I’m Froseph and I am reviewing The Left for Dead series. Why? because I have put in so much time playing this game, more then I can count but luckly steam keeps count so while it is definitely dated now it is still a great series to come back to when you want some mindless killing of the undead. The characters, the difficulty and the overall play style makes it fun each time you play through. Left for dead is definitely not for the feint of heart, because even if you may played it a 100 times, know your way through all the levels it won’t matter because the infected hordes and the special infected are rarely in the same place twice. Which means one run you could have a witch in a location and the next play through it could be a tank or simply nothing at all. The Left 4 Dead series randomizes what infected are where and what weapons you get access to. Each level is episodic and strings in to the next level leaving you to wondering how these people have such bad luck in a already terrible situation.
As I said Left 4 Dead is pretty straight forward, Bill, Francis, Zoey and Louis join forces against the infected on a roof top in a storm and try to make it to the hospital which is a designated safe zone. Now in the series the infected are pretty much fodder to your main characters and the challenges really come from the smokers, boomers, tanks, witches and hunters which spawn in the longer you take to clear through an area. The weapons in left for dead are pretty limited giving you the lower level guns in the beginning and slowly get better towards the end though it really only has 8 – 10 in total with 2 thrown items the pipe bomb and Molotov. Also never forget your first Aid or Pills because while you could be at full life for 75% of the level all it takes is one bad bit of RNG and you are at 5% and near death. This first game was done well and is amazingly fun and challenging. It also allows you to stop after each episode so you can return later to continue the adventure.
Left 4 dead 2 is a major upgrade in visuals as well as weapons and items your characters have access to. In Left for Dead 2 you are following a new set of characters as Nick, Ellis, Couch and Rocshell. We are also introduced to some new special infected such as the charger, the jokey, spitter. As well as our old friends from the previous games and some unique infected that tend to bring in the hordes of regular infected down on you. New ammo has been added in the form of explosive and incendiary rounds and they doubled the guns in left 4 dead 2 from 10 to around 15 – 20 as well as bring melee weapons such as the bat, golf club and katana (Oh and the chain Saw, can’t forget about that.). A new bomb made of boomer bile was added to go along with the pipe bomb and Molotov. The style of the game hasn’t changed from the first as valve tends to takes on a if it isn’t broke don’t fix it mentality for these games and I can’t fault them for it. One last great thing about Left for dead 2 is they also updated the original left for dead missions and placed them in to left for dead 2 and you can play those missions over again as well with the new special infected and weapons.
They added some really fun secondary games and a way to go through with what is called realism mode. The mini games are great and even now so long after they have been out the servers are still full of people popping in and playing through. This game is a classic and a fun time when you just feel like killing those zombies. Pick it up and get in your zombie killing.
TheWrongCast 