No matter how many different variations on the theme developers or script-writers can dream up, nobody ever gets bored of zombies. There is so much scope in a tale of zombie survival, and so much fun to be had destroying the hapless undead as they slowly moan (or terrifyingly sprint, depending on your zombie title/flick of choice) their way round the place that new angles can always be found.
In fact, to coincide with Halloween this year, the Charlie Brooker-created Dead Set gave another fresh take on the zombie holocaust, whilst Valve’s new multiplayer FPS Left 4 Dead also aims to bring something new to what is now a familiar scenario.
As anyone who has seen Shaun of the Dead will know, having a posse of key anti-zombie personnel around you at all times is of critical importance if survival is to be on the cards. You can’t do it on your own, no matter what countless ‘one man against the world’ survival titles might have taught you.
Left 4 Dead acknowledges the debt that we all owe our fellow man if we are to get through what is clearly going to be a very bad day at the office when it arrives. Up to four players can get themselves down and dirty with the zombie nation here, with a heavy emphasis placed on teamwork in order to get through.
The game itself is centred around four distinct sections, each of which offers our band of intrepid survivors a chance to kick ass and take names in all manner of exotic locales. “Set in the immediate aftermath of a zombie apocalypse, L4D offers four expansive movie campaigns,” explains EA Partners marketing manager Guy Perkins. “Each challenges you and your fellow survivors to battle thousands of swarming zombies as you travel across the rooftops of an abandoned metropolis, through rural ghost towns and pitch-black forests.”
Keeping things interesting, the in-game AI dictates just how difficult things are going to get for players as they progress through each stage by monitoring how well they’re performing, with the intention being that the same scenario is never encountered twice. Repeated play is therefore in store for those of us – and there are many – who simply can’t get enough of shooting up those ugly-looking dead guys. “Left 4 Dead offers intense four-player co-op gameplay, whether with other human players or bots,” continues Perkins.
“The AI director continually monitors how you play and adjusts the scenario accordingly, sending the appropriate amount of enemies your way in any given situation depending on how well you are performing.
The director will also vary the location and number of weapon and health kit pick-up points. This means that although the levels never change, the game will never play the same.
“You can also play four versus four, with one team playing as the survivors and the other as the ‘boss infected’. At the end of each mission, the teams swap and play as the other side. There are four campaigns in co-op and two in versus mode. Zombies run very fast and they’re smart, offering a very different challenge to a traditionally slow, lumbering enemy. The survivors can carry guns, explosive devices and health kits and points can be earned as much from killing zombies as healing and protecting team mates.”
The much-vaunted multiplayer co-op looks to be a big selling point, aimed squarely at gamers who have felt let down by poor AI or ill conceived controls that haven’t allowed them to make the most of that all-important piece of cover. Getting the message out to players that Left 4 Dead is something worth getting excited about has led to Valve showing off its wares early. This strategy has paid off, with interest running high for the title.
“Anticipation is indeed high,” says Perkins. “Valve has made absolutely sure that the game has been in players’ hands for a long time now, probably the first time they have done this, to show how much fun L4D really is.”
Released to coincide with the tenth anniversary of Half-Life, EA is clearly attempting to place Left 4 Dead in the same league. “Valve has a great pedigree, with an incredibly high review score average across all of its previous titles,” says Perkins.
We thoroughly expect L4D will revolutionise multi-player co-op just as Counterstrike defined online deathmatch.”
EA has put together a suitably heavyweight marketing campaign to accompany Left 4 Dead, combining a long-running web presence with a large number of in-store campaigns. “We have a protracted and heavy online and print programme designed to hit core gamers with a real push on site skin takeovers,” says Perkins.
“We also have a high impact outdoor presence in high footfall areas In London such as Underground and train stations, and we are also working on a significant in-store campaign, and a demo will be available for PC and via Xbox Live marketplace on November 11th.”
Bringing a fresh slant to the genre, Left 4 Dead puts emphasis on multiplayer teamwork and intelligent AI – and has been designed to give players a bit more to get their teeth into than simply gunning down thousands of zombies. It certainly has plenty going for it to justify the purchase amongst other FPS titles at retail this Q4, and has character in spades, combining the key elements we all want from our zombie kill-a-thons.
Put simply, it’s got a quality storyline, intense atmospherics – and heaps of dirty, blood-loving enemies there for
the taking.
Advertisement
