Left 4 Dead Survival Review

Survive in the brand new map.

Valve released Left 4 Dead during last year’s holiday season.  It soon became one of the best game releases for all of 2008.  And since then, I have played the cooperative zombie shooter almost religiously.

Left 4 Dead is a cooperative first-person shooter that has up to four players work together in an arduous journey to find a rescue vehicle that will save them from the zombie apocalypse.

The game originally contained four scenarios where the survivors can escape in the end, but surely some were just not as lucky.  Thinking about it reflects a sick pessimism, but I can assume that some survivors only found dead ends for their hope of rescue.

Literally speaking, Left 4 Dead’s newly released Survival downloadable content gives new meaning to “dead end.”  In the new Survival Mode, the four survivors meet their greatest endurance test for their lives.  Certain points in the levels of Campaign Mode required the survivors to clear an obstruction in their path, open a door, or call a rescue vehicle, but they would then also trigger a “crescendo” event, or a huge horde of rabid infected.  Survival Mode places the survivors in these same levels and the hordes certainly do come, but this time the path never opens.  Rescue will not arrive.

Any of the given Survival levels starts out with the calm before the storm.  The survivors have as much time as they need to prepare.  At first glance, they appear to have found the ultimate anti-zombie stash complete with weapons and ammunition that lie all over the place.  They even start off with the second-tier guns and can take their pick of the sniper, auto-shotgun, or assault rifle.  They also can plan to hold fort and hunker down by setting up several flammable gas cans and explosive propane tanks in strategic positions.

In the standard Campaign mode, the abundance of weapons would clearly make survival a breeze, but in Survival mode, none of it makes a difference.  The tragic irony definitely doesn’t go unnoticed: in “Survival” mode, as the game says, “It doesn’t end well.”

After the initial setup, the survivors confidently trigger the horde.  Sure there’ll be dozens of zombies, a few lashing Smokers, pouncing Hunters, vomiting Boomers, and the intermittent hulking Tank, but it’ll be manageable right?  For the first few minutes, their comfort starts to wane as the horde grows increasingly aggressive.  The few occasional boss infected attacks multiply as the Smokers, Hunters, and Boomers attack from all sides.

That’s okay.  They can throw everything they have at them and pull through.

But the horde is relentless.  One Tank becomes two.  Ammo grows increasingly scarce.  A survivor dies.  Boss infected attack with the horde.  Two Tanks become three.  The scream of the horde is deafening.  Two more survivors die.  The last man standing holds out for 30 seconds more then finally gives in to the oncoming waves and the turning tide.

The timer wasn’t our ally.

Death awaits you in the end, but even knowing that makes every living moment exhilarating.  Every time you play, you can hold out bit longer to try to break your record survival time.  Every minute becomes a milestone.  So far, I’ve not been able to survive longer than 20 minutes.  And on the new Survival-only map, The Last Stand, holding out for more than ten is a miracle.

Man, The Last Stand is almost too perfect as a Survival map.  You’ll start off together with your survivor mates–in the engine room, perhaps–and will fight that horde.  Soon, though, you’ll find yourself on top of the light house; you’ll give your last adrenaline-pumped effort and then die alone.

In addition to nihilistic fun of Survival, the two Campaign maps of Dead Air and Death Toll are now available in Versus mode.  Finally I’m not limited to only two Versus campaigns, and I’ll be sure to spend countless more hours finding new survivor-versus-zombie tactics on the new maps.

Whether you’ve been playing as adamantly as I or you’ve taken a break from the game, the new Left 4 Dead content will renew your zombie-killing addiction.  What was a phenomenal game of last year remains just as awesome this year.  More amazing still, the new content is absolutely free, so go download it right now.