Surviving the zombie apocalypse. Sounds great, but sub-par execution when you kill zombies over, and over, and over...
When you hear "zombie apocalypse," your imagination is allowed to wander the vast fields of conceptualization. The story is an oldie, but a goody - it's hard to get tired of the story of violent, desperate struggle for survival amongst the vile living dead. Not to mention that if aforementioned survivor has a huge gun, it could certainly present many an opportunity for some awesome action. Thus, you have Left 4 Dead. Zombie apocalypse, good. Lack of plot... not so good.
Left 4 Dead puts you straight into the middle of the zombie apocalypse as one of four survivors who have somehow stayed alive long enough to kill some more nasties. You're given four levels to choose from, each stylized as a different sort of zombie movie (complete with decorative poster). After choosing one of your humble characters to kill those infernal (ranging from a violent, gun-ho Vietnam vet; a violent, gun-ho biker criminal; a business analyst who is hopelessly out of place with the rest of the group; and the token girl who is really enjoying herself what with all the men and zombies around), you're set loose into your "zombie movie." The objective is simple: get to the rendezvous point at the very end of the string of zombie infested scenarios to evacuate yourselves to safety.
That's about as much point in the entire game as you can hope for. Left 4 Dead isn't trying to impress you with any sort of drama; they just want you to turn as many walking corpses into hamburger meat as you can manage. The characters are about as shallow as a kiddie pool, the levels about as cliché as (ironically) any Hollywood zombie flick you've ever seen, and the plot is so thin that a tightrope walker would think warily before crossing it. And the zombies get awfully repetitive after the first hour, as no matter what sort of strategy you try to implement to your undead skirmishes, every battle will eventually degenerate to you mowing down anything that comes within your line of sight, or you running like a child who has just wet his trousers.
Don't misunderstand though, as Left 4 Dead is certainly fun. If you aren't looking for immersive story lines, and if you happen to like making hamburger meat out of the millions of aforementioned zombies, then this game is right up your alley. As much as I'd like to criticize Left 4 Dead for being shallow, it's one of the most action packed games involving zombies that's not in the horror genre. Furthermore, the game definitely feels like your living out the rise of the dead, and though the story lacks somewhat in the depth, the perception is spot on.
Left 4 Dead's big benefit is the co-op modes. If you've got 2-4 friends or an internet connection, you can team up and fight the zombies properly, with human wit (or stupidity, in the event you get gobbled up for breakfast) on your side. As a multiplayer game, you can't play something more exciting; the game offers plenty of chances to beg your friends for help before your character perishes, or yell angrily at your friends after the fact. And if you were feeling a bit hungry yourself, you could switch from the side of human survival to that of "mmm, brains," and take control of the zombified side of the conflict, attempting to chew your way through the main characters.
Okay, so maybe Left 4 Dead doesn't have the deepest plot. But if you're not looking for anything particularly engaging and enthralling, and simply want to unload as many bullets as possible into fast moving targets who are hungry for you, Left 4 Dead is a great game, especially if you have some friends to help you survive through the bullet riddled repetition.