Hungry 4 More
Left 4 Dead. It was insane how hyped up I was for this game. It has been in development for three or four years now, and I was on board from the very beginning. The concept is so basic, yet Valve again does an incredible job of making a simple concept something extraordinary, but the thing is, there just isn't enough.
It's simple, get from point A to point B without dieing. Oh yeah, you might have to kill one or two HUNDRED zombies to get there. These aren't your Resident Evil, slow, shuffling, dumb zombies your used to from these types of games. These are straight up, scary, chase your ass down and beat you to death 28 Days Later Zombies. They are great fun, and make you want to learn more about them. The games story is limited to a beginning cut scene (Which is one of the best intros I've ever seen to anything) and some scribbles on the wall. They will charge at you like you would expect, but if you can sneak up on them, some are sleeping, some seem to maybe be chatting about who they will chase down and beat to death next, and some are even fighting. This makes me wonder if they are more advanced then normal zombies, and I don't think it's a con of the game that they don't tell you this. It grabs your attention and sucks you in to the point where I was playing every level to see if there was something that showed me what's the deal with these guys. Sadly, there is nothing there, but it gets me excited to see if they explain in later levels added in DLC.
On the gameplay side, L4D is a very tight shooter. It works very well on a 360 controller (Though shooters will always be better with a mouse and keyboard) and the controls are simple and easy to learn. I really enjoyed the inclusion of a quick turn button, mostly to check my back when being chased. However, beyond that there is nothing more to say about the basic controls, which is good and bad. It does nothing to revolutionize shooting, but who expected it to? It's sound, easy to play, and simple as can be, so you can turn your full attention to running and gunning through the levels.
Like mentioned before, the game is all about getting from point A to point B. The thing that sets this game so far apart from other games is the co-op. This game is built around co-op, so much that it is the main mode in the game. There are many examples of how this is designed for co-op. If a hunter pounces on you, you are pinned to the ground watching your characters intestines be ripped out by a hideous agent of the living dead until one of your buddies comes to help you. This makes it absolutley nececassary to stick together, because if you don't you'll picked off one by one, however if you do it's still fun. Throughout the game you'll baically be on a linear path, with some short cuts or secret passages; however, these are included just included to make it feel like your not running in a straight line. While running through the level is fun by itself, the game mixes it up by making some fun sections where you have to fight off the horde while rescue comes, or turning off the breaks on a train to make it crash into a bridge to make it path. Although, your mostly shooting zombies throughout the game. Every level has an explosive finale that has you and your comrades fighting desperatly waiting for the military to come rescue you.
The character models in this game are top-notch, really showing the source engines fantastic abilities off. However, the environments are just so-so, but it's really expected with a four year old engine. I'm sure Valve will have to make a new engine, or a have a huge overhaul, when Half-Life 2 episode 3 comes out, but with their track record, that could be after the world is flooded.
So I know what your thinking, "Shane, you have nothing but positive thigns to say about this game, why the three star rating?" Well, I will tell you, inquisitive reader. There is simply not enough to play. The game has four campaigns that can be run through in about an hour on normal difficulty, which is the most fun to play (Hard is barely beatable, and expert should be left to the pros at zombie killing. Like the people who keep soup in their basement waiting for the apocalypse to start) Although they are all varied and interesting, and the AI director does a fantastic job at mixing up the action each time you play, they all start to feel the same. Even worse, the games fun versus mode which has four players as humans and four as the boss zombies, is only playable on two of the four. I understand this takes time, but this game has been in development for four years! Also, playing by yourself gets boring after playing through each of the campaigns once, and playing with people you don't know isn't that great either.
That said, playing with three of your friends in this game will give you some of the best experiences you will have with any multiplayer game ever, and will have you talking at work or school for hours. This game has great potential to grow into a fantastic full game with DLC updates from Valve, but it is unknown at this time if they will even be released on the 360. All of TF2's fantastic additions have yet to move to 360, and it is unknown if they will even be free or not. With that, I do feel that Valve will add some awesone additions to the game, new weapons, levels and even boss zombies! However, I cannot rate a game purely on potential.
3 out of 5
