five distinct decks, and I keep going
back to shift them around as I unlock
more cards. It definitely helps that it’s
only 15 cards to a deck, though it
would’ve gone even faster if the
deckbuilding menu were designed
exclusively for mouse and keyboard.
AIM TRUE
The card system wouldn’t mean
much if Turtle Rock
didn’t nail the basics.
Back 4 Blood’s gunplay
is remarkably good –
so good that I wish
most competitive
shooters played this
smoothly. The Source
engine’s stilted
first-person animations
have been traded for fast, flourished
reloads that beautifully bookend a
fight and still look good when sped
up by card perks.
Modern touches like optional
hitmarkers (white for hit, yellow for
crit, red for dead), a contextual ping
system, and distinct sound cues for
headshots provide gratifying
information during every encounter.
I went back to Left 4 Dead 2 this
week to compare the two games and
immediately missed those
hitmarkers as I emptied an Uzi
magazine into a horde.
Attachments are an especially
interesting addition, as they come in
different rarities that can offset a
gun’s inherent weaknesses. I enjoy
that everything you can slap on your
gun is a pure buff instead of the
give-and-take I’m used to in Call of
Duty’s create-a-class. The only
downside to one attachment is that
you’re foregoing another – an
Extended Fast Mag can speed up the
lethargic reload of the M249, but you
also lose out on armour-piercing
rounds among other things.
ZOMBIE PANIC
Back 4 Blood’s main campaign is a
pretty long stretch of around 30
levels. There are a few stinkers,
particularly the briefer finale
missions that end each Act, but the
majority go big on Left 4 Dead’s
linear level design.
The diversity of Back 4 Blood’s
missions feels like a direct response
to the common Left 4 Dead criticism
that it wasn’t long enough. The card
system gives the maps slightly
different looks with Corruption
Cards that modify the world and
zombie behaviour. One run may be
foggy, or have armoured zombies, or
zombies with exploding heads, or
more security doors that trigger
alarms (which trigger zombies).
The further you progress in the
campaign, the meaner they get. I’ve
spent most of my time so far on the
lowest, default Recruit difficulty
usually playing with at least one
friend. The first two acts were pretty
breezy and fun – the
perfect amount of
challenge for when you
just wanna turn your
brain off and de-brain
some zombies.
One difficulty
setting higher, Veteran,
is the polar opposite.
Cash and ammo are
scarcer and med stations now cost
money to restore max health. The
early missions we previously
breezed through are desperate fights
for our lives. The appearance of
these stronger mutations is
supposed to be an event curated by
Back 4 Blood’s AI director, but at a
certain point it feels like Turtle Rock
just flips the “oops, all exploders”
switch and we die. The game has
only been out a few days as I write
this and Turtle Rock is already
tweaking spawn rates, so I expect
Veteran will improve over time.VERSUS
Speaking of pain, Back 4 Blood also
has a PvP mode called Swarm. Like
Left 4 Dead’s Versus mode, Swarm
pits four human Cleaners against four
other players controlling the special
zombie breeds. But unlike the oldVersus setup that was basically the
standard campaign with smarter,
human-controlled enemies, Swarm is
a timed survival mode that
repurposes chunks of campaign maps
into small arenas.
The elegantly balanced sadism of
the campaign goes out the window in
a competitive environment. Every
team I’ve played against has had the
same idea to pin players in place with
the Hocker, spew acid with the
Retches, and smash us to bits with a
Tallboy in one coordinated attack.
Part of the problem are the
powerful upgrades zombie players
can buy mid-match that boost their
defence and offence. So while they
only get beefier, Cleaners are
basically stuck with the same junk
they started with. This highlights
Swarm’s fundamental flaw. Getting
overpowered by unreasonably strong
zombie players is a feature, not a bug.
Even when you win by time, you still
feel like you lost.
Swarm sits in stark contrast to the
thrill of limping half-dead into a safe
room just as a Hunter is leaping at
your face. Left 4 Dead leveraged the
strength of its campaigns in Versus,
and it’s a wonder why Back 4 Blood
hasn’t done the same. If PvP was the
main appeal of Left 4 Dead for you,
Swarm will just ruin your day.
It speaks to how strong of a game
Back 4 Blood is that one of its modes
can suck so hard but it barely detracts
from my overall fun. Back 4 Blood is
its co-op campaign, and it’s best
played with your friends. It’s
definitely not the same with randos
and bots, but the ping system does
help bridge the communication gap if
mics aren’t plugged in.
I’m lucky to have played Back 4
Blood the way it’s meant to be played,
because it’s some of the best co-op
fun I’ve ever had in a videogame. And
while it’s a bummer that the game
likely won’t have the same mod
support that spawned incredible
player-made content in Left 4 Dead 2
(it is a live service game in 2021, after
all), I’m excited to see what’s ahead
on Turtle Rock’s annual pass.
Apparently there’s a new story, new
Cleaners, and new special zombie
typesontheway.Countmein.88
Back 4 Blood is an
exceptional first-person
shooter that sets a new
standard for co-op
zombie murderfests.VERDICTThe further
you progress in
the campaign,
the meaner
they getSHUFFLED
Back 4
Blood’s cards
change your
playstyle.
Here’s a few
favouritesCOMBAT KNIFE
Turns your standard
melee attack into a
knife attack.QUICK KILL
+50% hipfire
accuracy, disables
aim-down-sights.MEAN DRUNK
+7 5 % m e l e e
damage, melee
attacks cleave
through enemies.ADMIN RELOAD
When you stow your
weapon, it reloads.
-20% ammo
capacity.TWO IS ONE AND
ONE IS NONE
You can equip a
Primary weapon in
your Secondary slot.Back 4 Blood
REVIEW