Left 4 Dead, the new co-operative shooter from the
makers of Half-Life and Portal, comes down on the fast side of the zombie speed
debate. And it's about time sprinting ghouls had their shot in videogames.
George Romero traditionalists may balk, but running ghouls work well in the
context of consoles. Shooters depend on forward momentum: Allow players to
linger too long, and they obsessively scour every nook for bullets and health
boosters. In Left 4 Dead, there's no such thing as a clean room: Hang around, and the
game's "director" will throw more zombies at you. And when dozens of undead
tweakers come booking at you from the darkness, it's hard not pull a
Cosby—first you say the expletive, then you fill your shorts with the
stuff.
Left 4 Dead recreates the trajectories of four
zombie-movie plots, each ending in a dramatic escape. Players make their way
through infested sewers, abandoned hospital corridors, and a ruined airport,
fending off brain-eaters at every turn. Each finale calls for the survivors, by
now low on health and on their last nerve, to hunker down and defend a position
while waiting for their airlift. That's when the game really pulls out the
stops, unleashing an army of the dead. Peppered throughout these undead attacks
come encounters with mutated varieties of the zombie. On paper, the Witch,
Boomer, Tank, Hunter, and Smoker seem like cheesy videogame iterations of the
traditional reanimated corpse. But each of these formidable creatures is
grounded just enough that they seem to fit the milieu.
Beyond the game: Long after Team
Fortress 2
launched, Valve continued to support the game, giving players new weapons,
characters, and maps for free. Expect them to take the same long-term approach
with Left 4 Dead.
Worth playing for: Co-op is the new
deathmatch. Left 4 Dead demands that players work together, but in the last seconds
when that chopper is on the pad, self-preservation frequently trumps teamwork.
Frustration sets in
when: If
you aren't playing with other humans, you're doing it wrong. The game will
provide computer-controlled 'bots to fill out your party, but they play too
conservatively. Left 4 Dead is one of the rare cases in gaming where human
error makes the game more fun.
Final judgment: A redefining moment for
the survival-horror genre.