So you ask: "Who is Rob?" Well in a nutshell Rob is a complicated guy with simple tastes. I like science fiction, zombie entertainment, video games and collecting; like I said simple tastes, the complexity comes in later.
Lets start off with two of my favorites that can be rolled into one, the zombie shooter. I have played some excellent zombie games, and I will discuss them in detail later, but I have to say that I have found a really solid deal with Left 4 Dead. A quick rundown for those of you not in the know: the story is fairly simple, 4 survivors who have to cross a given environment and then ultimately call in an escape vehicle of some sort, all the while fighting off hordes of homicidal maniacs. It seems that a virus, closely related to rabies, has infected the bulk of the worlds population, turning almost everyone into a maniacal murderous freak bent on killing anyone who isn't infected. To put the icing on the cake, they have started mutating into a few different "super" zombies with special powers.
The game is an FPS, built to have up to 4 people on line playing at once, no squad based tactics, you only control yourself. The game can be played as a solo campiagn, using the AI for the other three players, but frankly thats not much fun. The game has an excellent AI that is actually a little too good, you need to take the initiative, but once you do the computer will basically clean up the house for you and make sure you stay alive. There are only 4 campaings in the game, each of which can be played through in about an hour and there is really nothing inventive about the settings or the action. I will add at this point though that it has a really solid control system, intuitive layout and play on both console and PC, and no bugs, when you switch weapons you get the next weapon just like you should. Having said that though, it's the co-op that lets this game shine through the hordes of undead.
You never want to be left alone, if your alone your dead. You need to play as a team, taking down hordes and special infected isn't a solo job and you often need someone to pick you up off the ground. Plus, to promote the team play the game uses a subtle system to single out players who don't contribute well, allowing the other players to do things like limit health packs, forcing players to conserve them, hopefully for themselves, and not necesarily use it on you just because you got brave and tried to take on a tank by yourself. If you do die you will respawn, but you have to wait for someone to get to you and save you; and there's no rule saying you have to save a respawned player. Plus, I personally like the glow that boomer barf gives you, letting you know exactly who didn't react fast enough and brought down the horde on you.
One last note before I wrap this one up, try to play with people you know or at least can depend on. I got into an online team one time and not only did I get left behind and subsequently murdered by a hunter, they used the exisiting med packs with no thought for the other teammates, and this was after I saved one of them from a witch and played reargaurd while they did a "tactical retreat"(cowardly bastards) . I can't stress this enough, when you're playing on a team, try to be a team player, one doesn't necesaily mean the other.
Next time I'll give a bit of a rundown on the "Special" infected, weapons, and a bit about tactics, but until then, rock on baby!
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