I’ve never played the first Left 4 Dead (well, there was this one time two weeks ago for like, half an hour at a friend’s house), so I wasn’t sure what to expect other than killing lots of zombies infected humans, which I’m a fan of. That, and killing zombies, I guess.

So I loaded the demo up, and wow. I am really impressed. A lot of chatter on the Steam forums are saying that it’s nothing like the original, and it’s all mindless shooting rather than teamwork (nobody helped me up until I typed in chat, “help me up you morons”), but I don’t think that’s a bad thing, necessarily. I don’t really care that much, it’s just a game, after all. And there’s a lot of talk about not much change and it’s pathetic and it’s a ripoff. Then again, this is the Steam forums we’re talking about here.

So the campaign found in the demo is called The Parish, set in New Orleans (so they say, I’ve never actually been there). One of the chapters is The Park, or at least part of it is, and it’s mindblowing how much violence is to be found there. It’s basically parts here and there from the chapter, ranging from zombies infected humans in the park (didn’t see any of the so-called Hazmat infected though), to a part in the bus stop after going into a trailer and stocking up on weapons. It’s really cool to be this guy, decked out in sniper rifle gear and shooting the shit out of stuff that moves. I was on a laptop, so I couldn’t zoom, which sucked, so at first chance I grabbed an AK-47, which was awesome. Also picked up a frying pan, but more on the melee later.

After the bus stop chapter and getting in the safe room, I was treated to another part of the campaign which is located suspiciously like the French Quater in New Orleans. I decided to be somewhat of a jerk, and I simply ran like hell all over the place trying to avoid any confrontations with the zombies infected humans, and no, it didn’t work. But after going into a corner restaurant, I saw a few cars here and there, and a little warning saying something like, “DON’T SET THE CAR ALARMS OFF, IT ATTRACTS THE HORDE” or something like that. So guess what I did? Of course I aimed my Kalashnikov at the cars and fired.

I ran like hell, running into zombies infected people here and there, and I used my melee weapon, the frying pan, and whacked the shit out of everyone. Now that’s something I liked to do. After doing good to the world, I happened across the safe room, and that’s where my adventures with the Left 4 Dead demo and killing zombies infected humans ended. What do I think about the game? I think it’s great and I can’t wait to download the full game. Those whiny bastards who were all about boycotting the game, shut it. This game is proof that Valve, despite its many faults, knows how to make a good game.