Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)
Nothing Compares 2 U
11/20/2008 8:00 PM | 3 Comments | Page 2 of 3
What's Hot: Elegant team play; Some of the best AI in gaming today; Outrageously good character and zombie designs
What's Not: A small number of unclear pathways through maps; No way to play as the Infected offline
In every case Valve has superbly animated the characters, giving them weight and personality. Wildly creepy voice work (including characteristic shrieks from Mike Patton) give voice to these reanimated corpses, and the individual sounds of each "special" zombie are recognizable enough that you'll be on your guard long before you actually see a Boomer or Hunter.
Play much Versus mode, and you'll see this -- the view from a Hunter's eyes -- more than you'd like.
This is the evolution of the arcade design document. Lack of narrative, static core characters and limited enemies collude with one intent: to test your skills and endurance. Co-op campaigns are a great way to learn the maps, but nothing is quite as visceral as the Versus mode, in which four players inhabit the Survivors and four take on shifting roles among the Infected. Playing as the Survivors here is more or less as it is in other modes, with the added knowledge that the more dangerous zombies are now controlled by humans rather than AI.
These "special" Infected do more than add variety to the Horde. They reinforce the need for players to stick together. A lone player attacked by a Hunter or Smoker is toast; once in the zombie's clutches, there's no way out without help from a friend. I've never played a multiplayer game that provided so much incentive to stick together, and the experience is unique. Valve reinforces the need for teamwork even more by allowing everyone to be the medic; many matches offer great moments of decision. Do you keep bandages for yourself, or heal another player? Three people have far less chance of surviving than four.
With a Hunter pinning any character to the ground, their only chance to survive comes from someone else in the group.
The social mechanics that come to life in
Left 4 Dead aren't quite morality and aren't quite fascism, but somewhere in between. How many games create a scenario where three people will wildly fight to save a fourth, only to give up when they collectively realize that the cause is lost? And while players sacrificing themselves to divert enemies are hardly unheard of in gaming, there's a palpable sense of loss in Versus mode when you know they won't spawn again. In one match I watched a nearly dead friend limp off to draw the Horde's attention before dying. Was I sad to see him go, or scared because I knew the rest of us faced more daunting odds without him?
I hate to use the term "fun" in a review, because there's nothing more uselessly subjective. Instead, I can attempt to describe the mad, evil satisfaction I felt as three friends and I hit a group of Survivors with Boomer bile while they were creeping through a chain of subway cars, and how we threatened to overload our headsets as the Hunters and Smoker proceeded to tear the last life out of the poor quartet.
Splitting up is rarely advisable, but sometimes planting half the team as elevated snipers isn't a bad tactic.
The game's design elegance shines through in your interaction with the controls: Everything is simplified to the point where an Xbox 360 controller works perfectly. Complex controls aren't needed to switch weapons or heal teammates. Yet the basic control set is a gateway to complex situations. As the Director throws unexpected things your way, and as hordes of zombies -- normal and "special," -- prepare to tear you and the other Survivors to pieces, there's never the feeling that you're also fighting the controls to survive.
