Review: Left 4 Dead (360)

Despite starting with a lush animated intro, plotting and character development take a back seat to the action in Left 4 Dead. There are four campaigns, each split into five chapters with no more of a story than to survive until the end. Similarly, although there are four playable characters, who they are, or how they came to be where they are is not important. They are little more than a face and name for the player to imprint their personality on as the focus here is strictly on teamwork and fast-paced action. Valve have followed the path first taken in FASA Studio’s fun but flawed Shadowrun by building a game from the ground up designed to be played exclusively online; the ‘4’ in the title being an anything but subtle reference to the game’s co-op nature.

Of course, it’s perfectly possible to play Left 4 Dead on your own. But, with each campaign taking no more than a couple of hours to complete, depending on the difficulty setting chosen, don’t expect the game to last a very long time, or to be as much fun as playing with friends. That said, you’ll still be able to lap up the tense atmosphere. After playing Left 4 Dead for a few hours it’s clear that Valve have looked long and hard at the Zombie genre across all mediums of entertainment to find out what makes it work. Left 4 Dead is as much a homage to the genre’s greats as a sublime and unique addition to that canon in its own right. Zombies are found everywhere, sometimes staring blankly at a wall, or just having a bit of a sit down, looking to all intents and purposes like shuffling cannon fodder. Rouse them though, and they will charge at you with an unexpected ferocity and speed, making proceedings tense when short of ammo or health. Improvised weaponry can be made out of gas canisters and petrol tanks and extra caution is needed when shooting near cars and petrol stations, adding to the atmosphere. Both the graphics and the sound help make the experience as well. Whilst neither are as spectacular as those of some other titles on the system, they fit the game perfectly. As you struggle to each level’s safe room signs of carnage are all around you. Small touches such as the smoke coming from the barrel of a gun, or the graffiti in the safe rooms add to the sense of immersion. That briefly losing the benefit of your torch when reloading your gun is at times a genuinely worrying event is testament to the atmosphere the game creates.

Although playing with the more than competent AI is passable, playing with others over Live is where this game truly succeeds. Left 4 Dead is tremendously well balanced. None of the survivors having better abilities than any of the others, meaning that success or otherwise in a campaign rests on each player’s ability to shoot lots of zombies and function as part of a team. The guns available each have obvious pros and cons and careful use of Molotov cocktails is required to avoid setting each other on fire. The sheer numbers of zombies you will face means that even on the easier difficulty settings a co-ordinated approach is necessary. Head off on your own and you’re inviting trouble to come calling, meaning precious resources being squandered carrying out a rescue when your Rambo-style antics go wrong. The level of team interaction and communication required, particularly on the hard as nails “expert” difficulty setting show how shallow the majority of co-op games actually are. There’s a real sense of achievement when all four survivors reach the safe room at the end of each level. 

With a meagre four campaigns and a total of 20 levels, you might be forgiven for thinking that Left 4 Dead would be short and repetitive. Valve have foreseen this and to keep things fresh have included the “Director”. Essentially the Director is a very clever AI routine that constantly analyses such things as the amount of ammo and health each survivor had and adjusts the game accordingly. The Director can change when the zombies hordes will attack, the direction they will come from and who they will attack (often singling out the weakest survivor), as well as the location of special infected and the location and frequency of supplies. The Director will even supply dramatic music at appropriate junctures. This means that no two games are ever the same and helps keep the game fresh. 

If four player co-op isn’t enough, there’s also a versus mode. This pits two teams of up to four players against each other, with teams alternating between survivors and Zombies. Once again the Director comes in to play, determining which special infected the Zombie team will spawn as. The rules of the game remain simple, the survivors must reach the end of each level, the zombie team must stop them. From this simplicity comes one of the most genuinely exciting and tense games you can play on Xbox Live and Gamestyle has rarely experienced better. Two evenly balanced teams fighting tooth and nail to win creates some truly epic moments. Executing a well timed attack to incapacitate a survivor, making the opposition’s task a little bit harder is one of the most satisfying experiences in a game.

Yet despite thoroughly enjoying Left 4 Dead Gamestyle still has some reservations. Why aren’t you allowed to aim down the sights of your gun? Why are only two of the four campaigns playable in versus mode? Indeed, the package as a whole feels rather insubstantial. The game is still fresh and repeated plays have yet to blunt its appeal, with more players joining due to good word of mouth, but it’s not difficult to see how playing the same campaigns over and over again could quickly wear thin. As Shadowrun before it, there is a risk that if Left 4 Dead is not properly supported by the publishers, the fanbase will quickly dry up and a small hardcore audience will be all that are left playing.

As a co-operative multiplayer experience, Left 4 Dead is unparalleled on the Xbox 360. However, when such large questions loom over the amount of content provided out of the box and the future support the title will receive cannot be quantified, leaving the game’s longevity in doubt it’s difficult to award the highest marks.

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Andy Lucas