Left 4 Dead

I don't like horror flicks. Mostly because they're all blood-and-gore death fests these days rather then the old style psychological thrillers of yore, but also because I'm a wimp. I can't sit through anything with blood on TV or in a movie without feeling nauseous. Thus, I find it odd that two of my favorite games in the last year (Fallout 3 and this one) are very, very violent titles. I've always been a first-person shooter nut, ever since I first saw Wolfenstein 3D: Spear of Destiny on my uncle's PC as a kid. The Unreal Tournament series is one of my favorites, and I love Half-Life. These games, however, rarely showed realistic violence.  I can't play FarCry 2 because of the more realistic portrayal of gunplay and the like. What I'm getting at is that while Left 4 Dead is indeed very gory, it's so much more as well, and transends it's bloody roots to be an outstanding title.

As one of four survivors, you and your three allies have to flee zombie hordes for whatever safety you can find. Set up like bad horror films (complete with movie poster and end credits), there are four 'movies' with five 'sets' each. This may sound like a letdown, but it's fun to play over and over because the game's weapons, health and baddies are randomly spread about the map each game, making for a new experience each time you play. All four survivors play exactly the same, so it's merely an aesthetic choice who you play as.

This game is designed to be played with three other human beings, but if you must (or want to) do without, the AI does a passable job. While they don't show the frayed nerves that real flesh-and-blood people can exhibit (which is part of the fun, actually), they can hold their own in a firefight. Weapons are meager in number; two types of shotguns, a sub-machine gun, an assault rifle and a sniper rifle, plus every player has a handgun with unlimited ammo. My favorite is the automatic shotgun. Once I get that, I'm ready to mow down waves of zombies.

Powered by Bravenet.com