I've never really been the affectionate type. Years of mediocrity at competitive multiplayer gaming have left me a cold, bitter husk, doing unto others what best improves my score. But after getting a taste of Valve's upcoming first-person shooter Left 4 Dead, I discovered passionate new emotions for my various teammates: unbridled rage.
Teamwork isn't a new concept, particularly for shooters. It just makes sense – the groups that work together will have a far better chance of surviving. You can usually strike out on your own however, and still come out on top. We've all been on servers with that one player whose score is several powers of ten higher than anyone else's, seemingly hovering a few feet off the ground and smiting we lesser beings with a momentary glance.
Left 4 Dead eradicates any comfort you might take in your own abilities by making players wholly dependent on their teammates. You'll be healing each other, taking down enemies, and occasionally pulling each other out of the festering claws of a pack of Infected – the agile sort of zombies that seem popular with the kids these days. When you're working like a well oiled machine, no challenge is insurmountable. Unfortunately, that well oiled machine always seems to be the other team, leaving me screaming frantically and wondering where exactly everyone has gone off to this time.
In Left 4 Dead, eight players are split into teams of four, Survivors and Infected. As Survivors, your goal is to simply make it from one safe room to the next, where you can await rescue. At the start, you're locked in a room with a few weapons to choose from, some ammunition, a health kit, and the occasional pipebomb or molotov cocktail. You'll only be able to carry one primary weapon – assault rifle, submachine gun, shotgun or sniper rifle – and a pistol, which can also be dual-wielded if you grab another.
From there, it's out of the safe room and into the waiting arms of the roaming Infected. The levels are fairly linear affairs, but there is no compass or guide directing you where to go next – this is a good thing. As droves of zombies charge in from all sides, panic will often set in.
Amongst the mindless AI hordes are 4 Boss-Infected, controlled by the opposing team. Think of the player-Infected as a sort of super-zombie... or camping jerks, if you can see them scheming across the table. Their goal is to get the jump on you while you're dealing with the AI.
Whether or not that panic is honed into a resolve that sets four players side by side as wall of gunfire, or scattered through hallways as lambs for the slaughter, will be up to each team to decide. A Survivor has plenty of hit points, but once they die they're out of the match. You'll have to watch your shots too, as friendly-fire will hurt your teammates.
The Infected are fairly weak, but make up for that with vast numbers. Survivors can quickly become overwhelmed, pinned down to the ground and incapacitated. At this point they're helpless: you'll be able to fire shots with your pistol at the zombie hordes, but you can't move until a partner comes over and helps you up.
This of course is where sticking together becomes important: It's pretty easy to get separated, but if you're pinned down and too far from your teammates, all the keyboard mashing in the world won't save you. Friends can also heal you, if you've squandered your own health kit. As an added bonus in dark, zombie-laden corridors, you'll never lose sight of your teammates – they appear as a white outline when they're behind a wall or door.
Playing as the Infected is a completely different experience. You'll be able to see Survivors as well as teammates through walls, but charging headlong into their waiting guns means you'll die, and die often. To help get prepare sneak attacks, Infected can climb certain walls and pipes – just look for the handy, glowing trail of claws. Infected also have the ability to respawn after 20 seconds or so of their last death, and can choose where to spawn next, as long as it isn't too near any Survivors.
There are four types of Infected, and you'll be assigned to a “class” randomly. Each class plays a very important role, and it'll be up to a team, to make sure that they're using their abilities correctly.
For starters, there's the Boomer, a morbidly obese Infected whose primary attack is to vomit on Survivors. Get hit with Boomer puke and you'll be momentarily blinded, and the target of a sudden rush of AI zombies. As an added bonus, a Boomer who is shot has a chance of violently exploding, showering anyone in the area with bile and calling the AI zombie horde anyway. Send the Boomer in first (there can only be one at a time), and have them sacrifice themselves to call in reinforcements.
Once the Survivors are occupied, it's up to the Hunter and Smoker to pick off stragglers. The Hunter's primary attack is a pounce: After the Boomer's charge has sent the Survivors scurrying, lurk in a dark corner and wait for a confused straggler to run for a safe spot. Crouch to charge the attack, and then leap – if you hit your target, you'll pin them to the ground. They'll be helpless, unless another Survivor comes and kills you.
The Smoker's primary weapon is a very long tongue. Once that Boomer-blast has split the survivors up, find a straggler of your own and launch your tongue at them. It will wrap around their necks and drag them towards you, leaving them at the mercy of your claws. As with the Hunter, they'll only be able to escape if you get killed, but you can't escape until they're dead either. Your best bet will be to climb onto a low rooftop and attack from above.
And then there's the Tank, which is exactly what it sounds like: a very large, very strong Infected, that can hurl objects on the street or even rip up chunks of sidewalk. This beast of a class is assigned to one player at random, at an interval I couldn't quite figure out – sometimes a match ended before one showed up – but when the Tank is there, rejoice: Their only goal is to find Survivors and tear them limb from limb. Stop fighting and you'll lose your Tank privileges to another teammate, who'll hopefully put the living weapon to better use.
Scores are determined by how much progress the Survivors have made, with a multiplier for each member of the team who makes it to the end. The teams switch roles at the end of a round, so when you're playing as the Infected your job is to simply keep the opposing team's score as low as possible.
As it stands, the Infected felt far too weak – though in retrospect, that probably had more to do with my team wandering around aimlessly while our opponents strolled to the safe zone, than any balancing issues.
Voice chat feels like it should be mandatory with this one. I usually avoid getting on a mic, but there really is no way to successfully coordinate without being able to shout at your teammate for being a complete idiot and getting themselves pounced on when they should've been helping you get back up.
While my hands-on experience was limited to the multiplayer mode, I can't help but worry about how much depth there can really be in the game.
Deathmatches? Capture the Flag? Traditional first-person shooter modes won't really make any sense, with the way the game is currently structured. And while the mode I played was absurdly fun, we'll have to wait and see what other tricks Valve has up its sleeve.
Left 4 Dead hits the PC and Xbox 360 on November 18th.
Images Courtesy Valve
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