Left4Dead

Two words: HOLY SHIT. This game is intense. If you already know about the game itself, its great, go play it now. If you don't know what it is yet, here ya go!

Left4Dead is a first-person shooter from Valve, the creators of Half-Life and its various iterations. More specifically, it is a zombie FPS. This game was modeled to be Dawn of the Dead in game form, not another Resident Evil. These zombies aren't content to slowly plod after you, they run full out at you, and they come in droves. Fortunately, you don't have to go at it alone. You have 3 other teammates with you, who are either controlled by other people online, or by the computer. You would be cut down in seconds without the extra support. The team aspect makes the game even more scary, because the game is not-so-subtly telling you that if it catches you alone, it'll rip you to shreds. You need to stick with your teammates. You aren't some super soldier out to take on the world. You are just some person who gets caught in the middle of a zombie movie.

The game has 4 campaigns, which are basically different "movie" backdrops. Your goal is to survive through each section in the movie in order to be rescued at the end. You aren't here to cure the world, or even save it. Your only focus is to survive. I really love the focus of the game. It couldn't have nailed the zombie movie aspect more completely.

For each movie campaign, you can choose one of the 4 players. I chose the beefed-up Pancho. Once loaded up, you can pick which gun you want from a table in front of you. I chose the Shotgun (of course!). The other options are double pistols, an Assault Rifle, or a Sub-Machine Gun. As you progress later in the campaign, you can also pick up better weapons, including a faster, more powerful Shotgun and a Sniper Rifle. There are also the standard medpacs, pain killers, and various explosives.

So, the gameplay itself isn't anything super special. The whole point of the game is the atmosphere, and the situation you have been put in. Valve really nailed it here, and I can see this game being fun for a long time, especially online with a bunch of friends and added downloadable content. They have already planned on adding an exact replica of the Dawn of the Dead mall sometime in the future.... awesome.