Game Informer Magazine

Nothing dropped more Game Informer staffers’ jaws this year at E3 than Valve’s next project. “Left 4 Dead” is poised to blow away every co-op action title to date when it drops on Nov. 4. Half an hour behind the keyboard made a believer out of everyone who played this fast-paced survival horror first-person shooter.

It’s easy to hear “Left 4 Dead’s” concept — “get from point A to point B alive” — and think “Meh, co-op Painkiller.” Valve’s obsessive attention to detail and commitment to releasing only triple-A products takes this idea and elevates it far beyond a simple shooter. Everything about the game is geared toward making players work together; a quick death is all that awaits the fools who run off on their own.

When players are working together to cover each other’s backs and stay close, run-of-the-mill zombies don’t stand much of a chance against their automatic weapons. However, the game is more than happy to throw curveballs at the players in the form of special enemy types.

Tanks break up the group by charging in and shrugging off dozens of bullets while dealing massive damage to anyone in melee range. Hunters leap long distances and pin players down while clawing their faces off. Boomers vomit at players, blinding them and causing all the other enemies to focus exclusively on them.

These challenges seem simple enough to deal with when you have a buddy around to help you out, but trying to stay on top of everything while getting distracted by the zombies trying to eat your own brains is a never-ending struggle.

The health system is particularly clever as well. If you’re reduced to zero health, you’ll go down and pull out your pistol just like the last stand perk in “Call of Duty 4.” Your health bar switches to your reserve hit points, which slowly drain over time while under the pressure of further zombie attacks. Should a teammate make it to you and revive you, you’re back on your feet with some health left — but after the third time you’ll continue to bleed until you get healed by a first-aid kit. The genius of this is that it pushes player cooperation. While it takes some of the sting out of running out of health (since it’s easy to get hosed by the super-zombies), it still makes getting mauled bad enough to keep zombie attacks tension filled.

Tying this all together is the unique dynamic spawn system. Outside of a few set pieces, nothing in a level is pre-scripted. The game will throw in the right number and types of zombies to challenge the group without being totally overwhelming, based on how you’ve been progressing so far. If you’re rolling through the horde without trouble, expect a whole lot more super-zombies and fewer health packs. Newbies will find themselves faced with fewer and easier foes. In our time playing “Left 4 Dead,” we found ourselves taking a second shot at a level after dying about halfway through — and it was a completely different experience thanks to the dynamic spawning.

The game is still months away from release, yet the build we played was already one of the tightest and most polished FPS experiences in gaming. “Left 4 Dead” also features eight-player competitive multiplayer that we weren’t able to try out. We can’t wait to see what the final product looks like after Valve spends even more time on it.