Way beyond my expectations this game delivers the true atmosphere of a zombie apocalypse.
Left 4 Dead is an exciting and immersive game as long as you have an internet connection. Of course that doesn't mean you can't play it without one, but it won't be much of a fun playing with bots instead of real humans. Trust me , I know what I'm talking about.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in Left 4 Dead is like in every other Valve game, awesome, innovative and surprisingly immersive. In my opinion Valve is one of the best (if not the best) game companies and the fact that their every game is simply stunning confirms it. A few examples are Half-Life (best game of all times in my opinion), Counter-Strike (not a big fan, but the fact that people still play it today gotta mean something), Portal (one of the newest addition in their game collection, fun and clever puzzles make for a truly unique game), Team Fortress (fun multiplayer game with lots of potential). But let's continue with Left 4 Dead. The main idea is that you have to kill lots and lots and lots of zombies in order to get to a safe house. There are 4 small campaigns. All four of them make a total of 4-5 hours of gameplay. Not much but the replay value of this game is beyond comprehension :P. Each campaign consists of 5 chapters. The last chapter in each campaign is an evacuation, meaning you have to reach a certain location and wait there until rescue arrives. The greatest thing about this game is the need for teamwork. If there's no teamwork then it is more that certain that you're dead. Even on the easiest difficulty. That's the reason why the multiplayer is way better that the singleplayer. One more thing about the multi is that you can actually play as one of the zombies and try to kill the survivors. Of course you're not a common zombie, but a "special infected" which means you have some "special powers" to use such as: vomit on the survivors to blind them for a while, or pull them towards you with your veeeery long tongue. It's too bad that you can't play as zombie in singleplayer mode. One thing about the zombies is that they appear mostly in hordes which means that you'll be facing hundreds of them at a time. Finally another great aspect is that you can heal your teammates if they fall injured in battle. You can only revive them only 3 times and if they don't use a med pack by that time then they're dead. Besides med packs, that fill your health up to 80%, there are pills that increase your health up to a certain level but slowly decrease it as time passes.
Graphics:
Compared to other Valve games this one is the best-looking. Also the loading times are rarer than in Half-Life and Portal. At some point I was sure I was playing F.E.A.R. because the graphics and the environments are very similar. The weapons aren't very well done (and there are only 5 or 6 of them) but given the pressure you're under and the hordes of zombies you have to face there is not much time to look at the weapons :D. Overall, besides the weapons everything else is great and you can really experience a zombie apocalypse.
Story:
I know that there is no real story here but I wanted to say something that really impressed me and I really liked. In the beginning of each campaign, at the loading screen there is a movie poster with the protagonists and there is always a phrase, typical for movies, such as: "Hell came to earth. These four are gonna send it back" or "No hope. No cure. No problem." They are very funny and really interesting because actually you play in a zombie movie. Other than that I can't find anything else to say here since the only thing you do is killing zombie dudes in order to reach a safe house.
Replay Value:
The replay value of this game is GrEaT. You can play the same campaign again and again just because it's amazing and so short, that you can finish it in an hour. The fun and nearly impossible achievements Valve put in the game increase the replay value a lot too. And even if you decide to stop playing the game I'm sure you'll come back to it really soon. And you know why? Because there is nothing better than killing screaming zombies. And by the way there are a lot of different types of zombies. You can encounter cop zombies, doctor zombies, civilian zombies, hospital patient zombies and many more. They are great and really fun to kill. :D
Bottom Line this game is way beyond my expectations and I recommend it to any FPS fan. Although this game is not only for FPS fans it may seem very difficult to the inexperienced players. I guarantee you hours of fun and joy (:P) and you're sure to like the awesome multiplayer mode.
Gameplay: 9
Graphics: 8
Replay Value: 10
Zombie Apocalypse: 10 :D
Final Score: 9,2
PS. I'm sorry for any grammar errors and/or wrong usage of words but my English is not the best there is so be forgiving :) .