Gone to Play Left4Dead

Last night Mitch and two of our friends Nikkon and SR initially planned to play Counter Strike, the old version, our version. After a quick rendezvous over pasta in our house, we rode SR's sleek black Mazda 3, which I'm growing to love, and went to Better Living to check out the gaming zones. Unfortunately, most guys had the same idea as ours and we're left with no vacant spots. With unwavering desire, we skipped Better Living and went immediately to BF Sucat, which is a good distance away. Upon cruising President's Avenue, we landed upon Bytehead cafe where all teeny bopper guys meet. Luckily they still have four slots.

Upon paying at the counter and logging in, I noticed that some of the groups there were playing Left4Dead, the newest and very popular online group game similar to that of Resident Evil. If you're a fan of RPG, killing zombies as the main task and solving mysteries at the side, then you'll love this one. It is exactly like that of Resident Evil, only that the graphics are so much better and the zombies nastier. What's also nice about this is, four people could actually work together as a team. Hey wait, since we were already four and we have heard great reviews, we decided to play this instead.

The four of us are already 'experts' in counter strike, but since adulthood consumed us, we haven't played online games since eternity. Left4dead is really something new that all of us could try. I mentioned to them that even my sister, the not-so-online-games girl, was instantly hooked with this particular game. She would play it from night till wee hours in the morning with her other friends online. My brother and I would just instantly hear her scream through the mike and figure out she is playing 'it.' This got my brother hooked as well.

The most recent games I've played are friendly ones like SIMS and Diner dash, which I've finished yesterday. A part of me doesn't miss the entire gore and action, but I must admit I got pretty excited with the whole gaming vibe last night. To work as a team in close proximity is fun. And since I've finished Resident Evil both on PS and on PC, how hard could this be, right? I have three expert counter strike people with me whose major chunk of past life involved playing games like this, so I didn't feel there's anything to worry about.

Until we started acting and shouting like we're in the game of course. People in the cafe must've thought we were a bunch of screaming sissies playing commandos. We kept on building up our team strategy out loud as if our lives depend on it. We kept of reprimanding our line and instilling the back-up scheme. With all that effort, we still didn't reach past the second stage until we decided to change starting points...and er...much worse, we couldn't reach the first stage of that starting point alive. It was insane. We already played for 2 hours and a half but our progress was super below average. What a shame. My sister would've laughed so hard at our status right now, and to think she is not technically a gamer.

Left4dead aside for the better graphics and character movements, has kick-ass zombies. The zombies vary in range and they come in hundreds. They attack hard and they run, which is a new thing. They also have different kinds of zombies with specialties like blob, smoker, hunter and the gigantic mean machine one. They attack from all sides and sometimes without warning. If a team mate goes down, another team mate could revive him or her by giving a life support kit or a minimum amount of energy just to get up and find a safehouse.

Also, there is no map, which is more real than those zombie games with a mission because in real life, we wouldn't really have a map now would we? We had to explore every niche and rooms to figure where we are going next. We don't know where the next safehouse is, where can we find extra ammo or another gun. We had to be vigilant with our surroundings and explore every possible storage area. If a team mate dies, he or she would automatically be revived in the middle of the game. Also, going to another level is automatic. If the team has reached a certain point, a safe room with supplies, the game records the end of that particular stage, but if not, it automatically brings you back from point 1, which is very frustrating.

The game is very entertaining as it is challenging. It forces the team to re-think their strategy and be vigilant with each other. This has not been supplied by any online zombie games I've played before. The graphics are way better and the zombies are far deadlier. They run, they attack in groups and they are one mean bunch of dead guys, not passive ones that attack you in slow motion. Left4dead slightly envisions a hopeless case of four guys, but with great team work and skill, the challenges could be surmounted and that is why I think the game is so popular.



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