Left 4 Dead Preview

We reckon this could be the co-op game of the year

You're the last man standing. The old military dude never made it out of the office building - there were simply too many zombies. You saw him go down in a crowd of furious, snarling corpses; you fought your way to him, but he was already gone. Then Louis the businessman got his skull caved in while saving Zoey from that enormous, brute-like creature - and then the poor girl was attacked by that thing with the frog-like tongue; you'll never forget her terrified screeching as she was dragged away into the dark. And now it's your turn. You're low on shotgun shells, you're bleeding and you used your last medikit ages ago. You can hear the Infected coming for you. You are going to die...

There are lots of things to be excited about when it comes to Left 4 Dead. There's the über-cool B-movie concept, the bloody combat against a near-endless stream of zombies, and the ability to play alongside up to three of your mates. Then there's The Director - the AI force that mixes the level as you go along, ensuring that you'll never have the same experience twice. But after a drawn-out, flesh-munching morning with the game, we can now suggest that its strongest feature is none of these things. Or to be more precise, it's all of them. You see, Left 4 Dead's biggest success is that it totally sucks you in - so much so that you occasionally forget that you're playing a game at all. And when the game in question is one that drops you into the centre of a zombie-infested meltdown, this makes for quite an experience.

On the surface, Left 4 Dead is just another FPS: movement is mapped to the WASD keys (we were testing the PC build), the left mouse button fires your weapon and the right triggers a melee attack. The mouse wheel cycles through you inventory, and E acts as a single all-purpose button for interacting with objects. So far, so generic - but what differentiates this game is the way it plays. Most shooters start out by chucking a few basic enemies at you, before slowly increasing the volume and strength of the opposition - as well as the power of your own arsenal. In Left 4 Dead, you'll find things get pretty hairy right from the off. Your main threat will come from the zombie hordes: they're not that dangerous as individuals, but their sheer number and speed makes them constantly tricky to deal with - and they seem to get everywhere. Even when you're in a hard-to-reach spot, like the roof of a building, they'll still find a way to get at you. Outside of the safe houses, which act as checkpoints throughout each level, you'll never have a moment to relax. The Director is keeping an eye on things, and he's more than happy to send a nasty surprise your way if he thinks you're doing too well.

Aside from a sudden rush of living dead, these surprises are likely to take one of five nasty forms. First we have the Hunter, a sneaky, agile chap who has a pounce attack that renders you totally helpless until one of your friends helps you out. The Smoker uses his elongated tongue to pull you into a corner where you can be safely eaten. His attacks are hard to see coming, and if you're unlucky you'll be dragged far away from your friends before anyone notices. The Tank and the Witch both deal out masses of melee damage; the first is an enormous bullet sponge who takes ages to kill, while the latter is arguably the creepiest enemy in the game - a wailing, taloned woman who can murder you in seconds. When you first meet this harpy, she'll be sitting by herself, crying. You can try to sneak past her, but if you mess up you'll instantly regret it. Finally we have the Boomer, a huge, fat zombie who vomits on survivors. This isn't just unpleasant - it blinds you and makes you attract zombies like Emo kids to a mascara sale.

Danger is only ever a few moments away

In any situation involving these monsters, you'll have to work together as a team. Just as with any self-respecting horror film, anyone who runs off by themselves will get killed swiftly. You can only hold one spare medikit at a time, and though you'll be sorely tempted to hang on to it for yourself at first, you'll soon find that you'll do better to patch up the team mate who's using his intestines to write his name on the wall. Sooner or later, you're going to get grabbed by something - and when that happens, you'll want someone to be looking out for you. When an enemy knocks you down, you'll be incapacitated but still able to fire your pistol. OK, so you're in big trouble if no-one gets to you fast - but at least you'll be able to keep fighting to the bitter end. During our play test we found that this ability frequently led to some really cool moments. At one point we were floored while battling a Tank that was attacking our friend; between us we managed to drop the beast with our pitiful side arms, but we then had to cover each other until a third team-mate could come to our rescue. It was a tense moment, and one that further drew us into the whole experience.

Teamwork also plays a role when it comes to choosing your weapon. Each of the game's four scenarios is broken up into several sections, separated by safe houses that allow you to switch weapons and pick up supplies. The first couple of these will limit you to either an Uzi or a shotgun, but later on in the level you'll be able to pick from an M-16, a combat shotgun or a scoped hunting rifle. Most people will head straight for the machine gun - a fair enough move, given that it's a good all-round killer. However, if you and your team-mates build up a decent way of working together, you'll be able to make decent use of the shotgun - a weapon that packs a hefty punch, but that takes a fair while to reload. On a similar note, we were initially sceptical of the rifle - sniping at a crowd of 20 zombies seems like suicide - but after a while we realised that it's probably the pro's choice: it offers great stopping power and the ability to fire precise shots over a distance - but it has to be used around people you trust. If your teamwork is good, you'll be an invaluable part of the survival machine; get it wrong, and you'll be little more than zombie chow.