360 Review – Left 4 Dead

08/16/2009 Written by Justin Harper

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Zombies tend to be misrepresented in video games. They are portrayed as unintelligent and sluggish, simply having to rely on sheer numbers to pose any sort of threat. They are the lowest of the low in the world of nightmare creatures in video games. Thankfully Valve is mounting a long overdue PR campaign for zombies in the form of Left 4 Dead.

Like all decent zombie movies, Left 4 Dead is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a mysterious virus has ravaged the population. The masses are now infected and cursed to roam the land hunting down the last few survivors and generally causing zombie mischief. You play one of four survivors who are thrown together to try and escape to a better place.

Each survivor comes from very different walks of life; a student, an IT worker, a biker gang member and a Vietnam veteran. Thankfully they all share the common interest of hating zombies and have the skills required to use an arsenal of weapons.

Luckily for the survivors there are a ridiculous number of zombies out there to show off their shooting skills. The main horde of zombies, however, are not your typical Dawn of the Dead slow moving, bump into each other and eat brains zombies. These ones are fast… very fast… and athletic. The horde comes racing round corners, vaulting cars and fences. They smash down doors, jump through windows and in a sheer “Brain-eating” frenzy smash down walls to get at you.

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Valve clearly did not want to be criticized for not representing the other zombie minorities so has included a selection of super zombies each with their own powers and characteristics that complement the frenzied attacks by the main horde. These super zombies include the Boomer who vomits zombie attracting bile on you, thus blinding you and making you a sweet zombie snack, the Hunter, who stalks in the darkness before pouncing and pinning you to the floor… this means a fellow team mate has to come and save you, risking exposure to the rest of the horde. The Smoker creates errr… smoke which blinds and has a massive tongue that lashes out and incapacitates you making you perfect zombie bait. The Tank is a massive super-strong zombie who bats you around as if you were a rag-doll. Finally the Witch, who is utterly terrifying, should simply just be avoided at all costs.

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The stage is set like any good zombie B-Movie; plucky group of survivors, bleak outlook, loads of zombies. But rather than try and write a new zombie based story for the game, Valve has paid homage to zombie films by presenting the game as a series of four tongue-in-cheek movies charting the progress of our survivors as they try to escape the horde. Your goal for each stage is simple, just make it from one safe-room to the next without everyone dying.

You have to play the game as though you were in a zombie movie yourself, pooling from your knowledge of the dos and don’ts of horror films. You have to work as a team throughout, whether that is simply guarding someone whilst they bandage their wounds, or provide cover fire as the others make a break for it, or coming to the rescue of a team mate who is being dragged off by the horde. You must share ammo, weapons and health at each safe house as there is little point going out armed to the teeth if the rest our your team are on deaths door.

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(5 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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2 Responses to “360 Review – Left 4 Dead”

Adam Wolfe Says:
August 17th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Great Review

This game is one of the main reasons I am getting a 360. I’ve heard so many good things about it.
John VanderSchuit Says:
August 26th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
I bought this for a friend, and he really enjoys it.