Left 4 Dead

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Co-operative gameplay in epic struggle between survivors and zombies
• Choose to play as survivor or 4 types of infected mutants
• Set across 4 massive campaigns
• Game creates a unique and dramatic experience based on players' actions
• Multiplayer games for 1-to-8 players

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000PS4X7S
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: DVD-ROM
• Release Date: November 17, 2008
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (156 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,278 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #38 in Video Games > PC Games > Action > Shooter
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: PC | Edition: Standard

Amazon.com

Set in a modern day survival-horror universe, the co-operative gameplay of Left 4 Dead (L4D) casts four "Survivors" in an epic struggle against hordes of swarming zombies and terrifying "Boss Infected" mutants. Developed by Turtle Rock Studios and Valve, creators of the Counter-Strike and Half-Life games, the latest AI technology allows for multiplayer games of one to eight players.

A new and highly virulent strain of the rabies virus emerges and spreads through the human population with frightening speed. The pandemic's victims become grotesquely disfigured widely violent psychopaths, attacking the uninfected on sight. As one of the "lucky" few apparently immune to the sickness, you, unfortunately, are also trapped in a city crawling with thousands of the bloodthirsty Infected. Alone, you're dead. But together with a handful of fellow survivors, you might just fight your way to safety.

Players can play as a Survivor or as one of four types of Boss Infected, each of whom possess a unique mutant ability, such as a 50-foot tongue lasso or a giant belly full of explosive methane gas. The gameplay of L4D is set across four massive campaigns. The zombie population of each mission is choreographed by an AI Director that monitors the human players' actions and creates a unique and dramatic experience for them on the fly.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

94 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Left 4 Dead, a co-op FPS...2008 Game of the Year!, November 18, 2008

By 

R. Nicholson - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Left 4 Dead (DVD-ROM)

Original L4D review of Nov 18, 2008

'Left 4 Dead' is a great new 4 man co-op or single player FPS game from VALVE.

The GAME:

This game is a 4 player journey of survival; it can be played as single player (with 3 computer comrades) or with 3 other people on-line. The trek begins in any of 4 different locations and ends in another part of town with an extraction to safety if you survive. (or a nice mention, in memoriam, if you don't)

The Pros:

1.)Great graphics and audio. The atmosphere is very dusky and eerie; lighting is sparse in buildings except for your flashlight (kind of reminds me of 'Doom 3'). Creeping into a pitch black room with only a flashlight to find it either empty, full of zombies or even worse, harbouring a super mutant is visceral to say the least.

2.)The action is fast paced and hectic; there is not a lot of down time between one attack and the next. Attacks either by a hoard of undead or a super mutant comes at a fairly regular clip. Half the fun here is trying to find out what weakness the monsters have and what works best against them.

3.)Weaponry come in the form of guns (shotgun, sniper rifle, automatic machine gun and pistols) explosives consist of pipe bombs and Molotov fire bombs.

4.)You can start the game from the beginning any one of four campaigns OR at the beginning of any chapter within a campaign. Each section of the game is reasonably short, so you don't have to redo the entire game if you have to shut down for a while [see Cons: 2.) below]. Also, if your team dies while playing, you restart from the last 'safe-house' you made it to.

5.)The game resets weapons, monsters, and health packs for every new game; so each game is slightly different than the last, although played over the same geographic area.

6.)Certain 'achievements' are awarded throughout the game for accomplishing certain things. I initially thought these were a perk or upgrade, but now I don't think so...they just recognize certain 'accomplishments' i.e. setting a 'tank' afire or pushing away a 'hunter', and many others.
They add absolutely nothing to the game play and they were not available in the demo.

7.)You have the ability to set up a game from the Undead point of view; haven't tried this yet.

