The zombie survival genre got a redefined take, with help of an outdated engine. Left 4 dead is Valve’s (owners of half life and team Fortress series) new FPS. With new features, the blend of two very dated genres come together to make a concoction of straight up, shoot em up, mayhem, goodness. Hit the jump button for more.

I have always been a zombie fanatic. Being a early Romero fan, I was deeply fascinated by the rotting, flesh-eating undead. I began a deep yearning for a zombie game. Back in the 16 bit era, we had Zombie Ate My Neighbors, and even though many loved it for its great co-op experience, I could not get into it. It was too colorful for me and I didn’t like the whimsical approach. Several years later, Shinji Mikami, the man behind the Aladin games at Capcom, graced us with the biggest bench mark in the Zombie game genre, thus Biohazard (Resident Evil) was born. Sadly this title has been diluted over the years and has done little to change its aging gameplay, which is really not aging to well these days.

While it has its flaws, Left 4 Dead is a great step in the right direction. You play one of 4 survivors, with a choice of a very limited pallet of weaponry to start with. Your primary weapon is limited on ammo and your hand gun has unlimited rounds. Later as you progress, you switch out your weapons for modified, stronger versions. Geared up and ready to go?  You get one of several well made and thought out maps, with all sorts of exploitable choke points to make you feel like da man!

Here is where the game separates itself from the rest and leaves a mark that should be followed by the competition. We have a few things here, the “A.I. editor” which is a great new addition to this media. The A.I. editor, is the games ability to gauge how well your team is doing. It causes what no other zombie game has done at this point, generate a countless swarm of undead to rush you.  Clearly inspired by movies like 28 days later. The game knows how well you are doing in various parts of the game and try’s to play with you in real time. Its these elements that make this old point and click genre a new concoction of point’n click and OMG! The infected’s abilities are also well thought out and make for a more dynamic challenge to FPS. Zombies throw up which attracts more zombies.  The vomit hinders your vision as you fight the new hungry swarm. Some infected pounce on you and gut you, until a comrade frees you.I forgot to mention, you get a very useful but-stroke melee attack which backs off the enemy, making it easy to deal with swarms. Once your character drops bellow 0 HP you are down on the ground and immobile. But you can use hand guns to hold off the hungry mob. This continues until you die or your teammates help you up.
All the missions have a same thing in common, reach the rescue-point through several sections separated by safe houses. The safe houses serves as a break and restocking point. These points are some of the best parts of the game, whether you are waiting for a boat to come rescue you, or waiting for a C-130 to be fully gassed up before take off. These rescue points have a great deal of excitement to them, due to endless overwhelming swarms. It really making for some very exhilarating co-op experience.

My gripes come from the flaws that 1st person has, which is not casual-friendly at all. Platforming is a serious flaw that all FPS have. The fact that you cant see exactly where you are stepping would make you think that some idiot up there would have spent a little time to expand on this issue thus increasing the creative pallet for this genre. Other then that, that I give this game a  B+. The fact they have new mods in the way, some inspired by some Zombie movies make me want to stick around. I still think that a rich company such as Valve should have more content off the bat. But like I said, the great experience of feeling vulnerable makes up for the flaws of the game.

Grade: B+

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