Set in the immediate aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead's survival co-op mode lets up to four players blast a path through the swarming zombie hordes and terrifying mutant monsters. Guide your survivors across the rooftops of an abandoned metropolis, through rural ghost towns and pitch-black forests in your quest to escape a devastated Ground Zero crawling with infected enemies.
Great zombie game. Quite addictive.
havin a giggl wit zowmbies m8!
this is an awsome thing you created so so very awsome
2 słowa. Zajebista gra!
Best Zombie Killin' of all times :D
I love this game it awesome
This is game is ok. Not the best not the worst. Its fun with huge hordes of zombies. Thats it.
Left 4 Dead is probably my favourite game of all time, and come to think of it I don't actually have a reason for this. You should all however, buy it and play with me :3
Great game, felt like it should be rated "T" for teen. Felt like it was quite an entertaining kids' game when I last played it.
Beggining of 2010s was the year when zombie apocalypse theme gained increasingly massive popularity, and Left 4 Dead was a precursor of that interest. Despite drawing inspiration of well-known survival horror videogames and theme movies, such as the remake of Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later, Left 4 Dead (L4D) is a masterfully crafted piece, with its own environment, features, enemies and story. Based on Source engine (the same one used in Half-Life 2), this game offers a complete experience of cooperative survival horror FPS, with tons of replayability and a guaranteed time sink with friends or solo.
Although some modeling aspects resemble a lot those of HL2 (e.g. the ragdoll corpses), the ambience of L4D is unique in its depiction of gloom and chaos in a city devastated by a plague. There is even great interaction with the environment through breakable and movable objects, which adds to the realism. The survivors and infected models are well crafted and look almost high res: survivors and common infected display a wide range of facial expressions and sounds depending how enraged they are (in the case of infected) or the remaining health and/or voice command used (in the case of survivors). Even the corpses don't feel like plain ragdolls since there are complex hurting and death animations depending on where the shot is received, showcasing commendable attention to detail from the developers. All of this creates a sense of tension that must be endured while surviving, which is precisely the goal of survival horror. A remarkable aspect of the well-worked soundtrack is the multitude of musical cues for each special infected, horde attack, incapacitation status, remaining health and much more. This source of tension functions like a conditioned reflex the more hours you play.
Story is perhaps the weakest element of L4D, but that's because I personally never engaged with the background of the characters. However, it should be noted that from the menu intro to the climactic fight of the campaigns, the game offers an almost cinematic experience. Even when the ambience is dark and despairing, the survivors add a comedic touch with their memorable dialogue, which shows the personality of each character. A feature especially useful on PC is voice commands, which allow for fluid communication in multiplayer. To top it all, further background information on the characters and the plot can be found in other media, especially comics, providing a lot of material for the L4D fandom to sink their teeth into.
By far, the best that L4D can offer us is its gameplay. There are 4 initial campaigns, an acceptable variety of weapons, and significant potential for modding and community-created campaigns. There are 4 different play modes that you can play solo or with other people, and there is plenty of room for cooperative strategies to beat the maps increasingly faster. Maybe the main feature that allows for almost infinite replayability in this game is the so-called AI Director. This AI randomizes the spawn of weapons and enemies for each game, so even if the map is the same, the experience is unique every time. One thing I didn't like very much is that co-op strategies are rather basic, and even though it isn't a FPS in which personal skill is more important than teamwork (like Counter Strike), the best possible strategies involve grouping together and providing covering fire. The game is really unforgiving to players who go lone wolf, because of the special infected's mechanics, so this makes teamwork feels a bit forced. In any case, there's no need to worry about this because you'll want to make your way as a group rather than mindlessly killing zombies.
All in all, L4D is a must-play for every survival horror lover and a great option for those who like to play with friends. Its friendly team communication features and virtually infinite replayability allow it to survive all these years as a solid videogame title. Watch out though, because if you play addictively for countless hours, it's easy to feel burnout in the long term.