Played Lately: Left 4 Dead

• Thank goodness for Steam and their incredible sales. Last week, they had Left 4 Dead on sale for $7.50. At that price even I couldn't avoid it any more. After playing the game several times over the weekend, I can no longer say I don't like first person shooters. I like Left 4 Dead a lot.


• Of course, whenever I've complained about FPS games in the past, it has been a bit of a lie. It's not like real-time strategy games where I can't get my head around them. There is the occasional FPS that I actually get into. The only two that come to mind are Portal (because it's really a first person puzzle game) and Day of Defeat (both the original and the Source version, because it's practically an arcade game). It's just that I like them in very small doses.


• I avoided Left 4 Dead for a long time because, well, that's what I do. I don't even look at FPS's. They're all about people sniping and teabagging you online, right? Why would I want to do that to myself? I don't want to hang out online with a bunch of mental 12 year olds. Unfortunately, I lumped L4D into that category without realizing what the game was really like.


• Were you aware there is a single player mode in L4D? Considering all anyone ever talks about are the Campaign and Versus options, I thought it was a multiplayer only game. For a guy who plays MMOs solo, that wasn't even an option for me. However after hearing a coworker lavish praise on the game (I returned the favor by recommending Torchlight), I downloaded the L4D2 demo, discovered the single player option, and that was enough for me. I just had to wait for a sale. Once again, thanks Steam.


• I have been spending way too much time killing zombies, almost all in single player. I've dipped my toe in Campaign mode without running into idiots. But I'll be sticking with my CPU buddies as we play through my personal zombie movie. It's way too much fun. So I think it's time to admit that I don't hate first person shooters; I just hate idiots.

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