Left 4 Dead pits you against the hellish horde of infected that keeps on changing no matter how many times you play it.
I'll be breaking down my review into different sections so you can easilly understand it.
Story: Well the story is not where Left 4 Dead shines so why mention it in the game? Thats right. . . . no story here in Left 4 Dead. We know some basic things like the character's names and generally whats going on but other than that theres nothing much in this department. We have Louis who is a junior system analyst for his IT company. Francis who is just a biker with a hatred for everything with the exception of vest. . . .and in the future the military. Zoey who is the college drop out and horror movie buff, and last but not least Bill the retired Green Beret and Vietnam veteran. These 4 will share their experiences and thoughts with you throughout the course of a campaign so you get a feeling for who each of these characters are. As for actual plot line it goes something like this, "We need to get from point A to point B without getting killed." Well at least they have an idea of where they are going.
Story mode doesn't really matter for this game because the simple thrill of getting to where you need to go is the real fun but still. . . . .I give story a 6 out of 10
Gameplay: Gameplay is simple, solid, and most importantly FUN. There are 4 campaigns each with a different map, and different scenarios. Choose one and get ready to see how the world has gone to the truley mindless. You start off each of these campaigns with 2 things, a Pistol and a flashlight. Luckily there are some basic weapons right at the start as well as first aid kits. Pick up a first aid kit and grab either a pump shotgun or an SMG and start fighting against the horde.
As you progress through each levels you will encounter "incoming attacks" these are waves of common infected ranging from between 50-100 common infected randomly swarming you all at once hoping of halting you in your tracks. Later you'll encounter the "Special infected" such as the Blobulous Boomer, the Sneaky Smoker, and the Hungry Hunter (of course I just put titles infront of them their name's are Boomer, Smoker, and Hunter). These special infected each have a way of throwing a wrench into Survivor's plans of rescue by either throwing up, Snagging with their tounge, or just plain pouncing on you. Each Special infected is stronger then your any given common infected and survivors will have to stay on their toes if they want to survive.
Teamwork is key in the game. Litteraly when one person is downed/dies. . . . .all hell breaks loose and your callous actions will cause your allies to fall as well. . . .if they are not quick to regroup. Your life is represented by a green health bar in the lower left corner. Everyone starts off with 100 but as soon as survivors are struck you can expect never to see 100% for the remainder of the game. The lower your health goes down the slower you run. . . till the point you just start limping towards the next safe room or the next health pack. Life goes from Green, to Orange, to red so remember when you see red. . . your dead. As soon as the life bar hits 0 you enter incapacitated mode. In this mode you can only look around and shoot with your 1, or 2 pistols you have. Basiclly you are at the mercy of the zombie horde. When you acually do it incapped mode your life is acually increased to 250 but this goes down fast and is represented by red lines running down your life bar vertically. Once the impending doom has lifted your teamates can come and revive you, be forewarned though Valve plays hardball with reviving and if its 3 strikes you instantlly die instead of going into incapp mode.
So your dead? Hows it feel to watch your other team mates try to regroup? Dull huh? Fear not once the game elapses in time and distance you respawn in a closet. . . . you were just mauled by zombies and your dead body is 2 miles back but ya your fine. When saved from death (rescued when your in the closet) you respawn with the weakest primary weapon and have 50 health. . . . better then nothing I assume.
As you further progress through the campeign you will find an assortment of things to keep you and your team breathing. These vary from Pain pills (gives you a temporary boost in life that slowly depletes), Heavy weapons or as friend's and I like to call them the A.S.S weapons (Assualt rifle, Shotgun, Sniper Rifle). Each one has its strengths and weakness. Assult Rifles hit far but are weak, this is compensated by their pinpoint accuracy so you can land a bullet right into the center of an infected's eyes. The Combat Shotgun which packs a huge hit. . . .at a close distance, each round of a combat shotgun can be unloaded into a horde of enemies in about 7 seconds this is like 12 rounds we're talking about. . . . .whole lotta lead. The Sniper hits the hardest and has incredible reach but with its short burst it fires in its the worst weapon to have in close quarters. You'll lastly find Pipe Bombs and Molotovs. These things can set the stage before you ablaze. . . burning anyone in its path, infected or not. Pipe bombs are equipped with flashing lights and loud noises to attract the horde, gee who knew they liked flashing lights. As soon as the Bomb lands all common infected in the vicinity will immediatly run to it screaming and flailing their arms as if that is the enemy, they whack it. . . .till it blows up.
