Left 4 Dead Hands On
All the fun of a zombie movie without the splinters from boarding up windows
Tags: Left 4 Dead Categories: PC Previews, Previews, Xbox 360 Previews
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Oct 3rd, 2008
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The premise of a zombie movie is usually pretty standard, a small band of survivors have to do anything they can do to survive. The problem is that most survival horror games have players outrunning the horde of zombies solo. However Valve has come to the rescue with a game that truly recreates that Dawn of the Dead vibe that Resident Evil only toyed with.
With four player online co-op, or the posibility for one person to join you on the couch; Left 4 Dead is finally a zombie movie you can play. At its heart L4D is still a first person shooter, but there is a lot more going on than your usual run and gun. Team management is one of the stand out parts of the title. Players have to work together to ensure that everyone stays alive.
Team healing does come at a cost to your own supplies, so be wary. Also be aware that if you dont heal your teammate, that person won’t be around to heal you when you need it.
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In addition to simple healing, there are plenty of zombies around that can grab and pin your teammate to the ground. This requires quick action to keep your ally alive. If they do finally bite it, you will be foreced to make due with reduced numbers until you reach a respawn point. These points have a nice touch, as your teammate will be locked in the closet until you find them. Which makes me glad I won’t be playing this without people I know, or can replace empty slots with bots, because after about the seventh coming out of the closet joke, I will be homicidal.
One of the things I really love about the design of Left 4 Dead is that the controls are so easily adaptable if you have played any of Valve’s previous games such as Half-Life 2 or Team Fortress 2. this isnt’ to say that Lweft 4 Dead is simply antoher valve game with a zombie skin over it, but to simply emphasize that the control scheme is much more “pick up and play” than you might realize.
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The action is pretty intense too, with tight corridors and small packs of zombies, to long streets with a mob gunning for your tasty brain meats. However with a wide range of weaponry, these situations allow you to experiment. I like tossing explosives into the large packs, the resulting explosion puts a damper on the chase.
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Zombie fans should take notice of this title, it is sure to be one of the games you will remember for a long time. This may mark a new approach to horror games, or just a mutant deviation, but it is worth a look.
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Tags: Left 4 Dead
Posted by Mike "Two Tone" McConnell on Oct 3rd, 2008 and is filed under PC Previews, Previews, Xbox 360 Previews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
