Left 4 Dead is a new action title from Valve creators of the Counter-Strike & Half-Life games that promises to redefine the co-operative genre as those titles did for multiplayer & single-player action games Set in a modern day survival-horror universe the co-operative gameplay of Left 4 Dead casts four " Survivors" in an epic struggle against hordes of swarming zombies & terrifying " