Pros • Moody and atmospheric • Clever use of music cues to let you know things are about to go to Hell • Ridiculous number of creatures on the screen rushing you • Excellent co-op play, but you can still freelance • Awesome level and objective design • If the action was more intense, it would give off a frequency that would shatter every piece of glass in your house	Cons • Little enemy variety • Only four "campaigns"
Bottom Line The best thing to happen to zombies since headshots.

"Left 4 Dead doesn't have cutting edge graphics. It only has six enemy types and four "campaigns" which will take you an afternoon to play through. But I can guarantee you that once you finish that campaign you will go back for more. And more and more. The game is sheer madness, terror and fun, often all at once. The premise is simple: there are a buttload of zombies out there, and you and three pals (AI or human controlled) need to fight through them in order to find rescue. Musical cues will have you wetting your pants, because that's the cue for several zillion zombies to come at you from all directions. Left 4 Dead doesn't a great job of balancing team play and solo skirmishing: you can play alone and the AI does a pretty good job of filling in for other players. Naturally, the game really shines when you and your friends get together. You will be screaming at the screen and each other. "Hang on! I need to heel! Crouch! Crouch! CROUCH!" and of course, they always handy "Look out, here they come!""

Jason's Score: 9.5

April 24, 2009 - Survival Pack Update.

We can sum up this review in two words: "It's Free." It's hard to find fault in free content, especially for a game like Left 4 Dead.

You know those moments during the Left 4 Dead campaigns where you get to stop, fortify yourself, and then trigger the horde when you're ready to face them (or rather, when you think you're ready?)? Survival Mode lets you play those moments from all four campaigns, except when you trigger the horde, they don't stop coming. Your only goal is to stay alive as long as you can, trapped in one small area. It's already lead to some of the toughest and most intense battles I've ever played. And if you think you've seen some selfish bitches who won't risk their ass to help other players, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Yes, that's directed at some clown I was playing with last night. GEE, I BET YOU WISH YOU'D HELPED ME UP FROM THE LEDGE WHEN THE BOOMER, SMOKER AND HUNTER NAILED YOU WITHIN THREE SECONDS OF EACH OTHER, DON'T YOU?

I digress.

Once again, teamwork is the only way to prevail, because Survival Mode is tough. Like "Three Smokers Out of Nowhere Simultaneously Disable Three Survivors" kind of tough. Yes, I've seen this very thing happen. The Mode also tends to start hard and get harder, curve be damned. I'm fine with this, though I do have some issues: no new achievements to go with Survival Mode, and I notice a little more lag than normal. Hopefully a quick update will take care of that.

The Survival Pack's other contributions are that Dead Air and Death toll now supports versus play, and Survival mode also adds a new environment, called Last Stand. It's an awesome looking lighthouse that feels like it needs 40 people to hold down the undead, not four. I'd love to see it integrated into a larger campaign; hopefully that will happen in a future update.

The Survival Pack kicks ass for the same reason Left 4 Dead itself kicks ass: 100% pure adrenaline wrapped in quick jolts. A single session of Survival may only last a few minutes, but during that time you will work it. Already looking forward to more Left 4 Dead!