[ad]The Bosses Appear
The areas just in this one scenario are already quite varied. The tight corridors lent themselves to making sure we watched each other's backs. Side rooms were checked frequently in order to see if a few stray Infected had found themselves trapped inside. Sure enough, a few Infected are discovered on a room inspection and terminated with haste. The corridors are dark and the now familiar rush of another Infected wave is hitting us from every angle.

Using an improved shotgun I found earlier in the level, I unload into the crowd. The updated gun was a marked improvement over the previous shotgun, packing a stronger punch and better accuracy. I take out a few with one shot but it just doesn't seem to be enough. The attacks come swift, and the situation is made worse by a Boomer waddling through his the group of his Infected buddies. Already hurting from the lesser of two evils, everyone scrambles to take out the Boomer while trying not to get too close to him. Disaster strikes.

The Boomer makes use of one of his stranger offensive attacks. He manages to vomit onto one of my teammates, attracting even more Infected into the area who immediately swarm vomit covered Survivor. Another and myself keep our focus on the Boomer and manage to take him down, but the kill wasn't clean. His blast injures both my teammate and I, but it was not powerful enough to knock us out of commission. Had we been closer, the blast might have been fatal. The focus now shifts onto keeping the Infected off our unfortunate friend. A number of shells and clips later, the attack is over. The damage is assessed and we continue along with our journey.

Let's skip now to an underground area with derailed subway cars. There are a number of brightly burning fires around us. These fires seem to act as the only apparent light source in the area. Hopping on top of one of the cars we precede cautiously, again fighting off a wave of the Director controlled Infected. Blasting our way through this section, we rush through a doorway.

My host instructs me to go ahead and shut the door, making sure to lock it as I went through. Being the last in the group, I turn around to shut and lock the door like the good little gamer that I am. This acts as a temporary reprieve from the attack. Crouching near the end of the hallway, I and another turn around to face the locked door. I remained there for a bit to see if it would actually hold or if Turtle Rock Studios was going to make things interesting for the players.

They're pounding the door down!? The Infected were actually pounding so hard on that door that it was bending and bowing outwards, ready to give at any moment. Talk about a situation where the tension was palpable! We didn't have to wait long before they burst through, our guns instantly blazing. One after another, they fell at our feet, sometimes two or three at a time from the wide blast radius of the shotgun, not a single one having even a chance to attack. There wasn't a moment of peace after our success as it was time to move on to the next area and meet up with our teammates.

This brings me to my up close and personal encounter with the Smoker. Entering a new area with a few support columns scattered through what was otherwise a vacant area, there were few prime opportunities for the Infected to pop out and surprise us. At least, that's what I thought. Unfortunately, my assessment did not turn out to be true.

Our flashlights survey the room as we slowly make our way to the only exit apparent to us. Everything seemed to be quiet until a wave of Infected hit us yet again. Were we really doing that good that the Director needed to ramp up the enemy spawns? Apparently we were doing that good.

What I wasn't expecting was to be surprise attacked by the Smoker's tongue. My view was now a vision of slimy appendage, and my character's attempts to try to free themselves from the tongue's grip.

[ad]Escape from Death's Slimy Grip
An interesting feature of being attacked by the Smoker's tongue is that you still have some range of movement. I was able to move slowly to the left and right while being pulled towards the smoker, and towards what I thought would be my certain death. Fortunately, either by my hand or by the help of my teammates, the tongue was shot and I was free for the time being. Shortly after, the smoker was disposed of and a thick cloud of smoke was all that remained to remind us of his former presence there.

At some point during the Smoker's attack, a Hunter entered the battle. Hunters have the ability to conceal themselves until a Survivor looks directly at them or they move from their spot. The only real glimpse I was able to catch of the Hunter was a brief blur as it flew across my field of vision towards my teammates. They're quick, agile, and are oddly reminiscent of the fast zombies from Ravenholm. I did not even get a chance to fire off a round at the Hunter given my situation.

