left 4 dead - impressions
I dodge a car that was flung my way, only to be hit from behind by a wave of Infected. Unable to divide my attentions successfully, the mob got the best of me and I was down for the long count. Armed now with my pistol, I look around and immediately start to fire at any Infected I see, and manage to pick off a few of them. With my health quickly declining at an alarming rate, I frantically looked around for a nearby teammate to help me rejoin the fight.
Their attentions were focused on the higher priority though, a wave of Infected and the Tank were still in the immediate vicinity. The Tank was quickly disposed of while I lay incapacitated on the ground. The only course of action I could take was to lie and wait until a teammate "revived" me. I took this time to happily shoot and kill a few more Infected that remained in the area.
I was revived with plenty of time to spare. My life, at least for now, continued on towards even more horrors.
Turn Your Flashlight Off
Up until this point, I've discussed various encounters with the player controlled Infected bosses, encounters with the AI controlled Infected, and other gameplay elements. It's now time to talk about the one and only encounter with the Witch, the only AI controlled boss.
The Witch only appears in the difficulties above that of Normal (Difficulties are: Normal, Hard, Expert, and one unknown one) and for good reason. To introduce such a character into the easier difficulty mode would turn away many players given the very deadly nature of the Witch. My encounter with her couldn't have come at a worse time. We were making our way through the halls of the hospital, on our way to our ultimate goal of the hospital's rooftop.
The hallways were eerie with a pale blue color that somehow stood out through the darkness. There were no external sources of light outside of our flashlights. I said it before, and I'm saying it again now - This game really knows how to build up the tension. It went from absolutely silent to an all out brawl in the span of a few seconds, as we're hit with another wave of Infected. The tight corridors made the fight more of a matter of ensuring all pathways were covered by an armed teammate ready to kill anything that moved.
The source of the sounds was quickly discovered. Situated in the middle of the room was a motionless figure. My host instructed me to turn off my flashlight and try not to make any noise unless I wanted to suffer a quick death as we had just come across the Witch. The Witch continues to mutter to herself, uttering seemingly nonsensical phrases broken up by what sounds like soft crying and whimpering. We try to creep on by her in the dark. Unfortunately for us, a Hunter was watching us from his position on a side wall. Waiting until we were only half way past the Witch, the Smoker strikes, quickly leaping from his hiding spot. Turning a bad situation worse, a few teammates begin to fire upon the Hunter before he has a chance to attack any more.
 |  |
