A little Repetitive, but Replayable to an Extreme
OK, Valve is up there with Blizzard for the best developers on the planet and able to determine whatever their release schedule is going to end up being.
L4D is one of the most enjoyable concepts for a game. You are one of the 4 survivors of the zombie apocalypse. It is a B zombie movie that you can play. The 4 characters you can play are thoroughly interchangeable. So, there are allegedly no benefits of playing one character or the other (though, when I'm not Zoey, she always plays the best for the computer --- by a good margin, usually, so they can happily knock off with that "They're all the same" crap). You each get a handgun with infinite ammo (that is really powerful, actually, in my experience), an alternate weapon (shotgun, assault rifle, or SMG) and either a molotov cocktail or the single best weapon in the game, the pipe bomb.
Seriously, the coolest damned thing in the game is the pipe bomb. Love that weapon more than words can express.
You get 4 scenarios (2 more are on the way) that are all fairly short, but thanks to their "A.I Director", it's a different experience every single time. For example, in "No Mercy" (my first and still favorite mission), sometimes, the subway has a lot of zombies milling around. Other times, almost nobody is there. Sometimes, you'll find a molotov in a specific closet. Other times, you won't. That the game has the same level layout but different enemy and weapon patterns increases replay value exponentially.
The game is designed for MP --- but the SP really is a lot of fun. Far moreso than I expected it to be. You don't have a wide array of enemies, but they work together shockingly well. The zombie drones aren't tough, but are fast and will happily swarm you in moments. The Smoker is, for me, the most irksome of enemies. And the witch, to be certain, is a horrible enemy to deal with. It can definitely be killed with one shot --- but if you don't kill it with one shot, you're going to hate your brief life.
It's a lightning quick shooter with some great set pieces. The ending zombie swarm is amongst the most intense experiences in gaming (and there is a patch for the PC version that has Macho Man sayings randomly pasted in during the swarm). But nothing beats having hundreds of zombies swarm you just as you toss a pipe bomb a ways away from you and watching them all pull off of you to go get it and get blown up.
I can see why some people don't like the game...but this is a game that warrants a play by all people because you will most likely enjoy it. Even though the Source engine is old as hell, the game actually looks great and runs at a smooth rate. I anxiously hope for L4D, Half-Life 2 Ep 3, and a Portal sequel in the next Orange Box (not saying that's what you'd see...but it'd be wise).