I'd like to take a moment to offer up a side note. It wasn't clear to me during the play testing if you're only able to shoot the Smoker, or if you are able to shoot the tongue in order to free teammates. I'd like to believe that either the Smoker or the tongue can be shot, but that is one detail I'm not entirely sure on.

This was not the first and only encounter with the Smoker. A similar fate came upon a teammate later on in the scenario. This time, the Smoker was above us on a rooftop waiting for us. He watched as we made our way out from a gas station heading towards another building across the way. We already knew we had to hustle given how exposed we were out in the open. Unfortunately, we were still caught by surprise when the next attack hit.

The concealed Smoker struck fast and seized Zoey as she passed directly under him. Pulling her slowly up, I could see her body struggling. It's apparent she's about to be hung to death. A well-aimed rifle shot from another teammate again results in freedom and another chance at life. Another battle shortly ensues with the AI Infected as we make our way to the hospital itself.

Boom
I mentioned earlier how a teammate of mine was the victim of the vomit attack by the Boomer. I was also one of the victims that was hit with this interesting attack. Once hit, your screen is given a rather nasty overlay. A red, chunky transparent goop clouds your vision and while the vomit slowly trickles down, you become the sole target of any Infected in the area. Fortunately, my attack came while on the city streets and just exiting one building to cross to another.

Hit with the vomit, I immediately backtrack into the entrance of the building we had just begun to exit. This tactic limited the number of Infected that could actually get to me at any given time. Pouring in through the door, we fend off the Infected and I manage to live to see another day. While I'm making this out to be an easy defense, it was anything but. Some did slip past the doorway and into our area. Melee attacks proved to be extremely effective here. Teammates knocked off the Infected from me with a melee attack and were able to get a clear shot at them without harming me in the process.

It was shortly after my encounter with the Boomer that I learned what it was like to get knocked down and enter a bleed out period. Coincidently, this was also one of the few times we came across the Tank in an open area environment. Crossing the street, a number of destroyed cars were strewn about. The roads were wide enough and I saw a good deal of random objects strewn about that would either save us or kill us.

While the cars and other objects allowed for us to hide behind them, the appearance of the Tank quickly turned every large scale, movable object into an item of pain. Given his ability to pick up these objects and fling them at you or your teammates, you may not want to hide out behind that sturdy looking car you saw.

[ad]Boom
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 Infected came from both in front of us and from behind, racing towards us down that dark hallway we were walking. We were inching towards a doorway just a little bit further down the hall, as we clear away the last couple of Infected. It's silent again, except for one thing. I hear a faint murmur. At first, I thought it was a teammate talking and I was just too far away from them to hear clearly just what they were saying, but I realized we were all still grouped together.

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.

[ad]Turn Your Flashlight Off (continued)
This, of course, stirs the Witch from her troubled slumber. At this point, I was trying to make my way past her, standing right next to her when she awoke. She lunges with cat-like reflexes towards a teammate who was a bit behind me. She immediately knocks him down causing him to bleed out. Still on top of her prey, she gets a shotgun blast from the side and a double barrage of rifle bullets tearing into her back.

She doesn't go down easily, but is quite a bit easier to take out than the Tank. Our teammate was lucky, this time, having suffered through an instant knockdown and a sped up bleed out time thanks to the Witch's relentless assault. We continue on to the rooftop.

All Out Assault
On our way to the roof we need to pass through a level just below the actual rooftop itself. A maze like area soon greets us, with walls made out of wooden planks and steel support beams. The moment that I was trying to spend surveying the area is broken up by an attack from a Tank and a fresh wave of Infected. The Infected snake their way through the corridors to get to us, though there doesn't seem to be too many of them. That is the good news, the bad news was bursting through those wooden beams without a second thought and coming straight for us.

The wooden beams break apart and dangle from the upper steel supports in a wonderful display of environmental interactivity. One of the more intense fights against the Tank develops in this area as we four survivors dart our way in and out of the pre-made pathway, through swinging wood pieces, and into pathways carved by the Tank's brute force. Our shots rip out even more wooden beams as they sway thanks to the physics engine at work within Source.

