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LEFT 4
DEAD
In the global zombie apocalypse of Left 4 Dead, our
goal was simple: just survive. But reaching a safe
haven in hopes of getting rescued was easier said than
done. We had to navigate through the crumbled ruins
of modern civilization and defend ourselves against
a mob of angry zombies that would stop at nothing
to see us dead. Luckily, we were never alone in this
frightening fi ght for survival. We were not only always
accompanied by three teammates (controlled by either
real players or AI) but also equipped with a zombie’s
greatest weakness: bullets. Lots of bullets.
Our nerve-racking journey was broken into four
story campaigns, each consisting of fi ve sequential
levels. These “movies” all followed the same structure:
The four of us traversed zombie-infested territory to
reach safe houses at the end of each chapter, building
up to a lengthy fi nal stand while awaiting rescue at
each campaign’s fi nale.
We started off in the No Mercy act, which chal-
lenged us to fi nd a way to the rooft op of a hospital
from a distant apartment building. As we made our
way through dimly lit hallways and claustrophobic
stairwells to the street, we caught our fi rst glimpse of
the infected masses—soulless husks of our once neigh-
bors and friends. It was a mistake to agitate them; once
alerted to our presence, a wave of the ghoulish goons
swarmed our position. These common zombies were
easy to put down with our assault rifl es and shotguns,
but their overwhelming numbers and surprising speed
made them formidable foes. Zombies would climb
fences, claw through closed doors, and crawl over any
obstacle for a taste of our fl esh. Shooting off their limbs
wasn’t even enough to keep them down—the undead
were impressively determined (a well-aimed headshot,
though, stopped them in their tracks).
Frenzied shootouts were dynamically timed by
the game’s AI Director to give us moments to catch our
breath aft er a slaughter (see the sidebar on the next
page). These welcome lulls in the mayhem actually
added tension because we weren’t sure how much
time we had before the next onslaught.
Even more frightening was the presence of fi ve
Boss Infected. More freakish than the common zom-
bie ilk, each boss had a special ability to cause disar-
ray among our group. The grotesquely obese Boomer
vomited bile on us to attract hordes to our position,
the stealthy Hunter pounced from the darkness to
keep us pinned on the ground, the lanky Smoker
snagged and strangled stragglers with his tongue,
and the hulking Tank swatted us around like we were
fl ies. The only way to stay alive was to work together,
communicating frequently and calling out threats to
avoid being caught off guard. The necessity for team-
work here is unmatched by any other multiplayer
game, and the payoff for surviving the full campaign
is incredibly rewarding.Survivor’s Journal:
How We Lived through the Undead Uprising
Even inside a barricaded church, you’re not safe from the zombie horde. When the swarm
gets too close for comfort, your best bet is to knock ’em back with the butt of your rifl e.As the Hunter in Versus mode, you can pounce on a survivor and claw out his entrails
while his friends are distracted. The Hunter, Smoker, and Boomer have low health, so
you have to attack at once to avoid being shot down.