MacHouse game rating: 8.5/10
Left 4 Dead is an interesting action/horror game published by Electronic Arts. Electronic Arts released the game in North America in November 18. Left 4 Dead was developed by Valve Corporation, the game developer of the hit game series Half-Life.
It’s a game where you fight zombies. If you watch the introductory cinematic video of the game, you will find out that something must have happened two weeks before. Some sort of an infection has transformed people into zombies. It sounds like this game is inspired by 2002 horror movie 28 Days Later…. If you play the single-player game, you will control one of the four characters (Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey). You can choose any of them, and other characters will assist you.
Screenshot 01 – Source: MacHouse |
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By the way, there aren’t many PC/Mac games involving zombies, are there? The only game that I can remember is Stubbs the Zombie. Austin/Texas-based company Aspyr Media released the game for both Mac and PC on November 21, 2005. Left 4 Dead is totally different from Stubbs the Zombie, though. As I remember, the guy you control in Stubbs the Zombie can heal himself at any time by eating people’s brains. In Left 4 Dead, you use a first aid pack, which isn’t always available. And the crucial difference is that you play the zombie in Stubbs the Zombie and fight ordinary people.
Scene from Stubbs the Zombie Screenshot 03 – Source: MacHouse |
Scene from Stubbs the Zombie Screenshot 04 – Source: MacHouse |
Unique enemy characters
Left 4 Dead has several unique enemy characters besides ordinary zombies that make the game fun to play. Without them, you would get bored after going through several chapters.
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The Boomer is a big-belly fat guy who moves very slowly. If you let this guy come too close to you, he will throw up. His throwing up can trigger ordinary zombies to come out of nowhere, rushing to attack you. It will also distort your visual. So you really want to shoot and kill this guy before he vomits. If the Boomer is around, he makes a strange noise as if he were drunk or full in his stomach. If you shoot him in the belly, he will explode.
Screenshot 08 – Source: MacHouse |
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The Hunter is not a very strong guy. But this guy is very fast. Before you spot and shoot him, he can easily jump on you. Once he jumps on you, you can’t shoot him. If none of your allies is around or too busy, then he can put an end to your game play. By the way, you can tell if somebody is being attacked by the Hunter even at a distance. If he is in the attack mode, his body will be red-highlighted.
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The Smoker is not a very strong guy, either. He is always covered with a number of leaves. But it’s not always easy to distinguish him from other zombies. His tongue can extend several yards to choke you, which won’t give you any damage. But while you are being choked, you won’t be able to attack him or release yourself from his restraint. Then other zombies can give you damage. When he dies, he will explode in green smoke.
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The Witch IS a powerful zombie character. You can tell if she is around because she cries. She hates light. So if you are too close to her and aim your weapon at her, she will rush and punch/slap you repeatedly. She is so fast and so powerful that she can easily put an end to your game play. If you hear her cry but don’t find her, you can just walk away. I have a feeling that she is Hunter’s little sister.
Screenshot 16 – Source: MacHouse |
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The Tank is the most powerful zombie. He is big and muscular. If he punches you, you can fly several yards. Punched twice, you will be paralyzed on the ground. So you need to keep distance from him. And killing this guy takes a lot of ammunition. Sometimes, the Tank never shows up. If you have bad luck, he can show up three times during the same single-player mission.
Screenshot 18 – Source: MacHouse |
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Weapons
There aren’t unique firearms in this game. When you play the very first chapter (The Apartments) of the first campaign (No Mercy), the only available firearms are a hand gun (Springfield Armory M1911), shotgun (Benelli M4 Super 90) and the Uzi submachine gun. (See Screenshot 20.) The Uzi submachine gun is not a good weapon to use when you shoot moving targets.
Screenshot 20 – Source: MacHouse |
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There are two more firearms, which are the M16A3 assault rifle and the Ruger Mini-14 rifle. The most power firearm is the M16A3 assault rifle, of course. It’s automatic. You can fire as many as 50 rounds without changing the magazine. The Ruger Mini-14 rifle is also powerful. It’s a sniper rifle that lets you target zombies at a distance. You can fire as many as 15 rounds. This sniper rifle is more power than M16 because one bullet is sufficient and likely to kill a zombie whenever it hits while it takes a few bullets unless you hit him in the brain if you use M16.
Screenshot 23 – Source: MacHouse |
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There are two other weapons. One is the pipe bomb. It’s useful when you are surrounded by a number of zombies. Throw a pipe bomb, and zombies will go after it. While zombies are gone, you can heal yourself or bring one of your allies knocked down on the ground back to life.
Screenshot 26 – Source: MacHouse |
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Another weapon is the Molotov cocktail. It’s a bottle containing petrol fuel. Throw it at a zombie but keep distance from him. Or you can catch fire and give yourself some damage.
Screenshot 29 – Source: MacHouse |
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There are other items that you can use to attack zombies. Sometimes, you may find a red tank containing gasoline. You can carry and drop it at a spot where zombies are likely to cluster. Shoot it. You can set the fire, which can burn for several seconds, damaging or killing zombies. Again, you can catch fire. So keep distance.
Screenshot 32 – Source: MacHouse |
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Occasionally, you may find a gray propane tank. If you shoot it, you can blow up a lot of zombies around it.
Screenshot 35 – Source: MacHouse |
Left 4 Dead is a good action game. There are a couple of things that might turn you off, though. No. 1, you can play any single-player chapter of any campaign at any time. Some people may find this feature non-challenging. Personally, I would like it better if the game were designed such that I could move on to the next chapter only after clearing one.
Clearing one chapter will take 12 to 20 minutes or so. Some chapters are short. Some of them are long and tough to clear. There is no check point in the middle in any chapter. Running into the Hunter or Witch can put an end your entire game play so easily and quickly. And you have to start over in such event. So it would be nice if there were one check point in the middle where you could start after an accidental end.
The single-player game of Left 4 Dead has four campaigns. They are No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air and Blood Harvest. Each campaign consists of five chapters.
Screenshot 36 – Source: MacHouse |
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Each campaign ends with a finale chapter. At the end of the road, you will find a safe house. And there is a radio with which you can contact the rescue team for pick up. They won’t show up immediately. You have to hang on for 10 minutes fighting zombies.
Each finale is different in the way they come to pick you up. If you see a helicopter port at the rooftop of a building, you can probably imagine how they are going to rescue you, right? If the safe house is located by a lake… Well, you know…
Finally, let’s talk about system requirements. System requirements are relatively high. Even if you have 256 MB of video RAM, the game can crash, regardless of the video resolution, while you play. So you may want to go to Options > Video > Advanced Settings and lower video settings. (See Screenshot 39-41.)
Screenshot 39 – Source: MacHouse |
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Screenshot 41 – Source: MacHouse |
Click on the button to watch the introductory cinematic video for Left 4 Dead.
Click on the button for free game play videos.
References:
IMDb 28 Days Later… (2002)
Left 4 Dead – Wikipedia
Left 4 Dead is a product of Electronic Arts and Valve Corporation.
muito show eu amo joga left 4 dead