Left 4 Dead

I’m sure many people have already played this game, but I am usually several years behind in video games.  Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter/zombie video game. I usually prefer to shoot zombies, evil aliens, or Nazis so this is a game that suits me well, especially since many of the zombies have mutated to not look very human.

I don’t feel like much needs to be said about the plot. A group of 4 people who are immune to this new disease make their way through the Pennsylvania town of Fairfield. They make several escape attempts but all lead to disaster and they ultimately flee to the south, headed for the Florida Keys.  It is a pretty simple story filled with hordes of infected.

Now I am absolutely terrible at this game, mostly because I can never get the hang of the shooting mechanics, but it still is quite a bit of fun. I really enjoy the multiplayer aspect of this game. Up to four people can play offline and work together to kill things. I don’t often play video games by myself so I appreciate when games have solid multiplayer game play. I also like how the players play cooperatively. I prefer working with my friends rather than against them.

This game can get a bit intense. This is especially true when a witch is around. A witch is a female infected character that stays still and cries. But if a player disturbs it with light or loud noise it because extremely aggressive. As if hearing crying randomly is not creepy enough, the danger it represents is terrifying.

This game is not terribly long. Normally I do not like this about games, but the ability to get a group of friends together and beat it in one day, not that I personally have the patience for that, is a positive. This game also has a high enough replay value that beating it doesn’t significantly cut down on the enjoyment of popping the disc back in a few days later.

This game is a lot of fun, but the shooting mechanics could be a little better in my opinion. Therefore I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.