Game Theory: A Stunning Revelation.

I don’t like Left 4 Dead. There, I said it. For the 2 of you reading this blog, Left 4 Dead is a game made by my favourite video game developer, Valve, which revolves around you and 3 other people, be it your friends, complete strangers, or bots, getting from point A to point B. Luckily for your testosterone filled hormones, there are x amount of zombies in between point A and B, along with y amounts of “special” zombies, each with their own unique ability, that also are controlled by either bots or humans. “Hold on,”, you may find yourself asking me. “Aren’t you basically describing about 80% games in existence”. Well, if you could let me finish, the things that separate L4D from the >9000 zombie games out there are the:

• Heavy co-operative play designed levels, that require you and the 3 other survivors to cooperate as a team
• The AI “Director”, that decides where and where hordes of zombies spawn

• The fact that it’s made by Valve.

Everyone seems to love L4D. I can understand why. Who wouldn’t like shoving hot, hot lead up a zombie’s face with 3 of their best friends? But to me it just kinda seems repetitive. To help me with explaining why I think it’s repetitive, I’ll compare it to another loved Valve game of mine, Team Fortress 2, which I've managed to spend over 200 hours on.

Team Fortress 2 is comparable to a game of chess. Each team starts of with an equal amount of players, and each time must simply complete the objective to win. There is a numerous amountsof objectives, including Capture the Control Point, Capture the Intel (Flag), Capture the Control Point While At the Same Time Defending Yours, Kill the Other Team or Capture the Point, or Capture the Control Point by Push an Explosives-Filled Cart Along A Track That Unorthodoxly Leads To a Hole Full Of Oil Drums and Other Explosive Properties That Just Happens to be Right In Front of The Enemy Base.

Aside from Arena mode (Kill the Other Team or Capture the Point), the way you get to completing the objective in TF2 attributes to it’s addictive nature. The unpredictability of what classes your opponents have chosen, Sentry placement, etc which forces you to alter your tactics accordingly makes sure that no two games are the same.

Left 4 Dead, on the other hand, has fairly linear level design, unlike TF2's open levels with multiple pathways.An example of a gameplan in TF2 is Capture Capture Point A first while a Scout keeps people at Capture Point B busy, and finally capture Point C while the on the strong momentum. Going to Point A to Point B while shooting x amount of zombies is all L4D has to offer on all levels. It’s far too repetitive. Sure, the special infected and the Director try their best to catch you off guard, but they ultimately fall flat in offering the same amount of unpredictability in TF2.

If only there was some combination between the two...

...excuse me while I clean up the mess I just made.

There are a lot of other gripes I have with the game, but that’s for another time for another article.

And yes, I’m aware of L4D2. And Survival Mode, which I'll cover soon.

I don't know who made the Team 4Tress pic, so if anyone wants to claim ownership they can.