what's better than this playing co-op games with your pals the thrill of getting my two very
legitimate friends together to play a game really strengthens our bonds of friendship some of the
best memories i've had are playing the original left 4 dead series like the time i was punched
up a building by a tank that was in 2008 a time of myspace secret shows the best episode of lost and
one of these two movies ruining my entire life guess which one valve release left 4 dead 2 a year
later which puts them at their strict two games per series limit but let three dead's absence
didn't stop countless others from attempting to fill the bill-sized hole in our hearts this year
alone we seen four announcements for games that clearly mimicked the left 4 dead vibe but can
they stack up to the original ain't seen anything like this before can these games replicate the
special enemies dynamic audio and the vengeful ai director that made a tank punch me off a building
left 4 dead is more than a horde shooter a big part of that is its enemies specifically the
special infected i'm kind of really sad that the smoker never got to vape it would have been dank
clouds all over levels you know anyway the game rewards players who work together as a team so
naturally the special infected are there to make life shitty for you in a fun way by separating
you from the rest of your group these enemies are constantly keeping you on your toes when you shoot
a boomer for example it releases zombie bile on everyone nearby like last call at santa con
that attracts the horde of zombies at which point the group will naturally attempt to assist their
vomit covered friends that's some forced teamwork santa claus similar games have tried to replicate
these special enemy types the gutter runner and vermintide 2 can pin players down and effectively
take them out of battle making them a lot like the hunter and left 4 dead 2 except you know a rat
in vermintide 2 the comforting sounds of ratmen are inescapable which highlights
another aspect of left 4 dead that often imitated but rarely duplicated the audio
good audio design is important in games like this because it builds tension
but it's also a critical way that players receive
information the last thing you want is a bunch of stuff clogging up your ui so left 4 dead
popularize a system where characters passively call out items or warn others of dangers nearby
it's why you see so many custom voice cues in left 4 dead alike
deep rock galactic as players explore procedurally generated caves with their dwarven miners the game
automatically calls out enemies or objectives with context-aware voice lines for example expressing
the player's frustration at molly's pathfinding i want to punch whoever designed this thing
left 4 dead also has the equivalent of a custom mixtape a dynamic soundtrack that adapts to
whatever's happening at the moment we wanted the music and left 4 dead to heighten the key
emotional elements that should be inherent in a horror game harsh piano strings probably mean
something terrible is about to happen like getting punched off a building by a tank this on-the-fly
orchestration is all handled by the game's audio director an ai system specifically designed to
pick out the best music at the best moment but it's not the only ai in the game the director is
probably the biggest innovation in left 4 dead it controls the spawning of the zombie horde along
with special infected strategically placing item drops and stronger weapons so you're not hopeless
but also not too well armed a character yelling pills here is a quiet thank you to the director
for saving your run but that's not how i felt when i played vermintide 2. right legit thought
the game hated me spawning too many of a specific ratman to ruin my time was the major reason for
me bouncing off the game but in left 4 dead every run of dead air manages to feel exciting
without feeling overwhelming that's because the ai director is taking in a ton of data about your
skill level your location and your stress level the stress level is how well you and your team
are working through the level do really well and the game will throw more enemies at you if your
team is constantly low on health it will give you more health packs to survive first aid kit here it
adapts to you not the other way around even after 13 years no other game has managed to replicate
that feeling as much as left 4 dead but maybe one of these games will left for alien siege for goo
left 40k dead and back for blood many of rainbow six's enemies have clearly taken notes from the
tank and the boomer the anna cruz's trailer shoves the cheeky dialogue right in your face is this a
disco in a way that feels somewhat familiar and back for blood is made by the same developers as
left 4 dead and looks to have a similar ai system time will tell if any of these left 4 dead likes
will capture the magic of the original until then i'll be playing shrek4dead if you hear all star
run!