Left 4 Dead is a Shooting game available on the 360. It can be played in Competitive Cooperative Firstperson modes.

Left 4 Dead is a Shooting game. Shooting games present a world in which the character must shoot their way out of dangerous situations. They provide the player with an array of weapons tailored to specific tasks. This unavoidably involves a combination of fisticuffs and gun based fighting that dictates the violent nature of these experiences. Beneath this harsh exterior though is often an intricate tactile game - and this is usually what drives the player.

Left 4 Dead can be played in a Competitive mode. Competitive Multiplayer games provide experiences where players compete against each other and the computer. Obviously lending itself to sports and team games, these competitive engagements have also dominated the shooting and fighting genres because of the direct combat and expertise involved in each. Although these games were originally played in a split screen style, more recently they are played online via services such as PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and the Nintendo Wireless Connection.

Left 4 Dead can be played in a Cooperative mode. Cooperative Multiplayer games provide an experience that is played symaltaneously by multiple players. Unlike the simple arena competitive multiplayer style games where players try to kill the most enemies, true co-operative games are designed to take a group of players through a campaign experience together. This will involve sections where players have to work together to proceed - either from the sheer difficulty as in Halo 3 on 360 or by the design of levels such as LittleBigPlanet on PS3.

Left 4 Dead can be played in a Firstperson mode. First Person games view the world from the eyes of the in-game character. You don't see the character themselves apart from their hands, gun or possibly feet as in Mirror's Edge. Because of the imediacy of the experience and sheer volume of visual information the player is offered First Person games lend themselves to the shooting genre. The FPS view enables players to immerse themselves in the experience and react quicker to events in the game. Other games have used a first person view to deliver an unusual perspective on an old genre - Mirror's Edge for example delivers a Platforming genre through a First Person view.

News

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Reviews

Multiplayer Gamer review Thu, 20 May 2010

Left 4 Dead works exclusively as a multiplayer game. But unlike other team based games, it's flexibility rather preparation that makes the difference here. Because of that, this is an entirely unique multiplayer experience.

Left 4 Dead's zombies, despite their tendency to consume the flesh of the living, aren't terrible people. They aren't particularly rude, they're unlikely to bitch about their best friends behind their backs, and they don't screw over teammates purely for the sake of achievements. I'm willing to bet that the virtues of the undead are considerably greater than those of the living. Flesh eating aside, of course.
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Story Gamer review Thu, 18 Feb 2010

Left 4 Dead 2 for 360 and PC outdoes even its feted (fetid?) predecessor. But it takes the player to unearth the real story on offer here. Not the thin story of the main game, but the haphazard camaraderie that arises as you play with friends.

Left 4 Dead 2 hits the sweaty, sunny southern USA with new characters, more monsters, and even bigger and better action set pieces. Best of all, it provides more of what the first game did best: tense, exciting scenarios as players team up to fight off hoards of special and not-so-special undead.
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Frugal Gamer review Thu, 05 Nov 2009

The sequel to last year's well reviewed first-person zombie-killing shooter makes a dramatic return in Left 4 Dead 2 with a whole host of new campaigns, enemies and survivors. Left 4 Dead 2 is based entirely in the Deep South of the States, you'll be fighting off the hordes of infected in the streets of New Orleans and getting to grips with the new melee weapons - which finally include the long-awaited chainsaw. With more co-operative action and a heightened sense of atmosphere brought about by the new AI Director 2.0, Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox360 and PC is the ultimate zombie video game of this generation.

With only a year since the first Left 4 Dead it would be easy to be swept along with the vocal cynicism about how much of a sequel Left 4 Dead 2 really is. Even a quick look at the game shows that it's a superior product to last year's effort.
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