Game Review: Left 4 Dead

Here's my first review of a game and it's the one I've been spending the most time with lately.

Overall: [9/10] Left 4 Dead is only on Xbox 360 and Windows computers and the basic idea is that zombies are overrunning the town(or world) and you want to survive. The amount of weapons in the game is smaller then most other video games, but it works here for some reason. There are only 4 playable charectors, and there's no difference in them for play style. They each have their own appearance and personality, but no different abilities or items or weapons or anything. The enemies are basically the same thru-out the game, average people turned zombies, but with enough "special infected" thrown in to keep it fresh. The dark atmosphere really adds to the game, and being able to turn on options to make it appear as an old school zombie movie is just iceing on the cake.

Storyline: [5/10] The story is pretty basic, a virus has spread turning people into 28 Days Later style zombies, and they are infecting everyone, killing those who are immune. There's no twists or turns in the story, but with this game you don't need them.

Graphics: [9/10] The graphics on this game are as good as any other on the 360. Blood splatters in ways you would imagine and remains, people look like real people, doors break as you expect, etc.

Characters: [4/10] The characters are fun, but with no real differences between them there's really no point to picking your character, unless you just HAVE to be the biker or the chick or something. The characters are as follows:

Bill - The vietnam veteran who doesn't know anything except war. He's atleast slightly happy about the zombie apocalypse, because he gets to go back to fighting instead of the dead end jobs he's been occupying.








Francis - The biker, bar brawler extraordinaire. While everyone else stockpiled food and necessities for the zombie apocalypse, Francis grabbed a gun and started having some fun in a world without police, without law and without order.








Zoey - The college chick, failing all her classes in her first semester of college due to spending all her time in her dorm room watching old zombie movies. On the brink of flunking out of college the zombie apocalypse occurs, guess she's glad she spent all that time "studying" those movies.








Louis - The company man, he was working as a Junior Systems Analyst in his company's IT department, trying to work up the courage to quit. Next thing he knows it's the zombie apocalypse, guess he doesn't have to worry about quitting now, just about surviving.








Sound: [7/10] The ambient sounds give the games a truely creepy feel. Nothing will get you on your toes more then walking around in the game when you suddenly hear The Witch sobbing.

Weapons: [2/10] There are only 6 guns in this game. A pistol that can be dual-wielded if you find a second, a Sub-Machine Gun, a Pump-action Shotgun, an Assault Rifle, a Hunting Rifle and an Automatic Shotgun. The 2 explosives used to finish the arsonel are a Pipe Bomb and a Moltov Cocktail. A small list for a First-Person Shooter these days, but in this game, less is more.

Multiplayer: [9/10] This game truely shines when you get three friends to play with and you four work together trying to survive, not that the AI is bad, but it's just better with people. Got more then 3 friends? Go into versus mode where 4 of you will be the survivors and up to 4 more of you play as the "special infected" and if you kill a survivor they join you as an infected.