Left 4 Dead Review (Xbox 360, 2008)

Left 4 Dead was one of my favorite games when it released on the Xbox 360. It combined two of my most favorite things; co-op multiplayer and zombies. The end result was one of the most memorable first person shooters of the entire generation. It didn’t matter if you played solo, split screen, or online. You were always in for a good time when this game loaded. With Halloween fast approaching I decided to return to Left 4 Dead to see if the magic still hits. It does. Left 4 Dead might just be the best first person shooter of its generation, and remains to this day one of the most enjoyable asymmetrical video games. Let’s take a look.

The story is as follows. An outbreak of a disease called the ‘green flu’ has swept across most of the country. This causes humans to lose their basic cognitive abilities and become violent and erratic. They’re zombies. You play as one of a group of four survivors that must work together to survive the onslaught of infected while trying to reach the last bastions of humanity. The plot is pretty basic, and has very few twists with all of them being overly convenient to the narrative. It’s nothing special. What makes the scenario so interesting however is the characters. The four survivors (Bill, Francis, Louis, Zoey) all have distinct personalities and a lot of voiced dialogue in-game. The atmosphere is often tense and dreary, and their one-liners work well to liven things up.

At first glance Left 4 Dead appears to be your basic first person shooter. You explore environments shooting foes (in this case, zombies) making your way ever forward through each stage. During gameplay you can hold a total of four different items. Two separate weapons (one side arm and one large gun) as well as a healing item (either a first aid kit or pack of pain pills) and an explosive device (molotov cocktail or pipe bomb). Your handgun has infinite ammunition but still needs to be reloaded at the end of each clip. You can even double up on these should you happen upon a second one. It’s the primary gun that’s interesting. In each safe room you’re given a choice of which one to bring with you. At first the options range only from the pump action shot gun to a submachine gun.

That’s just to start you off though. In some of the stages you’ll come across even more powerful firearms like the assault rifle, semi-automatic shotgun, and hunting rifle (complete with a scope). There aren’t that many different weapons but I was never left wanting for more. Though limited I found the arsenal adequate. That’s due in part to the environmental hazards that can also be used against zombies. One area of the game actually has a mounted mini-gun with unlimited ammunition which makes for one of the best sequences in the entire game. In other sequences you’ll be able to shoot explosive objects to blow up incoming zombies. Left 4 Dead doesn’t offer a ton of variety but there’s just enough to keep you interested from start to finish.

Then we have the zombies themselves. The most common of these are the simple runners. They look human until you get close up. They also run full blast in your direction once they detect your presence swinging their arms wildly. These guys (and gals) are generally standing still in the environments when you come upon them, but it’s not uncommon for a horde of them to flood in from off-screen targeting your group. What sets the infected apart though are the special zombies. These have special characteristics and are generally much stronger than the typical fodder. Hunters leap and tackle the protagonists and lay the smackdown until someone saves them. Bloaters are oversized zombies that vomit on your characters. The bile attracts hordes of standard zombies. There’s also smokers which grab the protagonists with their tongue and drag them away.

The king of the special zombie types however is the tank. They even have their own theme music. These hulking beasts are tough to deal with and on the higher difficulty levels can mean instant doom if you’re not prepared. These guys are bullet sponges and can pick up and throw boulders at the players which deals a ton of damage and can knock the person down. Additionally they can toss the heroes like they’re weightless. This may not seem like a big deal but some areas have heights characters can fall from that mean instant death. The other really interesting special infected is the witch. These are little girl zombies seen sitting on the floor and crying. They’re harmless unless startled (even using your flashlight can spark them to life). The witch is second only to the tank when it comes to destructive power.

Teamwork is a huge part of Left 4 Dead. You’re not just fighting zombies together; you’re also saving each other from hazards. If a character runs out of health they become incapacitated on the ground and can only fire their handgun while their life bar slowly depletes. In this state you can only be saved by another player. If you fall off a ledge but your character manages to grab on you can only get back up if pulled by someone else. The same goes for when a special infected has you pinned down. While I like the teamwork aspect of play there were times when I felt it was too heavy handed. It’s fine when you’ve got a full roster of human players but relying on the CPU controlled allies can be frustrating. The AI isn’t particularly good at rescuing you, unfortunately.

Progression is a little odd in Left 4 Dead in my opinion. The game is divided into five campaigns all of which have five levels. I do like that you can select which one to play at the start, but dividing it into ‘episodes’ harkens too much to television which feels out of place. Each chapter starts you off in a safe house where you collect weapons, and ends at the next one wherein you can replenish supplies and/or change the primary firearm you’re using. It is only the finales that differ. These have you fighting off a veritable horde of zombies whilst awaiting rescue. They are also the high point of the game. The final stretch in each campaign becomes pure chaos with special infected attacking and tons of runners coming your way. Some of them require you to complete basic tasks while fighting them off.

Left 4 Dead even has some randomization features. While the stages are always laid out the same the zombies do not have identical spawns. Some of them come in at random locations. Hordes of infected also rush in to your location at different points, and this changes with each play through. Valve tried to ensure that each time you revisit Left 4 Dead you get a slightly different experience. It works for the most part. I love that special infected appear in random places. This helps keep the players on their toes even when they know the game inside and out. What’s also interesting is that the music changes based on how you’re performing in the game. It can even be different for each player. These features help to make the game more replayable, but they only go so far.

The real replay value comes in the different game modes. You can opt to go through each campaign in single player mode which is entirely offline. Left 4 Dead even offers split screen multiplayer here with up to two players at once. Of course the main way to play is online. The game is at its best here. Coordinating with real players over voice chat is where the teamwork element makes sense. Then there’s versus mode. This is the most interesting way to play. Here players are divided into two teams; survivors and infected. Those on the zombie team are assigned special infected characters and your goal is to stop the survivors. After each round the tables are flipped and teams switch. The asymmetric gameplay is an absolute hoot. Hiding around corners as a boomer and vomiting on human players is one of the most rewarding experiences in any game.

Even at the time of release I never thought Left 4 Dead looked amazing. It uses the source engine for its graphics, and by the time of this release that was pretty dated. What’s more is that due to the nature of the game there’s few moments of fancy physics or destructible environments. On the Xbox 360 the game had a rough resolution, but a fairly consistent framerate. It can support a lot of on-screen carnage at once with only a few hiccups. Character models look okay with several different versions of the infected. The environments tend to be a little drab, but it kind of comes with the territory. Where Left 4 Dead excels is in its lighting effects. Each character is armed with a flashlight and frequently this will be your only source of light. It looks amazing. The soundtrack is pretty good as well.