6 of 9

Write now Article Tools

Do you have friends?

Do you like shotguns?

Do you HATE those pesky zombies?

Would you like to use your friends/shotgun to kill said zombies?

If you answered yes to any of the above then you'll love Left 4 Dead.

This latest release from our friends at Valve finally brings a bit of much needed originality to 1st person shooters. You play one of four survivors in a city overrun with bad tempered, scarily fast zombies and you have to find your way out. Well actually you have to FIGHT your way out, but that's always more fun anyway. However that isn't going to be as easy as it sounds, there are also five 'special' zombies that come out to play now and then. Smokers, Hunters, Tanks, Boomers and Witches will haunt your dreams but I'll let you find out why on your own.

You can either play through the campaign mode on your lonesome or with up to three of your friends and honestly the game only gets better with each player you add. to make this even better, each level is never exactly the same, the map doesn't change of course but the location of zombies and items will always be different. In addition to the campaign mode the wonderful Valve have given us Live multiplayer as well. Again you can team up with your friends to fight the zombie hordes but now the 'specials' are controlled buy other Live players, or of course you can play as the 'special' and hunt yourself some survivor.

I can hear you thinking of Resident Evil and running around for hours with zombies shuffling around in lab coats. Stop it, stop it right now! These zombies will find you, they will find you, beat you to the ground and then get munching, river cottage style. I don't recommend standing still for too long or the horde will be right behind you. Also I wouldn't recommend jumping around on cars like a hoodlum, the alarm will go off and then your in trouble. They are fast and almost limitless, I can't think of anything better.

The in game graphics are excellent, although the game play is so good it almost doesn't matter and the cut scenes watch like a film so you can really get engrossed if you let yourself. The only down side I can see is the lack of usable object, I mean you can chuck pipe bombs and molatoffs and smack a zombie with the but of your gun. But where are the lead pipes and axes? If there was a single axe in this games it would be perfect.

Left 4 Dead will be in my 360 for months to come and is definitely a must have for anyone with an itchy trigger finger and/or an abiding hatred of the undead.

Learn more about this author, Marc Teager.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Video Game Reviews: Left 4 Dead (Xbox 360)?
We want to hear your view. Write now!