Save Yourselves!: A Left 4 Dead Multiplayer Diary
12/8/2008 6:49 PM | 6 Comments | Page 9 of 10
Alexander: The line between altruism and egoism has never been blurrier. When a teammate goes down under a pile of zombies, you move your ass to get them up, filled with sudden compassion and panic. But are you really concerned for their safety, or worried that without them, it will be harder for you to survive?
At the end of the game in the farmhouse, I looked around and saw that Zoey (who Jones was playing) wasn't with us anymore. I looked all around and finally realized she'd gone down back in the cornfield and was near death. I was five steps out the door before I came to my senses. There were zombies out there. A lot of zombies. If I went back for her, I was pretty definitively going to die. I never did care much for Zoey, it turns out -- but I sure as hell missed her when the remaining three of us got caught in a clutch of Smoker/Hunter/Boomer/Horde madness at the top of the stairs. One more shotgun in the mix could have made the difference. This turned out to be the deciding point of the entire game. Guess I should have gone back for her.
The only solace comes from dying in relatively short order; no one has to suffer alone for too long.
Team Fischer wins: 1693 to 1340
Jones: OK, here's what really happened. Everyone was down. Evan was shouting for me to go on without him. And I was in middle of making a break across the cornfield when the words "DISCONNECTED FROM XBOX LIVE" appeared on the screen. One minute, I'm running through dried corn stalks. The next: nothing. It reminded me, in an oblique way, of the ending to "The Blair Witch Project." My night ended on a very abstract note.
Alexander: I remember this overwhelming sense of dread that the other team was strategizing better than we were. That they were zombies with their shit together, that they were Survivors with the mad glint that gets you back to your family, civilization and a decent steak. This, despite the fact that we held the lead the entire game until the final round. Maybe I'm just paranoid, though. Although they
did beat us. Hmmmm...
Orland: Despite killing off one Survivor as the Tank, I'm a little bummed when three Survivors make it to the house. Do they have a chance at finishing this thing and coming back? Luckily I don't have to worry, as I get a series of three Boomers in a row, coming in through the windows and constantly sliming at least two Survivors per life. I lose my microphone connection for a time during the end, so I can't hear what everyone else is doing, but I figure they're pulling their end. When that final score pops up, I realize I'm right, and as the sound comes back and I hear the whoops and hollers of my teammates, I can't help but smile. "Don't call it a comeback," I say, echoing LL Cool J, "Even though it is one."
