Post by 340402309 on May 25, 2013 0:51:22 GMT -5
Found this on my computer, back when I used to write reviews on occasion for my old forum. Forgive any mistakes or inaccuracies, this is an old review back when I wrote them, but enjoy regardless!
LEFT 4 DEAD - Xbox 360
"Can you survive the zombie apocalypse?"
This is the very question Left 4 Dead asks you. No seriously, it's on the back of the box. O.o
Left 4 Dead is a survival horror/action title, recently released from Valve. Using their well renown Source engine. Broken up into four different survival scenarios. It pits you in the middle of a zombie infected wasteland, ranging from cities, or woods. You play as one of four survivors, a Seasoned War Vet(Bill), Out of Work African-American Businessman Man(Louis), College Student/ Horror Movie Buff(Zoey), or, a Biker Dude (Francis). Each survivor is fitted with a very unique, and different profile. Their dialogue between each other, and themselves is consistently entertaining. The fact that the dialogue is different every time you go through is an awesome touch too, due to Left 4 Dead using a very unique, and innovative, "AI Director" which has been stated by Valve in the commentary, that in future updates, tweaks, and code, anything is possible with this new method of presenting games as a whole.
What the hell!? This jerk wasn't here last time!
As stated above, Left 4 Dead is broken into four survival scenarios, or, campaigns. Each campaign is five chapters, with the last chapter leading up to a "finale". Where a final showdown with massive amounts of infected, and special infected attempt to stop you before your rescue vehicle arrives. Once they are held at bay long enough, you may attempt to reach your escape vehicle(assuming you can make it alive!). The campaign ends after this is completed, and the rescue vehicle is reached. Whenever you die during a campaign, you will be resorted to the chapter start. Which isn't that bad, seeing as how a chapter typically only lasts about 10 minutes to two hours depending on skill, difficulty, and your team. It can take a matter of moments if you rush on an easy difficulty. Each campaign starts like a movie, showing a movie poster, and the gamer tags in place where movie stars names would be above the characters, and "credits" roll, showing kills, accuracy, and other previous campaign stats.
One of the biggest selling feature of Left 4 Dead, is that it's a four player co-operative zombie survival game. A perfect mixture. Left 4 Dead blends the intensity, fun, and atmosphere of both a single player, and multiplayer game. This isn't typical co-op implementation either. This game is BUILT around it. This isn't Halo, or Gears, where someone just tags along for the story, unexpectedly cuing cut scenes, and stealing your ammo. You will need to use all of your wits, strategy, and skill to survive the world of Left 4 Dead. Some bigger, "Special Infected" leave you, or your teammates pinned until helped by an ally.
This special infected just couldn't resist Francis' rugged looks, and tattooed appearance. That funky thang.
One of the first things I noticed whilst playing Left 4 Dead, is the insane ammount of zombie types. This isn't like most zombie/infected games, where you see six or so different zombies, and that's it for the ENTIRE game. I saw at least 50+ different types of infected. If not more. Throw in the fairly decent amount of variety of special, powerful infected (about five) and an AI director that switches up locations of health and ammo, every time, and you've got a pretty fresh and fun experience... For awhile.
Even as an undead, Atkins still proves to be ineffective.
It doesn't end there though...
Versus mode. Yes, we're talking playing infected against humans, or vise versa. How often do you get to play an infected? This 4 on 4 mode allows you to play as one of the four survivors, or, one of Special Infected. Witch excluded. Your objective as the infected is to deal as much damage, and death to the survivors as possible, and as the survivors, you must, well, survive. This is a very interesting, and sometimes hilarious and/or frustrating mode,( Expect to die a lot as infected.) but fun, and interesting.
Regardless of how this looks, he doesn't exactly want to hug Zoey.
Left 4 Dead moves at an excellent pace all around. Intense crescendo events, quick getaways from hordes of infected, tank battles (the big boss infected of the game. Could be considered the main antagonist.) hurried frenzies of trying to heal and reload when time simply isn't on your side, and then brief breaks, before the next wave of madness and insanity, are all a key element to this game. It's not perfect, but it doesn't get much better than this. Left 4 Dead is quite possibly the best co-operative game ever crafted.
Now onto Pros And Cons...
Pros
1. Zombie lovers dream come true.
2. Epic sound design.
3. Likable characters.
4. Tons of different zombies.
5. Special Infected
6. Play as Infected in Versus mode.
7. High re-playability.
8. Pretty fun weapons
9. Very satisfying throw weapons. Throwing a pipe bomb attracts infected to it, sometimes you can get upwards of 30 infected with one pipe bomb. Satisfaction at it's best. Lighting a tank up with a Molotov, and fleeing from him until he burns to death also feels awesome.
