Left 4 Dead

Endnu en anmeldelse, igen på engelsk. Håber i kan lide den.

The infected howl as they near us. We decide to stand our ground and hope to survive another attack from the infected. The guns fire as the infected claw their way through the door. Dozens of them are ripped to shreds by our combined firepower. Perhaps we are going to survive after all. However, suddenly a Smoker grabs one of us, from a place we thought unreachable, and drags him away. We make a desperate attempt to save our comrade, but are ambushed by a Boomer and soaked in its filthy bile. More infected arrive. We are now defenseless in the open, and to make matters worse, another one of us goes down as a hunter pounces at him from far away. Within minutes a victory is turned to defeat.

I had second thoughts after buying Left 4 Dead, as I before playing Left 4 Dead actually hadn't really enjoyed an online shooter (or any other online-only game for that matter). Call of Duty 4 had its moments, but after encountering my first....I don't have a word to describe them....lets just call them idiots, who spoil the game for you. Left 4 Dead has these problems as well, but since it's relying on teamwork, the idiots either don't play the game, or are forced to work together with the rest of the team.

Left 4 Dead features three game modes: Campaign, Versus and Survival. Campaign is the standard Left 4 Dead game, where four survivors must battle their way through endless hordes of infected to escape to safety. Versus is practically the same as Campaign, with the exception that there now is a team of special infected as well, who try to hinder the survivors from reaching safety. The last one, Survival, has the survivors stay in one area of one of the four campaign maps, and survive the attacking infected for as long as possible.
All game modes are, of course, best played with friends who can take getting yelled yet, both for the best game experience, and simply because it is easier to work together with someone you know. However, online works very well too, and while you can't avoid running into idiots, they are thankfully quickly punished by getting killed by an infected. You'll want to try all the game modes, as they are all enjoyable. I personally like Versus and Survival the best, can't really explain why, but perhaps because they are fast-paced.
Left 4 Dead doesn't have much of a story-line, but you can find writings from other survivors on walls different places in the game and give you hints about what's going on. Left 4 Dead also has a single-player mode, but it's nowhere as fun as online, and should mainly be seen as a tutorial for the real game.

The four survivors, Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey, don't really have any strengths or weaknesses, and therefore depend only on the player's skill of surviving the zombie apocalypse. The only area they really differentiate is the dialogue they have.
There are also four different infected characters/types. The Boomer, Smoker, Hunter and Tank, all playable in Versus mode (There is also the Witch, but she is unplayable.), they are very different, and all have their strengths and weaknesses. The Boomer, a fat, slow and clunky infected sprays bile at the survivors, attracting the attention of the common infected (The regular zombies), and if it is shot, it will blow up sending bile in every direction, thus soaking the nearby survivors in bile. The Smoker shoots its long tongue from far away, grabbing onto an unlucky survivor and dragging him to certain death if he isn't saved. The Hunter leaps at the survivors and rips them to pieces. The last, and rarest special infected, is the Tank. It's incredibly strong and a single hit from it sends the survivor flying. In addition to that it can also throw large objects, like cars, at the survivors.
Left 4 Dead is never genuinely scary, although you will experience some moments when your heart stops for a few seconds, when a Hunter leaps out of seemingly nowhere.

Left 4 Dead uses the Source engine, and while it's not the best looking game of all time, it's very moody and especially lighting is used very well. You always know where you have to go because you are guided by the light. The only thing I can really complain about is that there's no variation in the looks of the special infected, but frankly, who cares, you're going to be looking at them for a few seconds before blowing their head off.
I can't remember when I played a game that used music so well as an integrated part of the game. You'll always know when something bad is about to happen, just by listening to the music, just as if you were watching a zombie-movie. The sounds of the zombies and the guns are also very good, plus the dialogue is great too.

Left 4 Dead feels incredibly polished, it does everything to near perfection. It has sometimes been criticized for having to little content, but isn't better to have a little great content than a lot of average content? And as more free DLC likely becomes available, it will extend the game's lasting value.
Overall, Left 4 Dead is probably the closest I will come to give a 10 in a long time (I never, ever give 10s). If you've enjoyed one of the following: zombies, shooting things virtually or video games in general, you should buy this game now!

Pros:

Best multiplayer shooter I've played as of now.
Great use of music
Simple and polished.
Zombie + Shotguns = Great fun!

Cons:

Only four campaigns
Bland single-player.