Left 4 Dead is an upcoming multiplayer co-operative survival horror'ish first-person shooter game by Turtle Rock Studios which is part of Valve Corporation. The game has been built using Valve's Source engine and will be available on the PC and Xbox 360.
Certain Affinity is responsible for the Xbox 360 version of the game. Left 4 Dead puts four human playable or AI controlled survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic against hordes of the Infected (which arent zombies , but humans infected with a mutated virus strain of Rabies , a huge nod to 28 Days later and 28Weeks Later movies , i would say).
Regular Infected are controlled by the game AI, while human players can control up to four mutated Boss Infected with special abilities *wink* . The Survivors' goal of Left 4 Dead is to help each other make it through a level to safety. Infected players must cooperate to stop them.

The expected release date for Left 4 Dead is November 4 2008 everywhere but the United Kingdom, where it is November 7.The game was first revealed in the Christmas 2006 publication of PC Gamer UK with a six-page article describing a playthrough at Valve's headquarters. A teaser was released with The Orange Box.

Click Here to watch Left 4 Dead Teaser + Gameplay Video for PC Gamer Podcast

There will be four scenarios, each with five maps or "acts," in the first release of Left 4 Dead.These scenarios take place in various urban and rural locales: a hospital, cornfield, airport, and murky countryside. Four players take control of the four main characters of the game, "The Survivors", who play through the levels fighting off the Infected. The first four acts of each scenario will have the players move from safehouse to safehouse, indicated by a red door, where the players get a save point and those who have died earlier in the level will return.The fifth act will have the players defending their position from a final onslaught of the infected until their getaway vehicle arrives, such as a helicopter in the hospital scenario.Each scenario lasts between 45 and 75 minutes.

Four additional players can take control of the more powerful Boss Infected with unique abilities amongst the other AI Infected. Since only one Boomer, one smoker and two hunters can be played at any one time, players must select their preferred Infected and wait for it to spawn. Players can also control the Tank, but it's only spawned a few times during each scenario. A special alert gives Infected players the option to start playing as the Tank when it does spawn.

The infected have the ability to see survivors through the walls at a certain range if the survivors are running, with the flashlight on, or talking. Otherwise, Survivors are not visible through walls. The Infected can also see in the dark, unlike the Survivors.

If a player playing an infected dies in less than about 3 seconds after spawning he/she is immediately respawned. Infected spawn ahead of the Survivors and can, if they stay still, see a marker for their likely path of advance so they can set up ambushes.

Throughout levels, Infected-only ways up buildings are marked with symbols. These can be climbed and used for ambushes, especially with the Infected immunity to falling damage , and that , is soooooooo cool.

There are four playable human characters in the game, each with a different and unique appearance to make it easier to identify which character you are looking at when you aren't close enough to recognize the face. Each player is randomly assigned a character when they join the server and each character has the same abilities and may use the same weapons.

Louis
An assistant manager at a local retail electronics chain store.

Francis
The tattoo-covered biker. He knew Bill before the outbreak of infection as well, which may mean they both went to Vietnam, but is unlikely since Francis appears much younger than Bill.

Zoey
The teenage daughter of a wealthy family. Zoey's face is modeled from Alésia Glidewell, the person from which Chell from Valve's Portal was modeled.

Bill
A Vietnam veteran with combat skills that have helped keep him alive, he is also the eldest of the band of survivors.

Weapons found in game include (but not restricted to) Pump action shotguns , Uzis , Handguns of course , M16 , Molotov Cocktails and Pipe Bombs , amongst plenty of other goodies.

