An instant classic in the Survival Horror/ Shooter genre
Where to start? Left 4 Dead was a game I had been anticipating for a very long time ever since I had seen the first video of gameplay on the Internet. It was a game that was going to push the hardware of 360's and PC's to the limit. It did just that. Left 4 Dead is in my opinion the best Survival Horror/ Shooter released to date. It's going to be a game that will be very hard to trump by other franchises that enter this genre in the years to come.
The gameplay of Left 4 Dead is top notch. It has so many brilliant ideas jammed onto one disc that make the gameplay revolutionary. You have your basic enemies but you also have the special enemies that have different qualities such as the Boomers, Hunters, Smokers and Witches. These special enemies make the game challenging and add a ton of fun to the table. There's just so much I can go on about here but I will try and make it to the point. Each of the campaigns presented in the game offer quite a bit of gameplay time before you reach the finish. "The Director" is such a brilliant AI system and revolutionizes the game each time you play it. No game is ever the same. This kind of system is something that should be used in more games in the years to come. The different game modes offer lots of gameplay value. You have Campaign, Survival and Versus. Being able to play as the survivors or the infected is a twist you don't see very often in video games. Which ever you choose to play as really changes the gameplay a bit. Most of all, the game solely relies on teamwork! When playing with friends you really have to work as a team if you want to survive. Being able to heal each other and give away your items to help others is what makes the game shine. It's a game where you truly have to interact with others and puts a capital M on the word Multiplayer. There's very few things I hate about this game but if there is one thing I disliked about this game it's that there wasn't enough campaigns starting out. You were always going through the same environments and there just wasn't enough variety with the levels. Thank god for Downloadable Content though. The game offers splitscreen multiplayer with another friend which is a plus so you can have a friend over and play on one console. There is also online multiplayer with all the game modes with up to 4 friends or 8 if you play Versus. The characters that you play as are fun and deliver lots of entertainment. Bill is probably the most interesting of the game. There is funny one liners that the characters randomly mutter throughout parts of the game and they make me feel like I am watching Dawn of the Dead and movies of that sort.
The graphics in this game are very impressive. They don't quite have the polish of games like Gears of War or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare series, but they don't need it. The character models in this game are very well done and are very life like. The environments and lighting are fantastic and really make you feel the mood the game is trying to present to the player. The gore and violence is top notch and does a brilliant job of delivering the horror style of the game. The fact that you can add film grain to the screen to give you that 70's-80's horror film look is a real treat as well.
The audio is fantastic in Left 4 Dead. The music will definitely draw you in and the sound effects deliver lots of realism. There's nothing better then walking through a dark room and hearing the cry of a Witch in the distance or the disgusting gurgling sounds of a Boomer. Everything definitely sounds like a top notch horror film. There is lots of lines of dialogue that come from the characters to keep the game entertaining.
Overall, Left 4 Dead is a fantastic game that blew me away. It's probably the top multiplayer and online game I have played this decade. It really pushed the limits of the PC and 360 with the amount of enemies that can be generated on screen at one time and delivered everything it promised. You will put tons of hours into this game. If you have any doubts about getting this game then you should slap yourself and go pick it up. Valve continues to keep producing some of the best quality games these days. Left 4 Dead is a great homage to horror films and a brilliant video game. If we get lots more games of this quality in the future, then the future is looking bright for the video game industry!
Review originally written: December 16th, 2009
