Left 4 Dead

(FU) Image: Valve Corporation
Cover of the original Left 4 Dead PC Game.

Left 4 Dead is a series of zombie horror/survival, first-person shooter video games, published by Valve Software, available on the Xbox 360 and PC. The original game, Left 4 Dead, was released in November 2008 and saw immediate praise and success, as it sold nearly 2 million copies in its first few months. In November 2009, Valve released a sequel, Left 4 Dead 2, which also received great reviews and initial sales. In February 2010, Electronic Arts, whom distributed Left 4 Dead 2 in retail stores, announced that the game has sold over 2.9 million copies worldwide. Both games utilize the Source Engine, a 3D game engine that was used in Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2.

Gameplay

Gameplay modes

Both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 contain essentially the same gameplay, with a few exceptions. The sequel contains different characters, maps, additional bosses, and more weapons than in the original game.

At the heart of both games is two main gameplay modes, Campaign, and Versus.

In Campaign mode, up to four players team up, and play as a group of surviving characters, whom, for some reason, are immune to the zombie outbreak. The game is designed to play out just like a zombie horror movie: Your goal is to navigate through the area, which has been completely devastated by the zomies, and escape to safety. Doing so will require the survivors to stay together and work as a team. Left 4 Dead is not a simple run and gun type game, where you just shoot everything that moves. There are several zombies that have special types of attacks, which are devastating to a survivor caught alone. These zombies are named "Boss infected". (For example, one boss, called the "hunter", pounces on top of you and his weight leaves you completely helpless, requiring a teammate to shoot him or knock him off of you. Another, the "boomer" vomits on you if you stay too close, or kill him too close, and the bile attracts a massive horde of zombies that attack.) Teamwork is absolutely essential.

To overcome this onslaught of zombies, the survivors are equipped with Guns (such as shotguns, machine guns, pistols), and homemade weapons, such as pipe bombs and Molotovs. Left 4 Dead 2 introduced the use of melee weapons, such as chainsaws, baseball bats, and machetes. Individually, the Zombies are fairly weak and easy to kill with the available guns and weapons, but in numbers can be devastating.

The Versus mode is similar to Campaign mode, except that the "Boss infected" are controlled by players, instead of by the computer AI. This mode accommodates up to eight players, in two teams of four players each. The teams take turns playing as the survivors, and the Boss Infected. When playing as the Infected, you are given access to their special attacks, and your goal is to kill the players on the survivor team before they reach safety.

Other available game modes include:

• Survivor Mode - The computer AI will throw hordes and hordes of zombies and bosses at you; Simply hold out for as long as you can.
• Scavenger Mode (only available in Left 4 Dead 2) - similar to Versus mode. Survivors try to collect and use materials needed to survive, while player-controlled infected try to stop them

Maps

The original Left 4 Dead features four unique maps, and Left 4 Dead 2 features five. (Both games can also have an additional map added through available downloadable Content). Each map, on average, take 45 minutes to an hour to complete in campaign mode, and is divided into 5 "stages". Each stage ends with players reaching a safe house, where they cannot be attacked by zombies, or player infected in versus mode. This ensures that players get a brief rest period a few times during a campaign, as well as chances to heal and replenish ammo, etc.

Features

The Left 4 Dead series contains a very innovative feature called the AI Director , which can be thought of as the Director of the "movie" you are in when playing a campaign. The AI Director ensures that no two playthroughs of a campaign are the same. In each game, the AI Director randomizes the locations in the game in which zombie mobs and boss infected appear, as well as locations where weapons are made available. This makes each experience unique, as you can never know for sure whether there is a massive zombie mob around the next corner or not. The AI Director also alters the gameplay on-the-fly during a campaign, based on what is happening. For example, if the group of survivors is slacking around and not moving to the next area within a reasonable amount of time, the director will spawn a massive horde of zombies to come attack them. If the players are having a really tough experience, the Director will periodically thin out the zombie attacks and give the survivors a fair chance to recover.

Awards won

The original Left 4 Dead title won the following awards:

• IGN – Best Online Multiplayer Game of 2008, for PC and Xbox 360; Best Use of Sound, Best Shooting Game, for PC.
• GameSpot – Best Cooperative Multiplayer of 2008; Best Shooter of 2008;
• Maximum PC - 2008 Game of the Year

Trivia

• The original title of the game was Terror Strike.
• In the original Left 4 Dead title, all of the cars have Pennsylvania license plates (despite the fact that the territories in each map are fictional).