The Infected are Left 4 Dead's foe of the survivors, and they are partly inspired by the infected from the aformentioned 2002 film 28 Days Later. The Infected, as opposed to the slow, shuffling types associated with Night of the Living Dead or Half-Life, are fast and agile, creating quite a formidable foe. They will however go down with a well-placed gunshot, meaning they can be dealt with easily on their own, but in great numbers are difficult to handle. In addition, there are five mutated Boss Infected who have their own special mutant abilities and are more powerful than the regular Infected:

The Boomer
A hugely obese Infected that can projectile vomit at The Survivors, blinding them and attracting swarms of nearby Infected to them. When Boomers die they blow up, creating large amounts of gore and viscera, this also attracts NPC infected to the area in which the Boomer exploded. Boomers can also drop from tall buildings into/onto a group of survivors, and once they impact on the streets, they "pop" exploding in the aforementioned manner having the same effect as the vomit attack, this skill could serve as an effective method for ambushing the survivors. As of recent game play changes, the Boomer no longer damages when detonated by neither gunfire nor falling, but hinders survivors' sight and attracts large amounts of the infected horde.

The Hunter
An agile Infected who can climb walls and jump over rooftops, similar to 28 Days Later Infected and Half-Life 2's Fast Zombie. If the Hunter crouches for a certain period of time, a meter will fill and it can use its most powerful attack (this was chosen instead of it becoming invisible once backed up to a wall or similar piece of cover, turning invisible, and then pouncing). It can then pounce on a survivor, pinning them down on the floor and slashing at them with its claws, rendering the victim powerless unless The Hunter is killed by a team-mate or knocked off its victim. It is extremely weak, and can only sustain minor gunfire before dying. The Hunter can also retreat, and slowly heal itself.

The Smoker
An Infected with a long, whip-like tongue that can drag Survivors away from their team-mates and use its tongue as an organic noose to strangle Survivors when it is perched on a rooftop. Similar to Half-Life's Barnacle, or Resident Evil's Licker. When in danger, it can leave a haze of black smoke, distorting the Survivors' vision.

The Tank
A huge, muscular Infected capable of throwing large items such as cars or blocks of concrete. The tank keeps a high profile, able to be heard by the survivors from a great distance due to its loud thrashing while running. The immense strength and toughness of the tank makes it a terrible foe in combat. To prevent the tank from camping away from the survivors for too long, a frustration timer is set when the survivors are not in sight. When the timer runs out, the tank becomes uncontrollable and begins stomping and thrashing giving away its position and becoming vulnerable to the survivors. The tank is the toughest of the infected, and is able to withstand an extremely large amount of gunfire before dying.

The Witch
The only mutant infected that will not be available to players. They are passive upon discovery by the players, but react with hostility to flashlight beams, physical contact, and gunfire in the vicinity. It will be able to kill a player in one hit, and has almost as much health as a Tank, making them the most dangerous of the infected. She has the resemblance of average infected, but can be heard crying to give the players a chance to avoid or attack her. If she detects a survivor, she screams wildly and will kill the nearest player. She will then resort to regular attacks. During these attacks she slashes so viciously that the survivors' blood will spatter all over the adjacent area. The witch will not be included on the easy difficulty.

Overall , from what ive seen in screenshots and gameplay videos , it has potencial. Though i seriously doubt that it can keep up on par with Resident Evil Outbreak , for obvious reasons. But i shall give it a try nonetheless.

I've seen some trailers for this and while the story doesn't look amazing, the gameplay and co op does look very promising.

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When I awaken, I will be the Queen.. And the "T-Veronica" virus will be unleashed upon the entire world. Every last creature on earth will exist to serve me. At that time, the world will achieve the perfect ecosystem, just like an anthill, but on a much grander scale.

The Ant Queen,
Alexia Ashford

I think this one will be what the Outbreak series should've been. Well, not exactly, but i am sure Valve will deliver a great experience.

I'm looking forward to this one, if solely for the co-op aspect with friends.

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"It could be worse. There could be zombies."

bored so to keep the forums alive if only slightly i decided to post some screenshots of myself as the survivors and infected on L4D online :


Top Scorer as Smoker *insert evil laughter here followed by a hacking cough*


You miss the intrawebz? well , dont we all?...


Top scorer as Hunter......INFECTED RULE!


Zooooooey??? Its called a TAMPAX...


Ok thats about it for now. please someone keep the forums alive? toodles.

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