Left 4 Dead

There aren’t many classic monster movies that have been so successful as to start an entire genre of film. When George Romero first released Night of the Living Dead, few people could have predicted the enduring place it would occupy in our collective dreams. There is something primordially appealing about the zombie apocalypse, how it turns death on its head, showcases moments of human frailty and strength, and turns the familiar into something not to be trusted. But if your brain has already been devoured, not to worry, for in the hands of the talented video game designers at Valve, the zombie apocalypse makes a perfectly brainless but energetically fun Co-op first person shooter extravaganza.

Plotting Points by Tan(x)
Video Game Reviews by a Very Busy Math Teacher

Game: Left 4 Dead
Platform: Xbox 360
Played For: 7 hours



To get the full effect of Left 4 Dead you have to have three friends willing to play along with you. Erstwhile cousin CotangentX and I were joined by Doc and Dude, two other eager gamers of our acquaintance and advanced age (actually, according to recent poles we’re all about smack dab on the median age of all video game players… but that probably includes all those Grandmothers dominating online Scrabble so you can decide what to read into that.) Doc, who is a real world Anesthesiologist, was the perfect person to have at hand to distribute pain pills and to bandage people up (actually, he often had to bandage himself up, at which point he would always yell out “Physician, Heal Thyself!”) Dude, clearly some kind of super gamer, spent most of his time saving our butts when we got pounced on by various special mutant zombies. So, a good party balance established, we watched what must be one of the best opening sequences in a game since whatever the last Final Fantasy was, and then we were ready to grind some zombie flesh.

And we got them. Lots of zombies. Oodles of the suckers. Great slavering hordes crawling over fences, clawing past each other, running at full gallop and coming from every direction at once… curse the day that “fast zombies” were invented. Zombies were pretty scary as slow, lumbering dead things that could surround you and pull you down with sheer human weight. Left 4 Dead has a nice way of paying homage to the old lumbering days, by having zombies act this way until they get alerted to your presence. But don’t dawdle around enjoying the sights… to keep things interesting the game will throw a random horde of the jogging dead at your crew… eating up valuable ammunition which you won’t get more of until you reach the end of the level and the next safe house.

Left 4 Dead doesn’t bother giving much background for the story. Since the zombies are known as “infected” one presumes there is some kind of virus behind the situation. How the virus is transmitted is unknown, but I hope it isn’t in the bite, because our four survivors certainly got chomped on quite a bit during our gaming stint. The only story one finds is in the random and very entertaining graffiti scrawled on safe house walls, many of which were written by people who have long ago gone completely nutters.

While Left 4 Dead is impressive in its portrayal of ravening zombie hordes and fast-paced action, the unique mutant zombies are really what make the game stand out. Designed to make you actually cooperate with your pals, each special zombie presents a group challenge of some kind. You have bloated tumescent Boomer zombies, which waddle up and vomit on survivors, making them especially appealing to the zombie hordes… suddenly everyone has to protect whoever got slimed as every zombie in sight heads right for them. Hunter and Smoker zombies entangle their prey, making a survivor helpless and in dire need of rescue by one of your cohorts. Tanks are giant hit point machines, requiring everyone nearby to empty their ammo to take them down. And as to witches…

I’ve never seen CotangentX as traumatized as he is about witches. As soon as the spooky witch music would start up, he’d cry out something along the lines of “Wiiiiitttcchh… lights out, don’t startle it..!! We’re gonna die!!!” You have to take note that this would happen at least once or twice per level. Of course, I would inevitably ignore my cousin’s sound advice, quickly earning the position of “most witches startled” and the accompanying “took the most damage” ranking. Maybe CotangentX is right… witches simply aren’t to be trifled with.

The “single player” campaign, i.e. the “four person” campaign is a bit short, consisting of four so-called movies, each broken up into four stages and a final battle. However, the action is intense, and obviously points to the significant fun of multiplayer versus mode, where you can take on the role of one of the zombies and go hunting for survivors, which must be terribly therapeutic. The Achievement structure in this game is excellent, extending play with lots of tricky but reasonable suggested tasks to complete from every angle. The game is a bit expensive for someone who isn’t into multiplayer action, but if you are open to jumping online, there is a lot of fun to be had.

Zombies continue to be really popular. A year or two ago my wife and I got to see an internet-organized zombie march, where a large group of people dressed up in zombie costumes on a random Saturday and went shambling through the streets as a parade. The best part was the look on the faces of startled Starbucks customers as ravening zombies suddenly appeared, beating on the large storefront windows… hehehe. I’ll end this review with some quick zombie references for those who wish to experience more of the Left 4 Dead subject area.

Make sure, first of all, that you have watched the original Night of the Living Dead. For slow zombies and maximum comedy gore, Peter Jackson’s Dead Alive is a must-see. Shawn of the Dead is another excellent take on slow zombies. For fast ones, check out the remake of Dawn of the Dead, and then go for 28 Days Later and its sequel. Outside of movies, I highly recommend the series of graphic novels called The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore and Charlie Adlard. In board games, Zombies!!! is a lot of fun, and note the existence of the crowd-pleasing card game Zombie Fluxx.

Left 4 Dead may not capture the high end ideals of zombie flicks, with their powerful statements on the indignity of the human condition, questions of morality or individuality. But it is a damn fine zombie fighting game with which to pass the time before the horde shows up at YOUR doorstep someday soon. Braaaaiiinnnssss…..

Will I play it more: As soon as the next Movie hits the stands