With the tank's attack coming to an end, we make our way to the roof with no more interruptions. The roof has a raised landing pad fit for a helicopter, and also contains a building with a radio inside. We take our positions on top of the landing pad, able to look down and have a very clear view of the rest of the rooftop area, giving us plenty of opportunities to prepare for an attack. I was told that the nearby radio was the trigger, and that once it is activated the final sequence will begin. We were given a moment to prepare ourselves, checking to see that all weapons were fully loaded before a teammate activated the radio.

At first, it was just a massive assault on the helicopter pad by the AI Infected. Scores of them appeared from all areas as they made their way to the platform we were on. It was easy enough to take them out. It was easy, that is, until both a Smoker and a Boomer show up along with another wave of Infected. Our party starts to become disorganized. The plan of sticking to the helicopter pad had just been thrown out the window and it was now a mad scramble to try to pick off the enemies climbing up to our location. The Smoker is off to my left just below my position, and the Boomer was right in the middle heading towards us as fast as he could move.

Yet again, I was snagged by the Smoker's tongue and dragged towards the edge of the pad. A railing prevented me from being pulled further, however that does not mean I was so quick to escape death. The barrier halted my movement giving my teammates time to try to free me. The health was draining quickly from my player because once you're hooked by the tongue and halted by an object it just serves to tighten the tongue's grip and your character can be strangled to death where they stand, or so I was told.

[ad]All Out Assault (continued)
Our team splits up even more once the adrenaline starts to kick in, and during epic moments like this, the adrenaline will kick in. The game will call upon all of your reflexes to make it past the final battle, especially on the harder difficulty modes that the game has to offer.

Overcome by the stream of enemies, our party slowly succumbs to death's icy grip. I try to revive a teammate that has fallen on a venting system off to the left of the helicopter pad. Unfortunately, I couldn't make the jump and quickly fell down to the level where the Infected were.

Coming from all angles, they struck quickly. I gave a few quick melee attacks to knock them back, after which I managed to put a few of the Infected down for the count with my shotgun. However, all the firepower left in my weapon could not possibly hold them all back. With their twisted fingers lashing out at me relentlessly, I had finally died. I entered a bleed out period and with no teammates left to revive myself or anyone else, our round came to a climactic close. There would be no rescue for any of the four survivors tonight.

Final Thoughts
It's been roughly 11 pages (including part 1) of this Left 4 Dead preview, all spurred by what was essentially a single scenario play-through. Did I really capture all that there is to offer in this game in this article? No, I did not. I wrote a great deal about my experience and the most notable parts of my playtime, but it's impossible to put into words just what this game is like.

The game will be different each time you play it, even if you play only one scenario. It's akin to playing through a single player title with the way the scenarios play out, how each scenario has its own mini plot line, and with how there are actual boss fights scattered throughout the levels. The Director did a very admirable job at knowing just when and where to pop in a fresh supply of Infected to battle against.

I can say that I had an absolute blast with the game. Take that statement for what you will. I've always been a fan of zombies and the survival horror genre, but the way everything comes together here (multiplayer, zombies, boss fights, teamwork, survival, and fun) really makes for a very special treat to fans of any of those areas.

I can't say that everything was perfect, or that I enjoyed everything in the game. There were some very glaring issues with this build that I tested on. The lengthy load times were just perplexing and there were some clipping issues, but I was assured that all would be remedied by the time this title was set to be released. Just when is this game coming out? I wish I knew a solid answer to that. Right now, it's slated for a "Summer 2008" release period for both the Xbox 360 and PC.

Also, I was not able to play as the Infected bosses at all. I would have loved to play as an Infected boss, but at the time of my visit the Infected side was apparently undergoing some changes, and no such opportunity was being offered to outside testers.

I hope you've enjoyed reading this article, and I hope it perhaps raised your interest in the title beyond what it already was. I'd like to thank everyone at Valve and Turtle Rock Studios for giving me a chance to play this title.

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