Live together, die alone

Has Valve ever misfired on a game? We were used to the rigor mortis stricken shambling undead from Night of the Living Dead. But this isn’t your daddy’s zombie apocalypse. These infected are of the chase you down and tear you open like a bag of Doritos of the likes of 28 Days Later and Resident Evil movies.  As a foursome of survivors you engage in a running fire fight to safe house to safe house until rescues arrives.

There are hordes and hordes of zombie all orchestrated by the AI director. If your team is sucking, then it eases up on you. Owning, then it ratchets up the difficulty. It’s never the same game twice and there can be an ambush waiting around every corner, in every hole in the ground, crack in the wall, and duct in the ceiling. That type of unpredictability keeps the intensity at a level where you’re bladder will be at bursting point rather quickly.

For me, Verses mode is where it’s at. There your team alternates playing survivors and special infected with another online team. These special infected are weak, take eternities to re-spawn but have unique and deadly skills. There are really only two rules for success: stay together and communicate. It amazes me people go lone wolf and don’t talk to their team at all. An average team can easily take down a higher skilled but fractured team. When you prevent the survivors from making it to the next safe house, it is immensely satisfying and a thing of beauty. While if you are on the receiving end, expect much gnashing of teeth and shattering of controllers.

I have not played a game where enjoyment experience is so uneven. Either you’ll walk away feeling like you’ve had sex or you’ll want to go out and rob a liquor store. This game takes team work, skill and map knowledge. If you aren’t up for that, try slower zombies that may be more your speed- like go to a mall or watch Fox News.

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