You wont only encounter these positive goodies as you play but also stronger and more vile enemies as well as scenarios that will put your survival instinct to the test. The "Boss Infected" make their appearance starting in the 2nd chapter of each campeigns. These two bosses include Tanks and Witches. Tanks will spawn when the team least expects it and can be deadly to an unprepared team. He normally is signaled by his heavy breathing and snarling. As soon as Survivors set eye contact with him he will immediatlly charge twice the width of a Boomer (Tank is sheer muscle though) and roughly the same height the Tank will throw the Survivors back filling it with bullets till it finally drops (this will take you normally 15 rounds of a Combat shotgun). There are many other strategies to bring this beast down such as burning him or throwing a propane tank in the way just to explode it in his face.
Witches also provide a different sense of strategy. When Survivors are bolting through a campaign witches will spawn right in the path of the survivors and she doesn't like to be disturbed. You can tell where the witch is with her eerie moaning and crying she does. When you notice her she will have an oddly red glow to her and will be weeping in her hands. At this point your team can do one of two things, Sneak by her or Kill her. When the witch is disturbed she targets only that who disturbs her. In easier difficulties she will only incapp a survivor ripping him/her to ribbons unless stopped. On harder difficulties one slash from her long red fingernails will send the infortunate survivor flying back. . . dead.
Crescendo events are scenarios that are placed in the survivors path and they must activate something to proceed forward. This can range from Starting a car to ram a gate all the way to trying to get a lunatic survivor to open the door for you.
Not only did Valve focus on the co-op experience but also the VS expirience! Now teams of 4 can face off against eachother in a "Co-op Campaign survival mode" where 1 team is the survivors and the other. . . .a Boomer. . . . a Smoker. . . and 2 Hunters. Occasionally the game throws in a random witch (which cant be controlled) and the player on the infected team who is doing the best at that moment gets the honor of becoming the big man himself. . . . the Tank.
All and all story is completely where its at and I would give it like a 20 out of 10 but alas I must stay realistic so L4D's gameplay a 10 out of 10.
Controls: Controls are easy and you'll grow used to them in one campeign. RT is to shoot LT to melee Y to switch your primary and secondary weapons and the D-pad to choose a molotov/pipe bomb, turn on and off your flashlight, pull out your first aid kit or if times are desperate pull out the pain pills. X button lets you pick up stuff, answer radio's and open/close doors
Controls are smooth and wont leave you with some blank stare on your face when playing the game for your 5th time I give it a 10 out of 10
Graphics: Now where most people may say that graphics fail in this category I beg to differ. Character models are smooth and expressions are shown so prestinlly on each of the Survivor's face whether it be fear, worry, or anger each of these are expressed in the character models perfectly. The enviorment also sets the tone of "You really are the last 4 nine infected people in the area. . . . " and makes a sense of dread when you hear the shrieking of a Hunter or the snarling of a Tank.
Graphics get a 8 out of 10 great and ghoulish job.
There are some cons to this game though. . . . the AI tends to be a little slow often responding to your incapped self 10 seconds after you've been downed screaming for help and yelling their name. Also the achievements for this game are damn near impossible if you dont have a team of elite people willing to spend hours on in learning the map cold and all of her masochist ways.
Who cares though right? Cause where story and achievments fail the game is again stressing on gameplay. Innovated, Inspiring, and awe shocking are some of the words that come to mind when I think "Left 4 Dead" and also the excitement that when I do put in the game. . . .I'm not against the world. . . I have my 3 closest friend to be right next to me.
I give Valve's Left 4 Dead a 9.5