Left 4 Dead

Four survivors battling through hordes of zombies, barely holding on by the skin of their teeth in an attempt to reach an evac point. That’s the basic summary of “Left 4 Dead,” but doesn’t even begin to describe the fun. There are several different gameplay modes, including single-player campaigns, two-player split-screen cooperative play, plaver-versus-player splitscreen play, and online play that pits special player-controlled zombies against the survivors. “Left 4 Dead” is fast action, adrenaline pumping, on-the-edge-of-your-seat gameplay through and through. At times players will be rushed by hundreds of zombies at once, and at other times they will be traveling through the dark hallways of abandoned buildings, hearing the soft crying of the “Witch” zombie and desperately trying not to startle it, for one attack from the Witch means instant incapacitation to anyone unfortunate enough to face its wrath. At other times, the mighty “Tank” zombie rushes the team, bashing away until the survivors have pumped enough lead into it to finish it off. Players must also keep an eye out for “Boomers” which explode upon being shot, and even worse, their puke attracts hordes of zombies to the survivors’ location, as well as “Hunters” who can leap insane distances in a single bound and once they pounce on a survivor, only a fellow survivor can save them from sure death. “Smokers” grab survivors with their tongues, pulling them away from the group and making them susceptible to a beat-down by the zombie horde.

Thankfully, there is a wide variety of weapons at the survivors’ disposal. From automatic shotguns to sniper rifles, there are plenty of guns to fit any player’s fighting style. Moltov-cocktails and Pipe-bombs make useful explosives, as the cocktail sends up a wall of flame and the Pipe-bomb beeps for a few seconds prior to exploding, attracting any zombies who hear it to pile on top of it.

Health packs are few and far between, and on harder difficulties players will find themselves having to decide whom amongst them to save. Pain-pills can be found every so often, but the temporary health boost they give wears off slowly.

At certain intervals along the way, players stop in “Safe-houses” which zombies cannot enter. Inside, players can restock on ammunition, switch weapons, and heal up with the med-packs that can be found there.

“Left 4 Dead” is a great game to play with a friend. Players will be watching each others’ backs and calling out for help all the way through each challenge.

Practicing TTFATF

I’ve been practicing Through the Fire and the Flames on Expert lately on GHIII on my X-Box 360. I’m still having alot of trouble getting the intro nailed down, my fingers just can’t seem to move fast enough. Once, I taped down the green button and made it through the intro only to fail 89% of the way through the song… <.< I know the tape is cheating but I’d like to be able to complete it at least once :P