Left 4 Dead 1 and 2

(Note: this post is unorganized. I am super stressed so I wasn't really thinking while writing it.)

Ok so today I have decided to do what I set out to do in the first place. That is post a review about a video game and with it being Halloween I figured why not cover a Zombie Video game? What better zombie video game is there that deals with MASS zombies (Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and a few other reviews also to come soon).

As you can see, Valve was really original with the box art...

Now this is one of my favorite games of all time. For those of you who somehow missed this game, it is a Co-op (4p) first person shooter for the PS3, 360, and PC where you take on the role of one of 4 survivors during the Zombie Apocalypse. NEAT. Now when I say zombie Apocalypse, I don't mean grandma and grandpa's zombie apocalypse. I am talking Full blown 28 days later kinda shit (if you have not seen that movie, watch it.) These zombies roam around in hoards! MASSIVE hoards. Which means Plenty of Zombie killing to go around for you and all your friends. By the time you finish a campaign you should have killed at least 300+ zombies. If you took the time to explore and actually take in everything in the game.

This is what a small horde looks like when they are coming for you

Not since Dynasty Warriors, have I seen so many characters on the screen that are being controlled by the computer. Yet somehow Valve manages to give the Zombies better A.I. than the Japs will ever give dynasty warriors. But occasionally on either of the console versions there is some frame rate dropping and the occasional lag. But that still doesn't mean this game isn't awesome.

That is a bit more like it

In this game, you go through the campaigns as if they are movies. Each one even has it's own "movie" poster that you see during the load screens as well as ending "credits" which are actually just stats that the game keeps track of the entire time. Hell, to push the movie theme even further, the game has something called the "Director" system. What this director does is if it sees that you and your friends are doing well, it will play an eerie horror movie sound and send waves of zombies at you. Not only that but it selects which special infected it will throw at you next. Special Infected are covered in the next paragraph. That however is only when the director is being a dick. The director can also give you more guns, helpful items, or ammo if you are struggling. It is really a cool system when you really think about it.

The faces of the cast when they found out they weren't
in the second game until "The Sacrifice" was released

I am not going to get into the specifics of the gameplay for these games. At least not for the humans. The humans play like any other first person shooter. You see something you want to shoot? Okay...then point and pull the trigger. Whoopty do. You also have the option to use your medical packs and adrenaline shots, which boost your speed and give you temp health, and the different types of ammo in the game. If you really want to know, play it. I will say this though, if you play the first game before the the second, you will be disappointed because you will grow to love the characters from the first and they are not in the second. (Bill NOOOOO.) 

Alright now. Special infected are crazy fun. There are a few different types of special infected. I will also give some VS. Strat for each of them.

The Boomer is hideous 

There is the Boomer which spits nasty goo on your human characters that causes hordes to attack the person who got spit on. This is a really nasty skill but the catch is it is super fat (which makes it rather easy to see more of the time) and slow. Also, the Boomer does not have too much health. But be careful! When the Boomer dies, it explodes (which I am assuming is why it is called Boomer) and if you are too close guess what? You are covered in Boomer Bile. Cool right? In the VS. mode in the game, you can are randomly assigned a special infected if you are on the infected side. When you are given this guy be careful, it isn't easy to hide or move. Not to mention his melee attack doesn't do too much damage and it has limited range with it's "puke" attack.

"I swear, I am not staring at your face...or tongue..."

Following the boomer, we have the Smoker. The Smoker can easily be identified without seeing it due to it's extremely nasty sounding cough. So what can something called the Smoker be good at? If I didn't know I probably would have never been able to guess so I will just tell you. The Smoker is able to shoot it's tongue out (if it can still be called that) and constrict survivors. It, too, has pretty low health. But what it doesn't have in health it makes up for with it's long range attack. When constricted by the smoker, you cannot do anything but pray for someone to save you (unless you are fast enough to save yourself before it completely has a hold of you). The Smoker is, in my opinion, one of THE most deadly infected in VS when played right. It is best not to use your tongue attack out in the open, but instead while standing on top of something extremely tall. This will make you grab the survivor and lift him or her off the ground leaving them completely helpless to anything down there. That includes anything that can kill them. Also you can use smokers to pull survivors close to witches (I will explain why this is a good idea later).

I would not fuck with that

Next on the list we have my personal favorite, The Hunter. This is another constrictor character but unlike the smoker, it leaps great distances to land on it's foes and begin tearing them apart. This character is super deadly because it is fast (when it is not crouching) and can quickly make your zombie killing experience into a rainy day. Luckily he is probably the easiest of all the special infected to hear because of his shriek and growling noises that he makes when attacking or getting ready to attack. If you happen to get a hunter as your character in VS, hang with the other special infected. By now you probably can see a trend here. I guess at the start of this review I should have said ALL special infected (with the exception of the tank) have low health. If you stay with the other infected, wait until the action starts off. Pounce any victim that is unlucky enough to run off on their own and you will most likely get a kill. Hunters can also jump from Wall to wall and have a very effective melee attack as well...

Check this video out for how to be an effective hunter.

He is 3x larger than any other infected.

Next there is the tank. He is huge. He can take a whole group of survivors by himself. He is a boss. and the director essentially gives him out during VS at random times. The tank is able to move quickly. When he hits you, your character goes flying. He also has a ranged attack of throwing slabs of ground that it can rip up from the ground. Essentially he is a killing machine and if you do not get a ton of points while being him, you probably are bad at L4D.

Years of inbreeding has lead to this.

The charger is next. He is also a constrictor like the Smoker and the Hunter, except he does a TON of damage. Basicly, a Charger should lead a pack of other infected into an attack. When he charges, he moves ultra fast, grabs the survivor you are aiming at (and stumbles everyone around that character) and slams them into whatever object stops it. THEN repeatedly smashed that same survivor into the ground. Brutal. As said before, it should lead an attack on a group of survivors just because of how fast and damaging it is. Unfortunately, this guy is only on L4D2. So if he interests you, you have to get that game.









The is also the Spitter. I did not care to get a picture of her due to all the images that appeared when I searched "spitter" on google. So what does the spitter do? Spits Acid. This is effect just because you can force survivors into traps with the acid and/or do a ton of damage over time. I really don't like using her, but I will if I have to. Also, when she dies, she spreads out a pool of acid where she was standing. So if you die over someone who is incapacitated, you will still do a good amount of damage.

She cries and cries...until you get close to her...

You cannot play as her. If you get too close or point a flashlight in her face you will startle her. She instantly incapacitate survivors. She has a ton of health and is a bitch to kill. You will know when a witch is around because of her crying.

This wasn't much of a review...But to sum up left 4 dead 1 and 2, it is only really good if you have people to play with. You can do 2 play local co-op (even on a PC) and 4 to 8 player online. This game is a lot of fun but if you get any version, get the PC version. It has way more re playability because you can download mods and new levels. Mods like this mod which is the most disturbing one I have seen yet. (the volume is abnormally loud on this vid. Watch with caution.)



I give this a 6 out of 10 unless you play it multiplayer. Then it is a 9 out of 10


Hopefully my next post my thoughts will be more aligned. I don't like how this one is set up or how I wrote it...but I don't care because I actually did a review...kinda...

Regh out.