Released just before the pop culture "zombie boom" coinciding with the Walking Dead series, the game features a premise as simple as it gets: four survivors journey through twenty zombie-infested maps, with four different main settings.
Now, there is a single player mode with the AI controlling the other three survivors. However, this is a game to play with friends - either online or with the split-screen cooperative mode which allows two players on the same Xbox.
Enemies are nicely varied; common zombies aside, there are several special creatures, each of them using different tactics and giving a new challenge.
Left 4 Dead is wildly entertaining. The AI "Director" provides a different experience every time you play a level, as zombies will not respawn in the same place or attack at the same time.
On the other hand, there are lots of priceless spontaneous moments: when you choose to close a door, locking one of your pals outside to save the rest of the group from the horde; when some nasty critter drags another survivor away in the night and you have to decide in a heartbeat whether to run after him or not. In one of those gaming moments which stick with you, one of us didn't make it to the escape helicopter after an intense multiplayer session: as we flew away, we saw him getting smaller and smaller on a rooftop, fighting alone against dozens of zombies.
It's also possible to play as zombies against a team of human survivors - an intriguing idea in which the zombie team can develop increasingly deadly strategies.
The game's biggest issue is how the survivors' mêlée attack is ludicrously overpowered. The special creatures prevent it from breaking the game, but in some levels it's *almost* there.
Still, Left 4 Dead is just too much fun, especially on multiplayer.
8.5/10
Now, there is a single player mode with the AI controlling the other three survivors. However, this is a game to play with friends - either online or with the split-screen cooperative mode which allows two players on the same Xbox.
Enemies are nicely varied; common zombies aside, there are several special creatures, each of them using different tactics and giving a new challenge.
Left 4 Dead is wildly entertaining. The AI "Director" provides a different experience every time you play a level, as zombies will not respawn in the same place or attack at the same time.
On the other hand, there are lots of priceless spontaneous moments: when you choose to close a door, locking one of your pals outside to save the rest of the group from the horde; when some nasty critter drags another survivor away in the night and you have to decide in a heartbeat whether to run after him or not. In one of those gaming moments which stick with you, one of us didn't make it to the escape helicopter after an intense multiplayer session: as we flew away, we saw him getting smaller and smaller on a rooftop, fighting alone against dozens of zombies.
It's also possible to play as zombies against a team of human survivors - an intriguing idea in which the zombie team can develop increasingly deadly strategies.
The game's biggest issue is how the survivors' mêlée attack is ludicrously overpowered. The special creatures prevent it from breaking the game, but in some levels it's *almost* there.
Still, Left 4 Dead is just too much fun, especially on multiplayer.
8.5/10