I Heart…Left 4 Dead

At the time of writing this piece I am striken by plague…some lurgy that has left me temporarily bonded to my sofa and groaning softly.  Naturally, the thought eventually occurs to me that I’m probably turning into a Special Infected.  Not the kind that pulls you off buildings with it’s tongue or covers you in Boomer bile (yet, thankfully!) but a really crap one that crawls up to survivors, coughs a bit then dies at their feet with a whimper.  Zombies will find a way to infiltrate my life in some form or other. Not literally, so far, I hasten to add but all gamers know that one day, the apocalypse will come and we’ll be highly trained in dealing with the situation.

The new world order will be run by us fans of Dead Rising or Resident Evil, we will be left to repopulate the planet.  I can stock up on first aid kits which, fortunately, heal any wound no matter how near-fatal it is but I am relying on one of you to have a stockpile of shotguns and molotovs.

The one thing that can genuinely scare me in films is zombies. I wouldn’t like to meet the fast moving kind and the thought of hundreds of them eerily shuffling towards my hideout sends shivers down my spine.  It’s a horrible way to go.  A vampire will at least seduce you and drain your blood while you’re busy swooning.  A werewolf will quickly rip you to shreds.  A zombie though can start by nibbling your fingertips off or gnawing slowly through your skull – that’s pretty horrific in my book.  Putting zombies and games together is close to my idea of heaven and so with this, I pay homage to my personal favourite – Left 4 Dead.

Although, in my opinion, the sequel was a superior game, the original has a special place in my undead heart. It was my first proper introduction to the joys of online multiplayer and also the first “scary” game I was able to summon up enough courage to play on my own. I remember firing up the campaign for ‘No Mercy’ for the first time and ever so slowly edging down the staircase from the roof, literally on the edge of my seat, waiting to jump at any moment. Multiplayer befuddled me the first few times I played as Special Infected but being able to control the zombie attacking the humans was a great twist for me and I’m glad I persevered with the mode.

The series of campaigns take the four survivors through various areas in their hunt for saferooms and eventual rescue via choppers, planes, boats and army vehicles, all the while they are battling through your common or garden variety zombies and the Special Infected. These souped-up zombies have different abilities such as dragging you away from the action, temporarily blinding you with bile, or pouncing from afar and ripping your intestines out. Not to mention the random spawns of the sobbing Witch, shhh don’t startle her, or the Tank who has the ability to seriously mess up your game.

The teamwork required is co-op at its very best. When pinned by a Hunter, watching your health bar drain, you feel utterly helpless while awaiting a teammate to come and rescue you. I still feel the need to hammer the controller as if, one day, the X button will actually shove the Hunter away. You have to rely on your fellow gamers to help protect you when covered in blinding Boomer bile or get you back up when incapacitated (or “incapped” as the cool kids say, honest). Snap judgements have to be made as to where to take a stand in a finale or the best way to deal with an impending Tank attack.

It’s fascinating how the real life personalities of the gamer is revealed in-game. Those more impatient call back to the others to hurry up, somebody who is cautious wants to check out of the way areas for ammo or health supplies, a multitasker seems to be everywhere at once – fending off Tanks with one hand while reviving you with another and there’s always the one with the “hero” complex who has to take down the Witch even if she’s over the other side of the map.

The survivors – Bill, Zoey, Francis and Louis are loveable, even if their actions as AI could be infuriating at times. Free me from this Smoker tongue and imminent death, Bill? No? Rather stand there and watch me die? Fair enough. Everybody seems to have their favourite, whether it’s Zoey calling zombie bullshit, Louis grabbin’ pills, the experienced war veteran Bill or “I hate everything except vests” Francis. The banter between characters is well written and amusing and I refuse to believe there isn’t a Left 4 Dead fan in the world who hasn’t at some point exclaimed “PILLS HERE!” while rifling through their bathroom cabinet.  When Bill’s body was found during The Passing DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 I felt a genuine pang of sadness and still do. I made a simple YouTube video for my gamer friends so we could half-jokingly mourn together but it surprised me by getting over 3000 views and a string of L4D fans also “paying their respects” in the comments section. This was for a character from a game released over a year previously and highlights the adoration gamers like me have for the title.

Left 4 Dead may have been shunted to one side by its sequel and is gathering dust for now but I am still very fond of the game and it’s one that I never plan on trading in. It’s in my all time favourite games, with its humour, warmth, tense moments, great gameplay PLUS zombies and that is why I <3 it so.

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