I joined a match. I got pounced by a hunter. My team ran away. Never has a game been more appropriately named. 10/10 would die alone again.

The story follows four pill addicts hallucinating the zombie apocalypse as they stumble around shooting people.

One of my favourite games ever. You and three friends will battles against hordes of 'infected' or perhaps become the vanguard of those infected to wreak terror and death on survivors as the 'sepcial infected'. This game prioritizes team work over twitch skills and is a great game for people who like to play with a dedicated group of friends.

I have not played for a few years and when I left the game was more geared for hard core players when compared to it's successor, Left 4 Dead 2. From a cursory look this still seems to be true. A great game, but for beginners I might actually suggest playing Left 4 Dead 2 first, and then perhaps trying the first game once you are a little more skilled. Getting quad capped by people will 5000 hours in game might not be your best first expereince of the game :)

Left 4 Dead, a series I simply cannot get enough of.
Played this game to Death on the Xbox 360 before I made the switch to PC and added an additional 880 hours into the game.
This review is extremely late, but I felt like it's the least I could do for one of the games I've enjoyed most.
Please keep in mind that this review is based off the memories I have of this game and how it was when the game was still alive, there will be an additional botch of text at the bottom regarding the current status of the game.


Developed by Turtle Rock Studios and Valve itself, Left 4 Dead 1 was one of the first shooters to combine Cooperative gameplay with Survival First Person Shooter gameplay. No longer could you "win" the game by only caring about yourself. You need your teammates and your teammates need you.

Pros
● Unique Cooperative Gameplay in every Gamemode! (Campaign, Versus, Survival)
● The Lobby/Drop-in system works flawlessy allowing players to effortlessly finding a game.
● Free DLC.
● Make your own Maps!
● Low PC Specs required.
● Get to play as Special Infected! (Yeah.. those Zombies..!) in Versus mode.
● Scoring System in Versus allows for both Teams to make an insane comeback!
● Very Easy to setup your own Dedicated Server.

Cons
● Players have to download Maps manually, they are unable to download from the Server they are joining.
● No Workshop.
● The Game is unpolished in regards to exploits and bugs, Valve has never responded to countless reports and complaints.
● No Matchmaking, you're very likely to end up with very unbalanced teams when joining Versus games.
● Ragequitting is not punished at all.


The Community for Left 4 Dead is very comparable to Left 4 Dead 2, in Public Games you can expect to be insulted and possibly even votekicked if you're underperforming in the eyes of your teammates.
There however used to be a Competitive Scene, this scene was much better in terms of actually being able to finish your games as well as making buddies. Unfortunately, it has died a long time ago.


As of this post, Left 4 Dead has an 30-Day Average of 385 Players Worldwide.
You are very unlikely to find Games going on, and if you do happen to find some, they're likely going to be unenjoyable.

The only way you're going to really enjoy this game, is if you find a couple of likeminded buddies and get Campaign + Survival going. Pushing your way through Expert mode will always remain fun. :)
If you're feeling lucky and you're not prone to ragequitting or shouting accusations (Trust me, nobody cheats in Left 4 Dead anymore) you can give Versus a go. 4 Players is already half of what you need!


Left 4 Dead currently costs $20, just like Left 4 Dead 2. They however have a much different feel to the game and I'd still buy both versions.
I recommend adding it to your wishlist until it gets on Sale though. ;)

This game is balanced so that teams pretty much *have to* work together to survive. Players who run ahead are typically targeted by the game, and the game is harder with few players (so it's important that you *AND* your teammates survive!). Therefore this game--in my many years of experience with it AND in comparison to my many years of Counter Strike experience--tends to have a friendlier and more team-oriented group of players to interact with. I appreciate the game dynamics in L4D very, very much.

Simply one of the best games of the past 10 years for fun and value for money, If you like Zombies and shooting them with mates then this is for you as well as being a real challenge at time (settings dependent).

Play either Solo or as a 4 person team as well as a versus mode plus there are still server groups with upto 10 players coop and 8v8 versus to extend the playability even more.

It's a game about three grown men who need to be carried like Scooby-Doo past hordes of vampires by a teenage girl.

Hunter is ALWAYS on zoey.

The zombie apocalypse is here and that's the entire story you need to know in this cooperative first-person shooter and all the story you're ever told. You play as 1 of 4 survivors (Zoey the college student, Bill the war veteran, Francis the biker, Louis the IT guy). The character doesn't seem to matter, it's just a different voice and skin. They will talk to alert you of things like health, weapons, reloading and where you should go next. Left 4 Dead is geared toward online multiplayer, but you can play solo through the game where your computer partners are competent enough, but need to be guided by you. Instead of online multiplayer where the other players seem to just run right through each level.

