Archive for November, 2008

So, this weekend I was a total bum and I loved every minute of it. Nothing gets your mind off stressful events quite like playing some great games on XBOX LIVE. I’ve been spending some time on the gaymer.org and gaygamer.net forum sites and the game Left 4 Dead  was mentioned quite a few times. So, after looking it up and finding out more about it I discovered that it was developed by Valve… my favorite game studio! They made The Orange Box which was fantastic even if it were to have only come with TF2 it would have still been just as awesome. Love that game. Anyways, Left 4 Dead  is a zombie game. You can play single player mode with 3 other A.I. controlled players or play a 4 way co-op. It’s much more fun to play with your friends, of course. There’s also a versus component which you can play with friends as well or other online players through matchmaking. It’s frustrating to get people on your team who don’t have mics or who are in an XBOX LIVE party and haven’t left the party (I noticed if you’re playing a different game, the “game chat” feature is disabled until you leave the party). Otherwise it’s fantastic. It’s two teams of 4 vs. 4 alternating between survivors (humans) and special zombies. The survivors have to make it to the safe-room alive but to spice things up, the special zombies can attack out of nowhere. These zombies feature special abilities that can do a lot of damage or slow you down. My favorite character is the Boomer. The boomer is this uber-fat zombie with boiling puss bubbles under his skin who waddles around and throws up on the survivors. His bile is what attracts a horde of zombies which can really set back the other team. When he’s shot and killed he explodes and his guts are sent all over the place attracting the horde as well. He’s like a zombie-bomb. Amazing.

I have to say, the zombies are very well done. They’re crazed and when a horde comes at you it’s seriously like you’re in a movie. Some walls even break open to let more out and zombies can fall from the ventilation shaft. It’s creepy, scary and so much fun! I love playing as a special zombie and wish you could set it so that you are either a survivor or a zombie during the gameplay (not alternating between the two). I played for hours on end and met some great people along the way who friended me. The creepiest part I’ve played so far was in a cornfield. It was filled with fog and was just a giant ominous farmland. C-R-E-E-P-Y.

While the game can be knocked for not really having a story… the question is do we need one? No, not really. I don’t need to develop a sense of sympathy for any of the characters. I don’t need to get a backstory because it’s an intense game once you get going. Do you really need a motive to run for your life and save your fellow comrades from a horde of killer zombies? The answer is no, you don’t.