8.)A couple of nice on-line game features:

a.] you can change the difficulty setting ANYTIME; great if it's too easy or if your taking a continual pounding

b.] if you have a player that is 'disruptive' to the team play, you can kick that player out of the game by simply taking a vote among the other three on-line players. (I was surprised that this actually happened a couple of times while I was playing)

c.)And finally, a truly great feature; You can 'Take a Break' from an on-line game by pressing ESC> Take a Break> anytime while playing; great for a call to the BR or to take a phone call. When you 'Take a Break' you go 'Idle' while your away and your computer player takes over until you get back into the game (by pressing the left mouse key).

The Cons: (all minor)

1.)A fairly linear game; only a little room to travel off the prescribed path. Yet, in retrospect, having played this game many times, it would be difficult for this game to function properly with a 'open world', given the fighting style required for on-line co-op; each segment is a fairly short 'meat' run from point 'A' to point 'B'.

2.)No game saves...none; and this is understandable from the 4 player on-line game. However with the single player game, the chapters aren't terribly long BUT they do require a degree of concentration and work to finish, especially on the higher difficulty levels. And somehow losing all your hard fought gains if you have to leave the game unexpectedly, seems a little unfair; you'll understand more clearly what I mean once you begin to play.

3.)The AI of your comrades in the single person game needs one small modification; your buddies will guard you, heal you and stay near you BUT, they won't pick up the extra pipe bombs or Molotov bombs that often sit there before them. And it would be really helpful in the single person game-play if they did, especially on advanced and expert.

Suggestions:

I can not stress how much headphones/microphone add to the enjoyment of playing this game on-line; especially with communicating with your on-line playing partners. If you can, try playing with a headset, you won't believe the difference.

Conclusion:

A new FPS that requires 4 player co-operation (in both single and on-line play) to be successful. You may get away with a little 'individuality' on 'Easy', but on 'Normal', 'Advanced' or 'Expert' forget about it; if you don't travel and fight as a pack, your toast.

The on-line co-op version is one of the greatest games EVER...IF played with the 4 players who have an understanding of the game concepts and are willing to work together. And that being said, having a maximum of 4 players for on-line play is probably the perfect number; 3 would not be enough to fend off the hoards (except on easy maybe) and with 5 players you'd be getting in each others way.

The game chapters are fairly short and there are no game saves. However the game play is intense and visceral and you do tend to become wrapped up in the action that is taking place around you.

And finally, this is one of those rare games that I just don't ever get tired of playing, (at least, with the on-line game)...and a game with this quality has to be in the running for game of the year.
4 1/2 to 5 Stars

Ray Nicholson (cujo)

Addendum: Oct 07/09

"Crash Course"...some comments

First impressions from a co-op viewpoint...initially disappointing, but better since they've updated it (see comments below).

A very short game...maybe 30 minutes or so consisting of only two segments. The map is mostly made up of streets littered with abandoned cars and trucks, and the buildings are mostly warehouses. This added map, although playable as single player or co-op, was primarily intended I believe, for Versus players.

This map has improved since its original debut; updates have apparently removed a lot of the excess ammo and guns, making it a better challenge.

The finale...interesting and takes some planning (although the final run to the rescue vehicle is extremely easy). Which leads to the one drawback in this new map...if you all die in the finale, you must restart at the last safehouse...about 15 minutes of travel to the ending.

Conclusion:
Now that the game (with the removal of all the extra guns and ammo) has become more of a challenge, I'll probably play this map a bit more...too bad they didn't make it a full map like the others (probably didn't want to divert too much attention away from the upcoming L4D2).


Addendum: April 22/09

"Survival"... some comments,

Well the much anticipated update for Left 4 Dead has finally arrived. The new game is call 'Survival' and it IS aptly named. There are several new individual mods to this new game that use slight variations from some of the different sections of the 4 established games i.e. No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air and Blood Harvest. There is one brand new locale called 'Last Stand'; its setting is at a lighthouse and it's probably the most difficult game of the lot.

Rather than a prolonged campaign these games are very short; and make no mistake about it, you are going to die. The challenge here is to see how long you can last; 4 minutes gets you a bronze medal, 7 minutes a silver and you get a gold medal if you last for ten minutes. Unlike the regular game, there is NO option for easy, normal etc. difficulty; just the one standard for everyone; "brutal" might be a good name for this newness addition.

