Left 4 Dead is an old-fashioned (if that's the right way to put it) co-op shooter. In fact, you won't survive long (unless you're that pansy that plays on Casual every single fucking time) without co-op. I had the luxury of pre-ordering this gem at a discount (not a large one, but a small amount) Steam, while being the most unreliable service, has it's good moments. However, un-locking the Left 4 Dead files took an unnecessary HOUR AND A HALF to decrypt from the game files that I HAD ALREADY DOWNLOADED. Enough of this rant, onto an actual review. I'm going to layout this review like I do with my Silent Walk game reviews (Silent Walk is a small game engine, the forums for it aren't populated profusely, but there's enough that I can make a review every once in a while)
Graphics - 85
Left 4 Dead uses the Source engine to render graphics. While the system is still one of the best in my opinion, it's old and a bit out-dated. You won't get eye popping visual effects like, oh, lets say Bioshock, but there's enough eye-candy to make you not gouge out your own eyes. I want to say that this really pushes the Source engine to the limit, but I can't say that because I haven't exactly played every game that was made with it. I think it's a tie between Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead. I have an Nvidia GeForce 6200 FX with 256 MB, so I can play this on High quality with minimal lag. The blood spatters around the large maps are seen in almost every single blood-filled game Valve has ever made. One of the things that actually works for Valve which is opposite for most companies is re-used components. Sounds and some textures are re-used in most of the games Valve makes. There are quite a bit of custom textures for each game, so I can't say they re-use them a lot. Overall, Left 4 Dead passes and then some, but don't expect anything super-special.
Gameplay - 95
Here comes another mention of Valve re-using something (in this case it's good) is the Havok physics engine. Top quality, A grade physics (as you would expect from the company that developed Half-Life 2) in Left 4 Dead. Corpses from your murderous streak will realistically slump over cars, benches, hell even other corpses. I'm sure everyone's had a "coolest corpse" story once when playing this game. Whether it be a Boomer nut-sacked on a railing, or Zoey caught under a car wheel, it completely dominates in terms of gravity effects. Gunfire is also realistic, as some guns do not have power versus guns that have power, and long range versus small arms fire. There aren't really any bugs, even in online play that I can account for, so it gets a pretty good score. I'm sure people will come in here and remind me of things I've never heard of, so expect some edits coming up. The mysterious "AI Director" is really a nuisance, because it does most of the time the opposite of what it was programmed to do. In one instance all of my teammates had lower then 50 health and a whole shitload of zombies and Boomers came running (or in the Boomer's case, waddling) into our little corner. Needless to say, we got romped and had to start the level over. On those rare occurances where it does it's job, it's an amazing piece of technology. Co-op gameplay is just really fucking fun. What's better then yelling at your best friends and not having to get trash talked because this time you ACTUALLY HAVE A REASON? NOTHING! I thought so. Words cannot describe how good the co-op gameplay, so they won't. On to the next category.
Weapons and Enemies - 85
With all of Valve's technology, surely they could have put a few more weapons into Left 4 Dead. With a total of 6 weapons (not including Medkits or Explosives) Left 4 Dead falls critically speaking in this category. While there are your standard retarded running zombies, your fat barfers, smoky exploders, and sneaky bastards as enemies, it makes up. A little, that is. It's a generally fun time blowing limbs off of bloody, ragged zombies. The programming in the models of the zombies allows you to blow off one zombies two arms and they'll still come at you like your brain is a waffle house. While that's great and all, it makes you die. But hey, what's a First Person Shooter without dying? A first person shooter that you don't die in. I answered my own question. I get a cookie now.
Total Score - 91 - A-
Left 4 Dead is a great game, but it lacks in some aspects. This final score was tallied by adding the three scores and dividing them by 3 (which is the number of numbers you added up) In mathematical terms, this is called finding the mean (just in case people didn't know. Not implying the users of this forum are stupid. Far from that, in face)
In my opinion, you should buy Left 4 Dead. At least play the demo, for christ's sake!
P.S. Hopefully this was more in-depth and better overall then my UT3 review. Have a nice night everyone.
Graphics - 85
Left 4 Dead uses the Source engine to render graphics. While the system is still one of the best in my opinion, it's old and a bit out-dated. You won't get eye popping visual effects like, oh, lets say Bioshock, but there's enough eye-candy to make you not gouge out your own eyes. I want to say that this really pushes the Source engine to the limit, but I can't say that because I haven't exactly played every game that was made with it. I think it's a tie between Half-Life 2 and Left 4 Dead. I have an Nvidia GeForce 6200 FX with 256 MB, so I can play this on High quality with minimal lag. The blood spatters around the large maps are seen in almost every single blood-filled game Valve has ever made. One of the things that actually works for Valve which is opposite for most companies is re-used components. Sounds and some textures are re-used in most of the games Valve makes. There are quite a bit of custom textures for each game, so I can't say they re-use them a lot. Overall, Left 4 Dead passes and then some, but don't expect anything super-special.
Gameplay - 95
Here comes another mention of Valve re-using something (in this case it's good) is the Havok physics engine. Top quality, A grade physics (as you would expect from the company that developed Half-Life 2) in Left 4 Dead. Corpses from your murderous streak will realistically slump over cars, benches, hell even other corpses. I'm sure everyone's had a "coolest corpse" story once when playing this game. Whether it be a Boomer nut-sacked on a railing, or Zoey caught under a car wheel, it completely dominates in terms of gravity effects. Gunfire is also realistic, as some guns do not have power versus guns that have power, and long range versus small arms fire. There aren't really any bugs, even in online play that I can account for, so it gets a pretty good score. I'm sure people will come in here and remind me of things I've never heard of, so expect some edits coming up. The mysterious "AI Director" is really a nuisance, because it does most of the time the opposite of what it was programmed to do. In one instance all of my teammates had lower then 50 health and a whole shitload of zombies and Boomers came running (or in the Boomer's case, waddling) into our little corner. Needless to say, we got romped and had to start the level over. On those rare occurances where it does it's job, it's an amazing piece of technology. Co-op gameplay is just really fucking fun. What's better then yelling at your best friends and not having to get trash talked because this time you ACTUALLY HAVE A REASON? NOTHING! I thought so. Words cannot describe how good the co-op gameplay, so they won't. On to the next category.
Weapons and Enemies - 85
With all of Valve's technology, surely they could have put a few more weapons into Left 4 Dead. With a total of 6 weapons (not including Medkits or Explosives) Left 4 Dead falls critically speaking in this category. While there are your standard retarded running zombies, your fat barfers, smoky exploders, and sneaky bastards as enemies, it makes up. A little, that is. It's a generally fun time blowing limbs off of bloody, ragged zombies. The programming in the models of the zombies allows you to blow off one zombies two arms and they'll still come at you like your brain is a waffle house. While that's great and all, it makes you die. But hey, what's a First Person Shooter without dying? A first person shooter that you don't die in. I answered my own question. I get a cookie now.
Total Score - 91 - A-
Left 4 Dead is a great game, but it lacks in some aspects. This final score was tallied by adding the three scores and dividing them by 3 (which is the number of numbers you added up) In mathematical terms, this is called finding the mean (just in case people didn't know. Not implying the users of this forum are stupid. Far from that, in face)
In my opinion, you should buy Left 4 Dead. At least play the demo, for christ's sake!
P.S. Hopefully this was more in-depth and better overall then my UT3 review. Have a nice night everyone.