The controls are simple, point and click to shoot like any first person shooter, right mouse button is for melee for when foes swarm around you and they will. You have a long range weapon (shotguns, oozies, assault rifles and so on), a pistol (or 2) with limitless ammo, a medipack to restore your health or someone else's, pain pills that will temporarily give you a health boost and finally an explosive thrown weapon like a flaming cocktail or pipe bomb. You can jump or crouch for better weapon accuracy and that's it. The combat feels very limited because of this.

The big drawing point to the game is some sort of smart engine called the director that will generate random zombies to come at you, so no play through is the same twice. Such as a zombie that was at point A of your first play through might be a wall of zombies or no zombies, or a female zombie in your next play through. These zombies will race toward you after a few moments of shuffling their feet that might result in your terror, but an entire game of zombies running to you gets old very quickly. Zombies can climb up areas, go under truck trailers and the animations are good in general. Weapons and ammo scattered outside of safe rooms will not be in the same place twice.

The game is broken into campaigns and levels that you can access any one at any time. The campaigns are brief and really take you out of the action when you need to load a new campaign after completing one. The levels have good atmosphere, dark, spooky, but it gets old very quickly. Most every level feels the same with generic buildings, generic exteriors, generic trucks.

Between the levels are safe rooms. Leave a safe room and make it to the next safe room to cap off the level. Then at the end of the level, you see your score and how you did against the other players. Who killed the most zombies, who took the most damage. Stuff like that.

To be honest it's not that good. It feels very one dimensional. Within the first few levels, you've seen all the game has to offer. You will quickly see all of its small variety of enemies zombies run straight at you, witches that stay huddled until you put a light on them, stalkers pounce on you until you are saved, smokers use a tongue to strangle you until you are saved and explode smoke, exploders that vomit on you and tanks that can throw you and take a giant amount of punishment. You will really need to rely on others for survival. The computer players will be very willing to help you, but the players in multiplayer may not be as willing or can't when you've been left behind or gone ahead.

That's it. The game isn't very long and for a game that touts its random enemy generator, it doesn't make me want to replay the game again and again. Combat is simple, enemy variety is lacking, but the game plays very smooth. Essentially left for dead is about mowing down tons of zombies and if that's your thing, this is the game for you. If you need puzzles in your FPS or weapon depth, it's not for you.

nice game ................no bore\

This is one of the best zombie games that I have ever played and it will always be the game I go to if I want to kill some zombies. Sure the AI is stupid but that just adds to the fun of Expert mode, especially when playing with friends to try to get to that last campaign done on Expert or get that one annoying achievement that has annoyed you for ages.

Long story short it is one of the funnest games I've played and I will always come back to play it.

Saved my life in 2008 as a depressive self loathing teenager who listened to Nirvana on loop.

10/10 would play again.

The only reason I am not recommending this game is simply because everything in the first game is now in Left 4 Dead 2. (all the maps, characters, etc. were brought over to Left 4 Dead 2)

Save yourself some money and buy Left 4 Dead 2 and get both games for the price of 1.

LIterally, you get the L4D1 game with the L4D2 Gameplay, Its so much better.

When I first got my PC in 2008 *The day I started playing video games* Left 4 Dead was probably the third game I had in my library, I remember playing this game all the time with my brother and dad. We were obsessed with this game back then, it was the best experience for us. I love the characters, guns, zombies oh yeah and especially the gore.

Me, my dad and my brother loved to play zombie apocalypse games, this was probably our first favorite zombie game that we first started playing together as a team. I laughed when my dad thought the witch one of the special infected was like the most overpowered zombie in the game, when my dad was busy with work the day me and my brother started testing more maps out in the game we wanted to try see if the witch is invincible, turns out she died, its the day I first crowned her with an autoshotgun.

Best time of life, me, my brother and my dad played this game for like 3 years none-stop. It was a very addictive game for us it was so fun for us. A few weeks after me, my brother and my dad got use to the game, I started doing research, found some cheat codes thats when I started cheating by testing out some cheat codes thats when I showed my brother and my dad about the cheat codes then we started using cheats after we finished every single map which was like throughout 2008.

This game is very impressive, I miss the old times when I use to play with my brother and dad.

