Valve has been putting much of their energy into the upcoming co-op survival horror shooter Left 4 Dead, and the much anticipated FPS will be launching in four days.  Previously, only those who preordered the game through Steam could access the demo, but that recently changed when Valve made it available for public download. 

I don’t know how many of you have tried the demo or even plan to get L4D, but if you said “no” to either of those, then maybe I can convince you otherwise.  Despite what I observed at E3, I haven’t been particular excited for L4D with other games already cluttering my November list.  After playing the demo with a few friends, however, I was immediately convinced that Valve’s next sure-hit was going on my list.

For those who have no idea what Left 4 Dead is about, players essentially pick from four Survivors of a recent zombie infestation.  As a Survivor, you and your mates will need to fight off droves of Infected while making your way to safe rooms that also serve as a break between each stage.  The demo lets you play through three stages as the Survivors, though the actual game will allow players to be Infected and experiment with the different zombie classes in versus mode.

The four main characters of Left 4 Dead make quite an impression in the game's opening cinematic:

Bill is the Green Beret Vietnam vet, tailed by Francis, the tattooed biker.  The hysterical business man is IT Junior Systems Analyst Louis, and the young woman is Zoey, a college student with a thing for zombie flicks.  So the cast could be a little more original, but how creative can you get with a zombie survival shooter?  Valve came up with some colorful personalities, and I find Louis particularly endearing.  All four characters can use the same weapons too, so the individual Survivors don't really have any advantages nor disadvantages over each other.

Back to the demo...

The controls are, as expected, smooth and easy to grasp.  There's not much to say about the usual ASWD movement, scrolling mouse button to go through weapons, and click-to-use or shoot except that they work.

Right now, you can only access online co-op or single player campaign.  Because of the biggest draws to Left 4 Dead is its co-op gameplay, I opted to test that out.  If there aren't enough players at the start of the game, available characters will be controlled by AI.  You'll get two sets of firearms, explosives, first aid kits and other additional items.  The kits can be used to heal the player or teammates, and I highly recommend healing each other because an extra hand is pretty good to have around while you're being swarmed by various Infected.

Players may find themselves pinned or caught by zombies relatively frequently, and when this occurs, it's up to the remaining players to free him or her before reviving the downed member as quickly as possible.  If you haven't already figured it out, L4D provides pretty harsh lessons on the importance of teamwork.  If you wait to long, you're team is down one member, which can prove to be a debilitating handicap unless you manage to reach a safe room where dead players respawn and wait to be let back into the game.

It all sounds simple in theory, but players can't simply forget about their own safety to help someone else.  There's pushback to deal with if too many zombies are still up while you try to revive someone (a meter pops up when you're assisting an incapacitated mate).  Then there's the obvious idea that you're no good to anyone dead.  Blindfire won't work too well in a lot of situations either because guess what?  That's right: friendly fire!

So as you're unloading into a swarm of Infected, if someone hops in front of you, they're going to take a hit.  Don't think you can get away with doing it on purpose either because the game will inform you of who just shot who.  Sometimes when you're trying to help a teammate, you might even accidently plug 'em a couple times.  Just try not to make a habit of it.

A few more pointers.  Infected are attracted to light and loud noises, meaning your flashlight can sometimes become a liability.  Firing at cars could set off car alarms.  Get the picture?  Left 4 Dead isn't for gamers who fancy themselves lone wolves (who're you trying to impress anyway, emo kid?), even though there is single player mode available.  For me, the co-op aspect holds the greatest appeal and could teach all gamers a valuable lesson.  For some, that lesson may be humility, especially when they realize that this one fight you just can't win yourself.