Games for Lunch: Left 4 Dead

In a nutshell: A zombie game that's actually scary.
11/17/2008 9:10 PM | 4 Comments | Page 3 of 3

0:40 Lucky me ... just as I'm down to 17 bullets, a table full of ammo pops up. Coincidence, or is the game actively helping me?

0:42 The Molotov cocktail causes a lot more fire than I expected, and smokes out four or five zombies that try to run through the abandoned train car. Cool!

0:44 A Smoker just grabbed me by its long tongue and pulled me in towards it. Luckily my teammates were there to save me. Unfortunately, the noxious smoke released by its disintegration chokes all of us.

0:45 Into a big open cement wall area. The big Hulk guy from the intro trains in on me and only me. Before I know it I'm cornered and being absolutely PUMMELED! I'm quickly incapacitated, caught waiting for a teammate to help me out. I try to look around at what's going on, but my head is trapped in a wall or something ... FUCK! Finally, the teammates finish off the room and heal me. I'm not worthy! "That's one I owe ya," says my character in a resigned tone.

0:46 Again, just as I'm running out of ammo, a table full of weapons shows up. I'll take the shotgun back, thanks.

0:48 We've got a nice little safe area carved out in an open-area battle against a bunch of rushing zombies -- until I throw a Molotov cocktail and set us all on fire, sending us scrambling out into the pen. Man, I'm surprised these AI guys put up with me.

0:49 Upstairs, a new enemy, the Witch, comes out when Zoey startles it. It blows past me with a shove and scratches at her, but she goes down with just a few shotgun blasts. Was that a boss? Zoey's glowing yellow, but Louis says "You're fine," and suddenly she is. Hmmm.

0:50 I find some ammo in another safe room as my teammates finish off a few stragglers. Then, suddenly "The survivors have escaped!" appears on screen. That's the end of the demo? How anticlimactic.

0:51 The requisite ad comes on. "CAN YOU SURVIVE THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?" The full game will have thousands of zombies, 20 maps, 10 weapons, four-player co-op, the ability to play as boss zombies, an AI director that changes every game played, etc. etc. etc. Until I get that version, I'm gonna call it a day.

Would I play this game for more than an hour 51 minutes? Yes.

Why? Even though the constant zombie sprints are a bit repetitive, the excellent level design and genuinely helpful AI keeps it thrilling. Can't wait to try it with some friends.

This column is based on a demo version of the game downloaded from Xbox Live.

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