In the regular game you get attacked by hordes of zombies, with an occasional smoker, hunter or tank thrown in, but usually not all at once. However in this game, you get attacked by ALL types of infected, all at once. In addition, there is no long stretch to outrun a tank; not that that matters, as you are fighting the horde, smokers and hunters the same time as your trying to fight off the tank...yup, just about impossible.

Impression:

Intense...yes. Gut wrenching...yes. FUN...hmmm, I'm not sure. One of the great strengths of on-line Left 4 Dead was the co-op fighting style needed to get through the advanced and expert campaigns. Here in 'Survival', co-op is needed but somehow, after a battle that begins with about 1 minute of 'easy', all chaos breaks-out. And because your being attacked from all side by ALL types of infected, the co-op gaming style, that made the regular L4D sooo enjoyable, is gone; gone because at this point, it becomes a game of personal survival, rather than the group...and that's the real shortcoming of this update.

And finally, I could play the regular on-line L4D for hours and never (well almost never) get tired. But with this game, I found that not only did it take quite a lot of time/effort to strategically set up gas cans, propane tanks etc. in the area you want to TRY to defend, but also, that after 3 or 4 tries I was frustrated, weary and eager to return to the regular game.

I must admit, in fairness, that I've never been a great fan of time based/get the highest score, type games, so I'm probably a little prejudiced. I'll continue to 'give this a go' for a while; maybe it'll turn out to be a great game. But somehow, I think I'd have liked a new regular campaign map better.

R.N. (cujo)

47 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Co-op Gaming Refined, November 17, 2008

By 

Groovy Monster - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Left 4 Dead (DVD-ROM)

Left 4 Dead is an amazingly visceral, spooky, action-packed gaming experience! It is quite simply a survival horror masterpiece. It also stands now, as probably the greatest Co-op multiplayer game in gaming history. Yes, it's that good.

The Source engine has NEVER looked (or ran!) better. And the zombies... THE ZOMBIES are an incredible sight to behold! When you see a horde or these crazed monsters running straight at you 28 DAYS LATER style, you will know FEAR. And your jaw will hit the floor. And just wait till you shoot these things! The way the bullets hit and impact their bodies, the way they fly back from shotgun blasts... a thing of pure beauty for those who can stomach it. =)

I don't know, I could go on and on, but the bottom line is, we FINALLY have a full, honest-to-goodness (read: not a fan-made mod) AAA zombie horror game that we can jump into with three friends and fight through COOPERATIVELY!!! Been waiting for Left 4 Dead for a long time and I can't believe it's finally here and that it turned out THIS good!

It's the Zombie Apocalypse. Bring friends.

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly as it advertises, November 20, 2008

By 

M. Girardin (NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Left 4 Dead (DVD-ROM)

Co-op Zombie survival, that's what the game advertises and that's what it is. You and 3 friends (or bots) team up against a zombie apocalypse that has ravished possibly the world. There's no puzzles, get key to enter room or deep plot, it's grab a gun and try to make it to the next safe house for rescue. You murder tons and tons of zombies to get from point A to point B, while this may seem like it can get old really fast to some the game is different each time you play it with enemies in different spots, there are NO scripted events in this making replay easy. The game is only gets better with more players, making it more of an intense experience. To really throw a wrench into you surviving, there's 6 boss character zombies which are not as common as the horde but are a lot more deadly.

The PC version holds more hope to me because Valve always does updates for their games adding levels, gameplay modes and weapons. Though they will probably update the 360's content it's likely that it would cost money. The other big plus for the PC version to me is others can make levels and such for the game as well if they know about editing half life 2 content. A few Team Fortress 2 levels have already been added.

If you're looking to murder tons of zombies trying to make it to rescue this is a game for you, if you're looking for depth and puzzles you may want look elsewhere. But this game is a blast.

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