by Johan Burghall

Created on: November 09, 2009

In Left 4 Dead (2008), legendary developer Valve takes online co-operative play to a new level, whilst simultaneously creating the most tense and atmospheric zombie survival horror FPS yet.

They have taken the very best (and worst) of the zombie genre, from the B movie posters and clichd taglines on the loading screens of each campaign, to the rolling credits at the end that give everyone their overall stats and let you know how many zombies were harmed in the process. The Infected themselves are an endless mob of snarling, howling maniacs who come pounding towards you single-mindedly, and whose limbs can be ripped off by shotgun shells whilst their heads pop like satisfyingly ripe watermelons. Valve have done a great job of creating so many different skins for them that it never feels like you're fighting the same zombie twice.

But what really challenges the survivors, and makes the game interesting, are the Boss Infected. The premise of the game is that two weeks after the beginning of the Infection, which the survivors are immune to, some of the regular Infected begin to mutate into even more dangerous horrors. There's the Resident Evil-esque Smoker with its fifty-foot tongue, the Flood-like Boomer whose vomit and exploding balloon-like body blinds survivors and attracts new swarms of Infected, the hoodie-wearing Hunter who tackles survivors to the floor from twenty feet away, and the super-powerful Tank and Witch.

While the Source engine doesn't emanate the same bloom and 'wow' as most next-gen titles, it is a robust engine that continues to keep up to date with enhanced lighting and effects (the smoke from gun barrels is particularly nice), and it is doubtful that many other games could present the sheer quantities of enemies and not suffer significant slowdown. And what really sets Left 4 Dead apart from the rest of the FPS genre? You can see your own feet! The game also shifts seamlessly from 1st to 3rd person during the attacks of several of the Boss Infected, giving the whole experience a cinematic feel.

Left 4 Dead, more than any other co-op game, relies on teamwork, communication, and watching each other's backs, especially when you start to limp slower and slower as your injuries mount and you run out of painkillers. Players can see each other's position through walls via a nice blue outline effect (and here the desire for realism is outweighed by the fact that if you don't know where your friends are you DIE), and their outline becomes

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