10. Heavy emphasis on teamwork. A pro, but can sometimes be a con.
11. AI director switches some things around here and there to create a relatively new experience each time through a campaign.
12. Achievement tracker.
13. Very fun, and varied Campaigns.
14. Incredibly fast paced, easy to pick up and play, hard to master and put down.
15. Good split screen.
16. Characters look amazing.
17.Dedicated servers on consoles. YES FINALLY! Why more developers don't do this, I've no idea. A dedicated server, is when the company themselves host the servers, and your connection to the game is not dependent on who is hosting the game, but your own connection for once.
18. Host powers are given to all players. Meaning you can't be kicked just because someone is an ass... When a player brings up a poll vote, the majority of the players must vote to kick you for it to be done. Same goes to mid game difficulty change, returning to the lobby, even skipping the credits sequence at the end of each campaign.
19. If a player is "idle" for too long, they will appear as "idle" and the AI will take over for them. Or you can automatically set this to do so, if you need a break.
20. Insanely awesome melee.
21. Nothing quite as uniquely satisfying, as you all grouping up in a nice corner, to all hold off an incoming horde of infected.
Cons
1. No saving mid campaign.
2. While high in re-playability, the fun won't last as long as you may think. Best played in moderation.
3. Both and pro and con. Your experience will either be greatly enhanced, or severely hindered, depending on who you play with. Not really a game flaw, than a people flaw. Just remember, friendly fire is ALWAYS on...
4. All this time in development and no story? Lame.
5. Gets boring in single player quick.
6. Expert difficulty basically impossible with AI bot teammates.
7. While what weapons are there are fun, there is a rather poor variety of them. One of the most fun things in a game like this is many, many, many, ways of dispatching zombies.
8. While characters look amazing, the source engine, while also amazing, is starting to show it's age. It really does need and update, overhaul, something.
Overall, Left 4 Dead, is a great paced, fast, zombie survival, cooperative game. Featuring likable characters, tons of zombies, cool campaigns, and an atmosphere that's hard to compete with.
Presentation 7 - No story is a let down. Even some mild hints would've been nice, graphics are good at times, and just meh at other times. Sound is great though.
Gameplay 9 - Excellent. Fast moving, guns blazing, intense cooperation, and combat.
Re-playability 8 - Fun for a long while, but it won't last forever. We need more campaigns ASAP Valve! Nevermind... Now we have a sequel on the way... HAHAHA
Left 4 Dead gets...
9 Undead abominations out of 10
"Can you survive the zombie apocalypse?"
This is the very question Left 4 Dead asks you. No seriously, it's on the back of the box. O.o
Left 4 Dead is a survival horror/action title, recently released from Valve. Using their well renown Source engine. Broken up into four different survival scenarios. It pits you in the middle of a zombie infected wasteland, ranging from cities, or woods. You play as one of four survivors, a Seasoned War Vet(Bill), Out of Work African-American Businessman Man(Louis), College Student/ Horror Movie Buff(Zoey), or, a Biker Dude (Francis). Each survivor is fitted with a very unique, and different profile. Their dialogue between each other, and themselves is consistently entertaining. The fact that the dialogue is different every time you go through is an awesome touch too, due to Left 4 Dead using a very unique, and innovative, "AI Director" which has been stated by Valve in the commentary, that in future updates, tweaks, and code, anything is possible with this new method of presenting games as a whole.
What the hell!? This jerk wasn't here last time!
As stated above, Left 4 Dead is broken into four survival scenarios, or, campaigns. Each campaign is five chapters, with the last chapter leading up to a "finale". Where a final showdown with massive amounts of infected, and special infected attempt to stop you before your rescue vehicle arrives. Once they are held at bay long enough, you may attempt to reach your escape vehicle(assuming you can make it alive!). The campaign ends after this is completed, and the rescue vehicle is reached. Whenever you die during a campaign, you will be resorted to the chapter start. Which isn't that bad, seeing as how a chapter typically only lasts about 10 minutes to two hours depending on skill, difficulty, and your team. It can take a matter of moments if you rush on an easy difficulty. Each campaign starts like a movie, showing a movie poster, and the gamer tags in place where movie stars names would be above the characters, and "credits" roll, showing kills, accuracy, and other previous campaign stats.
One of the biggest selling feature of Left 4 Dead, is that it's a four player co-operative zombie survival game. A perfect mixture. Left 4 Dead blends the intensity, fun, and atmosphere of both a single player, and multiplayer game. This isn't typical co-op implementation either. This game is BUILT around it. This isn't Halo, or Gears, where someone just tags along for the story, unexpectedly cuing cut scenes, and stealing your ammo. You will need to use all of your wits, strategy, and skill to survive the world of Left 4 Dead. Some bigger, "Special Infected" leave you, or your teammates pinned until helped by an ally.
