I have had a near passion for first person shooter (FPS) games which began in the Wolfenstein pre-Doom era. I have since been well saturation into the worlds of Doom, Doom 2, Doom 3 and Quake. The last fps I played was Red Faction for the PS2. I had not played any PC fps games in several years. I decided it was time to check out Left 4 Dead (L4D) as it had received a 10 out of 10 (KickAss) review in a recent issue Ultimate PC Magazine.
L4D is a dream come true for those who dream of a zombie infested world where survival is the name of the game. There is no need for extraneous plot build-up, we all know the story. Something has happened to infect the planet causing the dead to come back to life. The ravenous hordes have a healthy appetite for fresh human flesh and you are on the menu. Your survival as you move from one safe house to the next depends on your ability to shoot, blow up or burn as many of the undead as possible on your journey.
L4D offers an interesting and very cool strategy change to previous fps games. Co-operation with teammates is critical for your survival. Teammates will be needed to fend off hordes of regular zombies and to help terminate 5 “boss” zombie types. While one good head shot will take out a regular zombie, these mutated boss ghouls are more deadly and harder to kill requiring coordinated firepower. Teammates can also revive you and heal you when you have taken too much damage. Lose your teammates and you are finished.
The game experience takes you through office buildings, roadways, churches, farmhouses and of course graveyards. Although the levels are quite large, there is little difficulty in finding your way. But the pathway isn’t totally obvious. This is a rare and well done task on the part of the designers. To make the levels playable without making the path you take blatantly obvious.
I have not played online cooperative multi-player mode as of yet, but I have played through the advanced difficulty single person with AI teammates. There are three multi-player modes, including campaign, versus and survival modes. According to the reviews I have read the multi-player modes appear to be very cool. Campaign allows for the team to advance through levels in which the dead do not re-spawn and the team acquires points based on performance. In survival mode re-spawning occurs and the object is to survive as long as possible. In versus mode you get to play the part of the Boss infected. Sounds fun! In single person mode, the game is difficult enough on the advanced level to make it a challenge, but with some learning you find ways to get through! There are 4 chapters each having 5 levels. The AI of both the artificial teammates and the infected is pretty good!
HARWARE REQUIREMENTS: I was able to play L4D with less than the required platform on an overclocked AMD XP running at 2.2 ghz(ZCPU) with 2 GB RAM and an ATI Radeon 9550 with 256MB. When things get hairy and many zombies are on top of me, the frame rate slows quite a bit, but it doesn’t choke off. I would say my platform is the bare minimum. A more modern dual core CPU running at 2.5ghz and a beefier graphics card would no doubt improve playability during intense periods of multi-zombie attack.
GRAPHICS: Clear graphics even while moving forward and backward help reduce the eye strain often associated with games. The understanding of the physics involved in reducing eye strain has obviously made some advance in the past 5 years. By offering a more natural focus on objects near and far the eyes have a more real world environment in which to navigate. After playing for an hour or so, you do still get a little eye strain, but nothing like in the Doom era. Explosions and blood spray from a well placed head shot are quite realistic. There are only a few regular zombie types (soldier outfits, slim women in skirts, guys in suits). I would like to see more variation in the regular zombies. Of course there are no children zombies; we wouldn’t like to offend anyone by offering a complete nightmare. There are no nude or semi-nude zombies. Again, we can shoot their heads off but we dare not see an animated breast or flaccid phallus. What a funny world WE inhabit!
SOUND: The sound environment is well constructed and adds a great deal to the game. Zombie yells and grunts are very cool and do not seem to repeat themselves as often as you would think. I like the AI banter of the artificial teammates in single-player mode. I would like more variation again here however. Gun fire is crisp and well timed.
GAME PLAY: (I have only experienced single-player mode as of yet) I found few faults in the single-player mode. Advancing from safe house to safe house was intuitive. The weapons selection is spare but realistic. Ammunition was well spaced, meaning you will run out of ammo if not careful. I am not overly fond of the AI and damage caused by the Boss infected however. Often they will cause damage before you have a chance to defend yourself. As you lie helpless waiting for a teammate to rescue you, a boss can easily bring you from 100% to 10% health.
HITCHES AND WISH LIST: You can only carry a pistol (or two pistols)and one larger gun (hunting rifle with scope, M16, oozy, shot gun, semi-auto shotgun). I would like to be able to carry more than one weapon at a time. While I understand this would affect the ammo supply equation, I would rather have less ammo per weapon while carrying 2-3 weapons. The hunting rifle is perfect 80% of the time for its power and accuracy. (headshots with the scope are like a game version of the roof top scene from Dawn f the Dead) However, sometimes you need the room clearing rounds per minute of an M16. It would be nice to run into a hidden Metalstorm Maul shotgun or 3 round grenade 3GL!
OVERALL: I have to give an overall score of 9/10 to L4D. It is a wonderful game for those of us who wouldn’t mind a few hours of a real world zombie infested land (heck, aren’t we already there?). Game play is fast and realistic. The AI of the Boss infected in single-player mode is a bit harsh and the lack of multi-weapons carrying is a shame, but this is a game that will give you many hours of repeat play. Don’t forget to watch the 2 minute introduction video. A well designed and constructed teaser into the world of L4D. I love the line, “Son, we just crossed the street.”
Update 7/12/09: I have been able to play the single player games quite a bit and it is pretty addictive. I am playing at the expert setting and most levels are really hard to beat. This is part of what makes the game so addictive!
Regarding the voice narrations, although there are many stock voice comments by the AI charactors, I still laugh when I hear a NEW one! Even after playing hundreds of games, I still get some random new comments. Some are pretty freaking funny. "Don't worry, there's no shame in it, heck son, I would have pee'ed myself too." Or the totally none P.C., "Get up; I'm the girl here!"
I can't wait to play this game in multi-player mode. While the situations within this game can be a little repetitive (remember PacMan and Space Invaders?) the action is always different depending on the interaction of the charactors, the placement of health and weapons and your success in progressing. While I still want more weapons choices and the "Master" zombies are a bit hard to kill, I still find this game to be the best FPS to date.
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