Quite possibly the best co-op game ever created, too bad that there is only a limited amount of levels.

User Rating: 9 | Left 4 Dead X360
This game is strictly just multiplayer. You CAN play alone, but it is much more fun with others. With that said here we go.

Left 4 Dead is made by the geniouses that made Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Portal. This game is meant to be strictly multiplayer by using a very simple formula. The formula is; trust your teamates to help you defend against and endless amount of zombies. The game takes you along four different levels with four stages, ending with your group being rescued. The game is simple; get from the beginning to the end of each level to a safe house. Along the way there are various weapons, health packs and baddies of course.

For the weapons they are straight forward. You start off with a pistol. You can decide to move on, or grab a weapon in front of you. An uzi, a shotgun, or a rifle. They are all well balanced and can be used to a great advantage. Some people like the uzi as it shoots fast and can take out many at once, but ammo runs out quickly. The shotgun is a great zombie slayer, one-shot-one-kill for the most part, but if you miss it takes a while to reload and some zombies are actually bad to kill at a close range, which I will explain later. The rifle (which I personally only used to see how it works, which was one run through) is a long range weapon, also one-shot-one-kill, but since its a bolt action, a pump inbetween can be tough in large groups of zombies. Of course there has to be weapons of mass destruction, so Valve throws three other weapons into the mix. Two of these weapons can be carried, but if you have one of the two you can't hold the other, and you can only hold one of whatever you are holding. These weapons are the Molotov and Pipe Bomb. The Molotov creates a barrier of fire which a zombie will still run through, it can deal a ton of damage with big groups. The Pipe Bomb is a personal favorite of mine, it has a slight amount of humour behind it. The Pipe Bomb is a single explosion weapon, but it beeps and flashes drawing the attention of any nearby zombies and having them circling the bomb only to explode. The last and final weapon is just there for any shooter. A massive no ammo fueled mounted machine gun. I'm pretty sure that needs no explanation.

Health is hard to come by in the game. Each person has a a health bar and each person can have a health pack. A person can use a health pack on themselves or another to heal them. This will give them enough health to survive just a little bit longer. The health packs are hard to come by and can be found at some checkpoints and in safehouses. There is also one item that can be used for a momentary burst of energy. The health you gain from the pills will only last for a while, and it will slowly diminish as time goes on.

There are special zombies much more powerful and dangerous then others. There is the Boomer a large zombie that waddles around to vomit on you. If this does sadly happen, the bile attracts tons of the smaller variety of zombies. Another terrible thing that these creatures do, is if you kill one, they explode in a wave of bile. These are simple one shot kills, but bad when low on health as the bile covers the screen. Another zombie is the Hunter. These creatures can climb on walls and leap across rooms in a single bound. They are fast and crouch as they run. They have a special ability in which if they attack someone they pin them to the ground. If this happens other players have a short amount of time to save you before you die. The Smoker is another zombie, this zombie coughs as he enters. He can also climb on walls, but he attacks from afar. He has a long tongue which can pull people into his claws so he can attack. He has a small ability as well when he dies. He explodes in a puff of smoke blinding people around them. Another zombie is the Tank, a super powerful zombie which will kill you in one to three hits. It takes tons of punishments and there is no such thing as a one-shot-kill or even a ten-shot-kill. The final special zombie is the Witch, this female zombie, sits in a corner and tries to lure you by crying. If you get close or shine your flashlight on you she springs upon you. If she strikes you once you die. She can be killed in one shot though.

The game has some interesting mechanics that make it special. There is the ability to turn 180 degrees with the push of a button, which makes it easy to turn to kill zombies. There is a down system, where if you die, you can be brought back with the help of a comrade, but if it takes to long you die until a safehouse. The most interesting mechanic is that of difficulty. You can choose easy to show off your skills, but if you do too well, the game compensates. It will take health packs away, add more zombies, take away ammo. It makes the game harder. A great mechanic and the better you get the more challenging the game becomes.

Overall the game is very well done great for Valve, another brilliant game. With a few downsides with game finding issues. A glitch or two. And the lack of more levels it can be annoying, but over time Valve is releasing patches to fix the first two and updates for the last.

The game isn't a must buy, but it deffinetly was and is a must play. It is a tad expensive for the lack of content, but it can be well worth it if plenty of your friends have it.