For a few months, I got completely lost in Left 4 Dead versus mode. I mean completely lost. I was up until 4:00 AM playing the game, sleeping for a few hours, then going right back in for more. I got good. Really good. I had the maps memorized. I knew the perfect ambush spots. I could snipe a Smoker at 400 meters. I could kite Tanks. And I carried Gnome Chomsky all the way through that damn carnival more times than I can remember, helping other people gain that pesky achievement.
And that’s one of the reasons I loved L4D. The game was about sticking together, helping each other, and never leaving anyone behind. Ever.
One time, we were just a few hundred feet from the Safe House, each of us in the red, one of us seeing black and white, when our Nick got caught by a Smoker and downed. I managed to snipe the Smoker, but he was still down. One of us was incapacitated and the rest of us were in the Safe House. While the other players waited for him to die so the round could end, I healed up, grabbed the grenade launcher, a pipe bomb, an adrenaline shot and a health pack, and started for the door. Everyone—including our Nick—told me to stay inside. “Don’t you come out to get me johnjwick!” he shouted in my head set. “You stay the @#$% inside!”
I ran out. Hit the adrenaline. Rushed to our Nick and started picking him up. “GET THE @#$% BACK INSIDE THE SAFE HOUSE!” he shouted at me. But then, he was up. And I used the health pack to heal him. And we ran back to the Safe House. The whole way he was shouting “HOLY @#$%! HOLY @#$%!” And when we got back in the Safe House, he shouted, “YOU DO WHATEVER YOU WANT JOHNJWICK! YOU DO WHATEVER YOU WANT!”
It was one of those moments that the immediacy of video games provides. A great, epic, exciting moment. And the kind of moment that only Left 4 Dead could provide. At the time.
Since then, there have been a lot of 4 player co-op games that came close to replicating the L4D experience. Limited equipment, overwhelming odds, and situations where you can do nothing if nobody else helps you. You aren’t Master Chief. You aren’t a Vault Hunter. You’re just an ordinary Joe who needs other people to get through this horrific mess.
And then, there was no Left 4 Dead. The game died. I still played it from time to time, but the experience wasn’t the same. People didn’t work together. They all thought they were Spartans with Mjolnir armor, running ahead and getting killed. I lamented the end of a wonderful game. Because the game is so much different when you’re playing with others. Sure, you can run through the campaign by yourself, but it just isn’t the same.
And now here comes Back 4 Blood.
Thank you, Turtle Rock Studios. Thank you.
They’ve taken the basic concept of L4D and added some beautiful innovations while keeping everything that makes the game work in the first place.
There’s four of you. That’s it. Your goal is to get from Point A to Point B. And there are a metric @#$%ton of infected (“ridden”) in your way. You’re low on ammo, low on supplies, and you just have to run. Your backpack can only fit a few items. And the choices you make have a profound impact on what you can do during the level.
There are zombies—sorry. Ridden. There are ridden who can immobilize you. If someone else doesn’t help you, you’re screwed. They have to stop whatever they’re doing and spend time holding a button down (different button depending on your system) to free you. If they don’t, you get left behind.
If all that sounds like Left 4 Dead, you’d be correct in that assessment. It is exactly like L4D. The four characters feel like real people. Their banter, dialogue and monologues make me laugh. The gallows humor hits me just right. And there are moments when the exact opposite happens.
My favorite character right now is “Mom.” That’s her name. That’s what everyone calls her. (Reminds me of my Soccer Mom script from The Shotgun Diaries and I wonder if there was some inspiration there. I hope so. I hope I was a small part of the inspiration for a character as cool as Mom.) I’m playing through the solo campaign with her, and so far, she has not let me down. I adore her.
The game is performing magic: making me care about people who do not exist.
As for the changes and additions: there are a whole bunch of new special inf—I mean ridden. The Exploder feels like the Bloater and the Spitter merged into one awful, gross mess. (Also, all the survivors shout “‘ploder!” when he comes by, which sounds like… yeah, you get the point.) The Tallboy feels like someone looked at the Charger and said, “We can make that better.” You can sneak by Snitchers (who are Screamers from State of Decay who were actually originally in L4D, but never made it out of the development phase), and a whole host of really creepy, awful others waiting for you and me.
I haven’t run into a Witch yet. I’ve heard there’s something called “The Hag,” but I don’t want to look up spoilers. I want to be surprised as I go.
Having played through half the solo campaign, I can’t think of anything I don’t like about the choices the designers made for mechanics. I like the new commerce system they have going on for multiple reasons. First, it provides more choices for players while making those choices significant. You use “coppers” to buy equipment, which means you have to be careful about what you choose. Also, putting all the medical equipment—bandages, first aid kits, and pain meds—in the same slot means you have to consider what you’re carrying.
Also, the way you gain coppers is by exploring the map. To get them, you have to run down dead ends, open security doors, and do other stupid things you would never do in Left 4 Dead. You need coppers for equipment, and to get coppers, you can’t just race through the map from Safe House to Safe House. You actually have to explore. You could just race through at top speed, ignoring coppers, but if you do, you slowly run out of options as you get closer to the end of the campaign. Smart. Very smart.
Right now, I love Back 4 Blood. I’ve only played a few hours, but the few hours I have played have been delightful. I’m smiling, laughing, and catching my breath.
After I’ve learned the game a little more, I’ll be jumping into versus mode.
And then, my life will be over.
See you at 4:00 AM!