Left 4 Dead at a glance

by Brendan Rose

The surprise hit of 2008, and an instant classic for me, was definitely Left 4 Dead by Valve software, makers of the archaic masterpiece Half Life. Half Life spawned games like Team Fortress 2, Counterstrike, Half Life 2 and eventually the evil and draconian Steam, which often refuses to let you play a game even though you’ve already paid for it.

Left 4 Dead is a Co-Op zombie shooter modeled on a movie theme. The zombies are kind of like those from 28 Days Later, really wild and crazy running at you slavering and screaming for blood, trying to rip your throat out when they notice you, and just standing around staring off into space when they don't.

L4D features 5 boss zombies. The Boomer, a bloated fat zombie barfs or explodes, sending a hoard of lesser zombies to kill you. The Smoker, like the licker from Resident Evil, constricts you with its tongue and drags you away to eat or strangle. The Hunter moves quickly and dives at you to tear you to shreds with his hands. The Witch cries until she's startled and then rips you apart. The Tank slaughters everyone half the time; you really need to stick with your team or you'll find yourself swarmed, restrained, and dead pretty quickly.

All the monsters and most items are placed randomly by the AI director, ensuring that every outing through the four chapters of screaming infected, each containing five levels, always feels fresh and new.

The game also features a versus mode where two teams face off as either the Zombies or the Survivors.

There is no way to express the joy of ditching your three stupid friends as they die in a hoard of zombies, overcome by their own dumbness, while you escape unscathed. Left 4 Dead features crisp live voice chat (or garbled gibberish on 360), swarms of enemies, and is really one of the most fun games of the year. I bought it twice, so I can easily recommend that you buy it once.