Left 4 Dead is a game that puts you and 3 other survivors of a viral infection against thousands of some not so fortunate humans. Based on the small story you get, it appears that a virus broke out that turns people into mindless “28 Days Later” or even “Will Smith I Am Legend” style zombies. Some are immune…you are one of them.
30/50 stands for it was only worth $30 of the $50 that I paid for it. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the game. The campaigns and the multiplayer are fun…lots of fun actually. The game is clean and polished. I wasn’t able spot a bug. Valve really makes you work together on this one. Going off alone will get you and the other survivors killed. The director is a nice touch. With the exception of a few places in each campaign, the director makes it so that you don’t have the same experience twice. It always leaves you guessing, you’ll never know when tank or a hunter will pop out of no where. I had a good time playing it, and will probably play it some more to get the achievements.
So why do I say its only worth about $30 then? Well, I bought the game 12/25, its now 12/28 and I have finished all of the campaign and have over 50% of the achivements. The game doesn’t really give you a story to go with it so there is nothing compelling there. Its pretty much a NPC fragfest. A glorified zombie mod. TF2 cost $30 standalone, but in my opinion is worth more than that. While this game has multiplayer, it doesn’t have the replayability that TF2 or other games have. After a while, you will get tired of killing zombies over and over again. Yes, valve will likely release new campaigns over time, but the game is pretty shallow in terms of gameplay and story, so its pretty much the same thing in a different wrapper. I’m not saying the game isn’t worth buying, it is fun…but it is short fun.
