the large and interesting level design, but it loses points for being linear and not being randomly generated (this causes people to just run through unhindered when they've played for a long time, leaving newer or less experienced people to have a lesser experience).
~~All in all I believe the maps deserve a solid 73/100.
Items
Ranged Weapons
There's a very big lack of weapons in this game. There's tier 1 weapons which you start out with and tier 2 weapons that you will find in level 2 and on (except the second pistol which is in the first level).
Pistol- This has infinite ammo, but doesn't have a lot of stopping power. It's semiautomatic and can fire very fast. The reload time is pretty low. The melee attack is weak.
Dual Pistols- This has infinite ammo, and has much better stopping power than its single counterpart. Will fire faster than a single pistol and the reload time is also really low. The melee attack is weak.
Submachine Gun- Has a pretty large ammo cache and clip. It has fair stopping power and is automatic with high fire speed and low reload time. The melee attack is fair.
Assault Rifle- Has a pretty large clip but a slightly smaller cache then its tier 1 counterpart. It has very good stopping power and is automatic, only firing slightly slower than the submachine gun. It has a slightly slower reload time than the submachine gun. The melee attack is very good.
Shotgun- Has a small clip and a small cache. The stopping power is very high and is semiautomatic, but it fires fairly slow even if you click fast. The reload time is very slow, but it reloads a shell at a time which means you can fire halfway through a reload if you still have ammo in your gun. The melee attack is the best.
Automatic Shotgun- Has a slightly bigger clip than the shotgun and a small cache. The stopping power is also very high. It is automatic, but you can fire quicker if you click faster than it fires, which can wipe out a lot of zombies very quickly. The reload time is also very slow, but it goes shell by shell so you can fire while reloading if there's ammo in the gun. The melee attack is the best.
Hunting Rifle- Has a slightly larger clip than the automatic shotgun and a bit larger cache plus it has a scope. This gun offers one shot kills on regular infected and if you catch a special infected in the head, it will likely kill it as well. The gun is semiautomatic and can fire quickly if you're fast enough (albeit not as fast as dual pistols). The reload time is slower than the assault rifle, but not too much slower. The melee attack is pretty good (likely on par with the assault rifle).
Minigun- Infinite ammo, but you can't pick it up. It is automatic with likely the fastest rate of fire, but it can overheat if you fire for too long. There is also a small startup time before the gun gets going, but the stopping power is tremendous and works well against tanks from long distances (it slows them down).
Thrown Weapons
Pipe Bombs- Very handy weapons, they beep to attract zombies and then explode killing the whole group (or at least most of it).
Molotovs- They light a large amount of area on fire which is good for choke points during hoards and when you just wanna burn things.
World Weapons
They spawn in the world and you can pick them up, but they don't take an inventory slot. You won't be able to do anything but place, throw, or melee attack with these.
Gas Cans- Pretty much a molotov, only when you throw them they don't break.
Propane Tanks- Pretty much a pipe bomb without the alarm.
Oxygen Tanks- Pretty much a pipe bomb, when you shoot them once they whir (no zombies attracked) then after a bit they explode.
Burning Barrels- You can't pick these up, but anyone or anything that touches them burns and they can be very handy to hide near during a hoarde.
Health
Medkit- Brings you to 80 on the first heal unless your health is in the green. Can be used at any time except when your health is at 100
Pills- A pick me up. Gives you 50 “countdown health” where your health constantly goes down until it reaches the point you had it before you took your pills.
While there is a clear lack of weapons, the weapons available are reliable and easy to learn. The variety of world weapons is not bad and neither are the thrown weapons. The weapons really do make sense with the present situation, but I would've preferred more.
~~All in all I believe the items deserve a solid 79/100.
Multiplayer
This is the best part of the game, playing with friends.
Coop- Play with up to 3 other people and go through a campaign as survivors.
Versus- Play with up to 7 other people and take turns going through the campaign as survivors/ infected (4 players are survivors 4 are special infected). Win by having the most points in the end, points are mainly determined by how close you are to the safe house when you die or if you make it and how many.
Survivor- Play with up to 3 other people and go through crescendo events to see how long you can last with infinite waves of zombies (including tanks and special infected) coming at you.
There aren't many modes, but the replayability is still high with the large amounts of players out there.
The problems with multiplayer: griefers (people who purposely do mean things to other players), people who run ahead, people who stay back, new people (we don't blame them for being new, it just can get irritating), people who play the game less like a survival game and more like a game to get the most kills (this usually ends badly when it comes to coop), and people who don't use a mic (though also not their fault but it helps). Plus many more I probably forgot.
~~All in all I believe the multiplayer aspect deserves a solid 85/100
So let's count the ballots shall we?
Due to the combined value of the aforementioned aspects I think this game is a great addition to anyones game library. There should be an influx in the release of mods in the coming months which will make it even better (except for those on the Xbox 360, no mods for them).
~~All in all I believe overall Left 4 Dead deserves a solid 95/100
On average I gave Left 4 Dead a solid 83/100
Left 4 Dead has +12 value added by the combination of all of these factors put together.
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