Left 4 Dead: Demo Impression Part 1

The Left 4 Dead demo was recently released on XBL and I got a chance to play the online component. An infection has transformed the city's population into raving hordes of zombies. It's up to you and 3 other survivors (AI driven or played by others) to fight your way out of the city. Some of it sounds like you've played it already in Resident Evil a few times before. Only this time, it's an FPS and these zombies aren't some sluggish pushovers you've fought again and again.

After joining a quickmatch lobby I was shortly joined by 3 other players and the game booted up, a quick loading screen showing me the campaign level and the players adorning a mock-movie poster. After loading up, we're on a building rooftop and after stocking up on ammunition and healthpacks, we head down into the infested apartment building. The zombies just stood around for a second though, seemingly unaware of our existence. After seeing the flash of our lights though, they spring into action and we're immediately swarmed. Racing down the stairs and putting zombie after zombie down, we break out into an alley that leads to the abandoned streets outside. Bumping into cars sets off the alarms though, attracting another massive horde to engage us. We fled into a nearby building which leads down to a safehouse where we restock on supplies before the game loads up the next act of the demo.

After the loading screen which showed us our stats in the previous level, we're now leaving the safehouse to gain access to an underground subway system. Here, we hear the moaning and crying of a distant woman. Only, we're getting closer and closer to it. Here we meet the witch, a special type of zombie that, once startled, will chase you down with an alarming speed. One of our guys is downed, and we're left to defend against another horde of zombie, accompanied by two other new types of zombies, the hunter and the boomer. The hunter quickly jumps atop your character, unleashing a quick flurry of brutal attacks until someone is able to shoot him off of you. The boomer spits vomit out at you, blurring your vision and effectively drawing all nearby zombies to you. Despite the odds, we're able to put them all down and help our downed friend up before he bleeds to death. However, just when we think that was it and we are granted a moment's reprieve, a huge tongue whips out and drags away one of our teammates. This zombie is called the smoker, and there is little you can do but be dragged away helplessly when he gets his tongue around you. Unable to act quick enough, our teammate was lost to us. We continue our trek through the broken down subway cars and come across a locked closet. Opening it up, we find another survivor locked inside and eager to help us escape. (This is sort of like respawning in the world of Left 4 Dead) Back at full capacity, we head out of the subway system into a huge room with an automatic door that, once opened would lead us to the next safe house. This is no simple task though, as we are soon greeted once again by another horde of zombies as soon as we hit the button to raise the door up, and this time they're lead by a muscular, super zombie dubbed the Tank. Flailing his huge arms through friend and foe alike, this zombie is not only fast but strong, and could send you flying against a wall with a single swing of his arms! Dodging zombies and the Tank together is nearly impossible, but we somehow make it through and the door is opened before us. We flee the remaining zombies and into the final safehouse of the demo.