100/10 gg, sweetest memory I had in 2008 with my dad and brother. ♥

Played this for a few moths.
Enjoyed almost every minute of it.

Single player is fun.

Co-op is more fun.

Versus is the best.
Teamplay is the most important thing in versus mode.
Just watch some competitive matches on youtube....

Very good FPS game.
The only drawback is that a match can take a long time to complete.

Review by: DeliciousHotSchmoes

-Release date: October 17, 2008
-Genre: First-person shooter, survival horror
-Developers: Valve Corporation
-Platforms: PC, OS X, Xbox 360


Left 4 Dead is a co-op, first-person shooter video game, with survival horror elements thrown into the mix. Just like Castle Crashers, this game is for that special friendship group, composed of four friends. With this game, you will find a bounty of endless fun, especially when setting the game's difficulty to an all-time high, as it really gives you that experience of being an endangered species, with the more stronger zombies wanting you dead, thus extinct. From my point of view, you can already tell I hold this game in high regard. Probably due to the fact it is developed by Valve.

The story takes place in an unamed location, within Pennsylvania. A highly contagious virus known as th ''Green Flu'' swarms the state, causing heavy mutation to human body cells and brain functions, resulting in the loss of humanity, meaning yes, the birth of zombies.

Two weeks after the infectious outbreak, four survivors, William ''Bill'' Overbeck, a bold, Vietnam veteran; Zoey, a sassy college student; Louis, an optimistic IT technician, and Francis, an aggressive outlaw biker, the four heroes of this game make their way through perilous cities, discovering along the way that the virus is causing more dangerous mutations. On a side note, the story of this game is split into campaigns, going in chronological order from top to bottom and progressively, the story is carried out on to the games sequel.

The player takes control of one of the four survivors; only if human players are not involved, thus the survivors are controlled by the CPU. The main objection of the game is to reach the safehouse after each level of the campaign.

Beware to watch out for the special infected. These types of zombies are the strongest of the common infected and if you get incapitated by one, you won't be able to shake them off, but unless one of your fellow survivors lends a helping hand and kills the attacking zombie. So, this just goes to show that teamwork in this game is the key of getting farther and staying progressively stable to continue playing.

Guns and other types of defense and weaponry, (in the shapes of molotovs and first-aid kits) are scattered among the map, usually on different occasions. This mainly happens after holding off an entire zombie horde, where they break through from left, right and centre. All of these weapons that you find are frequently random, but you can stick to the weapon you like the most. Just make sure to search for ammo at a seldom pace, especially if you're playing on a much higher difficulty. When outnumbered, just remember to always keep your health up, along with your teammates, as every chip of HP is precious into reaching the end of your goals.

This game is simply fantastic, but is usually overshadowed by its sequel, Left 4 Dead 2; possibly due to the inclusion of all campaigns found in this one and carried out in its said sequel. The one thing I personally prefer from this game is the feel of the slightly tighter controls it has when compared to Left 4 Dead 2. I would say this one is for the competitive players and the sequel is for the casual players. Considering you could just mess around, with the Shrek mod and all, and don't tell me you bloody haven't. It's a lot of fun and of course, the modding community adds to Left 4 Dead 2's advantage, much to this games' disadvantage.

In closing, I definitely recommend this game to all who are fans of survival horror video games and those itching to test their own determination and teamwork with one another. If you have have the sequel, I would still recommend getting this first game, just for its originality and or the fact you can add it to your godly Valve collection.

My personal favorite game.

It's absolutely fun when you play with friends. Even if you don't have friends to play with, it's very easy to make a friend on Left 4 Dead by just being nice/using teamwork, that's all. Teamwork is key. Even when you join a random game on your own, people will still use teamwork. Just don't rush; you WILL die. A Smoker will lick your *ss. You have to stick with your team! That's what I like so much about this game. It never gets boring aswell because of the AI Director spawing everything on different places. The characters are perfect. I like them all, but my favorite is Louis. Animations are smooth unlike in L4D2 whereas it is choppy. No utterly stupid infected like some monkey riding your back b*llsh*t. NO! Left 4 Dead 2 is a whole other dimension. Don't you dare think the 2 games are completely the same.

Left 4 Dead - 10/10
Left 4 Dead 2 - 8/10 (Mods are fun though)

(I accidentally deleted my review so I'm writing another one. >.<) Very fun game to play when you have friends to play it with. :D It can be pretty addicting too. The # of hrs I have in this game tells it all...

Good game that you can play with friends... or just alone :)
5/5!
(Better than L4D2)

10/10