This special infected just couldn't resist Francis' rugged looks, and tattooed appearance. That funky thang.
One of the first things I noticed whilst playing Left 4 Dead, is the insane ammount of zombie types. This isn't like most zombie/infected games, where you see six or so different zombies, and that's it for the ENTIRE game. I saw at least 50+ different types of infected. If not more. Throw in the fairly decent amount of variety of special, powerful infected (about five) and an AI director that switches up locations of health and ammo, every time, and you've got a pretty fresh and fun experience... For awhile.
Even as an undead, Atkins still proves to be ineffective.
It doesn't end there though...
Versus mode. Yes, we're talking playing infected against humans, or vise versa. How often do you get to play an infected? This 4 on 4 mode allows you to play as one of the four survivors, or, one of Special Infected. Witch excluded. Your objective as the infected is to deal as much damage, and death to the survivors as possible, and as the survivors, you must, well, survive. This is a very interesting, and sometimes hilarious and/or frustrating mode,( Expect to die a lot as infected.) but fun, and interesting.
Regardless of how this looks, he doesn't exactly want to hug Zoey.
Left 4 Dead moves at an excellent pace all around. Intense crescendo events, quick getaways from hordes of infected, tank battles (the big boss infected of the game. Could be considered the main antagonist.) hurried frenzies of trying to heal and reload when time simply isn't on your side, and then brief breaks, before the next wave of madness and insanity, are all a key element to this game. It's not perfect, but it doesn't get much better than this. Left 4 Dead is quite possibly the best co-operative game ever crafted.
Now onto Pros And Cons...
Pros
1. Zombie lovers dream come true.
2. Epic sound design.
3. Likable characters.
4. Tons of different zombies.
5. Special Infected
6. Play as Infected in Versus mode.
7. High re-playability.
8. Pretty fun weapons
9. Very satisfying throw weapons. Throwing a pipe bomb attracts infected to it, sometimes you can get upwards of 30 infected with one pipe bomb. Satisfaction at it's best. Lighting a tank up with a Molotov, and fleeing from him until he burns to death also feels awesome.
10. Heavy emphasis on teamwork. A pro, but can sometimes be a con.
11. AI director switches some things around here and there to create a relatively new experience each time through a campaign.
12. Achievement tracker.
13. Very fun, and varied Campaigns.
14. Incredibly fast paced, easy to pick up and play, hard to master and put down.
15. Good split screen.
16. Characters look amazing.
17.Dedicated servers on consoles. YES FINALLY! Why more developers don't do this, I've no idea. A dedicated server, is when the company themselves host the servers, and your connection to the game is not dependent on who is hosting the game, but your own connection for once.
18. Host powers are given to all players. Meaning you can't be kicked just because someone is an ass... When a player brings up a poll vote, the majority of the players must vote to kick you for it to be done. Same goes to mid game difficulty change, returning to the lobby, even skipping the credits sequence at the end of each campaign.
19. If a player is "idle" for too long, they will appear as "idle" and the AI will take over for them. Or you can automatically set this to do so, if you need a break.
20. Insanely awesome melee.
21. Nothing quite as uniquely satisfying, as you all grouping up in a nice corner, to all hold off an incoming horde of infected.
Cons
1. No saving mid campaign.
2. While high in re-playability, the fun won't last as long as you may think. Best played in moderation.
3. Both and pro and con. Your experience will either be greatly enhanced, or severely hindered, depending on who you play with. Not really a game flaw, than a people flaw. Just remember, friendly fire is ALWAYS on...
4. All this time in development and no story? Lame.
5. Gets boring in single player quick.
6. Expert difficulty basically impossible with AI bot teammates.
7. While what weapons are there are fun, there is a rather poor variety of them. One of the most fun things in a game like this is many, many, many, ways of dispatching zombies.
8. While characters look amazing, the source engine, while also amazing, is starting to show it's age. It really does need and update, overhaul, something.
Overall, Left 4 Dead, is a great paced, fast, zombie survival, cooperative game. Featuring likable characters, tons of zombies, cool campaigns, and an atmosphere that's hard to compete with.
Presentation 7 - No story is a let down. Even some mild hints would've been nice, graphics are good at times, and just meh at other times. Sound is great though.
Gameplay 9 - Excellent. Fast moving, guns blazing, intense cooperation, and combat.
Re-playability 8 - Fun for a long while, but it won't last forever. We need more campaigns ASAP Valve! Nevermind... Now we have a sequel on the way... HAHAHA
Left 4 Dead gets...
9 Undead abominations out of 10