
On November 18th 2008 Left 4 Dead breathed new life into the undead corpse of the zombie survival games. This game was developed by Valve and distributed by EA. Left 4 Dead is a First person Shooter (FPS) that uses the Source Engine along with a new AI system, plenty of flesh craving zombies, and team work oriented co-op to renew people’s faith in this failed genre.
Despite fantasizing almost every night that I would be thrown into a world where fighting off zombies was a fact of life, I was actually very hesitant to buy this game when it came out. The zombie survival games along with many other games such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Superman Returns fell into a category of titles that had unlimited potential for awesomeness but always seemed to drop the ball when it came to execution. Every time news about a new zombie game would come out I would flock to the internet hoping that this game would be the one that would fulfill my fantasy, but after Resident Evil 4 decided that Mexicans were a suitable stand in for zombies the truth sank in that no zombie game would ever live up to what I had built in my head. I tell you this because this game was developed on the Source Engine and I don’t want to be considered a supporter of this game merely because it is on Steam.

After running through the single player campaign and enjoying it, I called three of my friends and demanded that they buy the game and join me in zombie killing fun. What was a pleasant surprise was that spawning points for boss mobs and weapons had seemed to change, and the intensity of the zombie hordes increased as we got better.

For everything right that Left 4 Dead did, there were several noticeable flaws and short comings in the game. Probably one of the most noticeable was the lack of a narrative story that the game was originally suppose to have. Though you sure to thoroughly enjoy killing zombie after zombie you are never really given any grand story as to what is going on. Also while the developer’s seemed to have spent a great deal of time developing the games “Director” AI, they apparently forgot about giving your computer controlled comrades the same time and dedication. You will find while playing that either your team mates will walk so far behind you that any zombie would have enough time to eat you and have a cup of coffee, or that they will jump in front of your bullets and then yell at you for shooting them.
All and all Left 4 Dead did a great job at clearing the low standards set for it by other zombie games. Though a story is sorely absent, I doubt you will notice as you’re firing your M-16 off in a horde of zombies. You can’t rely on your team mates for anything, but that is true for any squad based FPS made in the last decade. The game is a good single player game and a great multiplayer game; and the AI will make sure you can have a new game with every play through. My final analysis is that Left 4 Dead is worth any price tag attached, but try to make sure that your friends are purchasing their copies with you.
8.5/10