Left 4 Dead
Platform: PC, Xbox 360

Zombies. Lots of Zombies. Throw in an excellent AI engine to spawn hoards of them, and four player co-op to sweeten the deal and you’d better fetch a change of underwear because you’re going to need them. Left 4 Dead is finally here, and we take a look to see if it lives up to the expectations.

Ever since the pre-order demo dropped onto Steam two weeks ago our lunch times, our evenings and our weekends have been filled with zombie blasting, flash light flailing mayhem, and despite only featuring one and a half levels from the full game, Left 4 Dead has kept us, and many of those on our Steam friends lists, coming back for more time and time again.

It’s easy to see why Left 4 Dead is already so popular because in many ways it’s almost the holy grail of PC gaming. It’s made by one of the best developers around, who are pushing it on one of the best distribution platforms around, it’s playable in singleplayer, multiplayer and co-op and it’s very replayable.

Hell, it’s even built on the popular and constantly improved Source engine. While that does mean that the game can look a bit dated in places, it also means that it’s perfectly playable on nearly all computers from the last five years and that the modding community can quickly latch on.

It’s the replayablity which is the most interesting factor to us though. The game uses a dedicated AI system to track the progress and ability of players, moving items and enemies around to provide a unique experience every time. More than that, the AI Director has a basic understanding of pacing so that the game can have lulls and peaks in all the right places.

That’s one of the most complicated things about Left 4 Dead though and while it is something all players will need to appreciate, it isn’t something many will need to understand.

So here’s what you need to know. The world of Left 4 Dead is set in that most easily explained of fictitious scenarios, the Zombie Apocalypse. The fast-zombie apocalypse to be precise (slow shufflers just wouldn’t be as entertaining would they?), with five more unique boss zombies tossed into the mix such as The Boomer, horribly obese and intent on vomiting on you to attract the zombie horde, or The Hunter, who can pounce long distances and pin you to the ground.

One thing that all the zombies have in common though is that they are between you and the next safe haven and that they’ll drop dead for a second time after a liberal application of lead. Thus the twenty-level stage is set as you and three other survivors, controlled by either AI or other players depending on what you want, begin an epic journey to rescue.

The game is divided into four campaigns split between five levels connected via safe havens, and while all are based upon the same premise of a trek through zombie infested territory each has a unique feel thanks to the surprisingly varied environments. One campaign begins in a green house on the ruins of a small town before climaxing on the tarmac of an airport runway, while another sees the survivors journey to the top of a sky scraper to reach rescue.

The zombies will come in mountains, hordes, swarms and waves all at once and you’ll have to keep a close eye on your team mates and ammo counts as you meet the gibbering menace and try simply to survive another day. Are you up to it? Of course you are, but are your allies? You’d better hope so because it’s going to take coordination and teamwork to win through this particular apocalypse and discover if the ending is a predictably bleak or a predictably hopeful one.

Gameplay:

Those who’ve been playing the demo over the last few weeks will already be familiar with the core gameplay of Left 4 Dead, and unsurprisingly the full game takes the almost universally praised formula and gives you a whole lot more zombie blasting action to get your shotgun into.

Every campaign starts with a brief fly by cut scene that sets the scene, before the four instantly recognisable survivors, Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey, load up with weapons and ammo and venture out into the zombie infested world beyond, with the destination a far off safe room, or in the finale level of each campaign, rescue.

While we were initially concerned over whether the levels would quickly become too samey, Valve has done brilliantly to make each of the four campaigns look and feel unique and each genuinely offers something different. The large open road and town sections of the second campaign, Death Toll, are a world away from the tight, almost claustrophobic hospital wards of No Mercy or the catastrophic damage caused by the numerous plane crashes that litter Dead Air.

Valve has also absolutely nailed the look and feel of the graphics throughout, with genuinely creepy environments only adding to the tension that’s endemic in the game and grainy quality enforcing the feeling that you’re playing through a movie rather than a game. The frequent graffiti left by previous survivors who have passed through areas is also a constant cause of entertainment, with in jokes and pop culture references littering the walls of safe rooms serving to help lighten that whole depressing “end of the world” thing.

Each campaign also has a number of triggered sequences where the survivors have to remove an obstacle by means of switch or explosion – inevitably alerting the horde and resulting in especially large mobs of screaming zombies rushing your position. Again, while we’d been concerned these too would become samey, each is unique, and the fact that the infected swarm can come from any direction means each set piece is always that little bit different.

The common zombies themselves are also enormously varied throughout and although you might notice a model or two reappearing here and there, the use of infected models unique to a level like infected baggage handlers or hospital patients still wearing hospital gowns (hehe, bare ass zombies) are a great little touch. This only adds to the feeling of progression and individuality each campaign has.

What we’re trying to stress here is that Left 4 Dead utterly succeeds in taking the mechanic of shooting a whole load of zombies and putting it into enough unique environments and with enough variety therein that it never really gets boring.

Conclusions:

When we started playing Left 4 Dead we had almost messianic expectations of a game that was going to genuinely revolutionise multiplayer gaming and have emerged from our blood and Boomer vomit soaked ordeal exhilarated, shaking and thoroughly satisfied. Forgive the cliché, but Valve has done it again.

Left 4 Dead manages to perfectly combine the direction and narrative of the very best single player first person shooters with the enormous fun of four player co-op, all wrapped up in a delightfully gory zombie apocalypse. Despite the limited amount of levels the unique experiences generated by the AI Director every time you play helps to keep the game constantly fresh, exciting and tense.

Valve has also delivered the high level of characterisation and emotive dialogue that its games have become famous for, and it helps to not only lighten the overwhelmingly dark mood of the game, but also draw more than a few laughs along the way. The four survivors have hundreds of lines of dialogue each, and we’re sure some of the one liners will soon become Internet classics, as will some of the excellent graffiti written on safe room walls.

Yet while unquestionably excellent and powerfully addictive, Left 4 Dead never becomes intoxicating to the point that you realise you haven’t eaten all day. A single ninety minute campaign is generally enough to slake your thirst for blasting zombies – for a few hours at least – and should be easy enough to organise between a group of friends.

And friends are what you’re really going to need if you want to get the very best out of Left 4 Dead. Playing with the bots the game is a shadow of its potential greatness and the higher difficulty settings will remain strictly off limits, but get three friends together with microphones and Left 4 Dead is possibly the best multiplayer game ever – not something that we say lightly.

Tactics are hastily arranged, cries for help as boss infected attack are screamed down mics, panic sets in and heart rates rise as wave after wave of zombies appear. The palpable feeling of accomplishment you get after finishing a tough campaign together is something that no other game can offer.

It’s fair to say you can judge a game by how much fun it is. You’re talking to friends about a favourite game, when a memory of a particularly awesome moment you’ve shared pops out and reminds you all just how great that game was. Left 4 Dead is full of such moments. It’s an ever changing, ever challenging and ever tense multiplayer masterpiece which will captivate for as long as you’ve got friends to play it with.

Gameplay: 9
Features: 9
Graphics: 7
Replayability: 9

Overall: 9/10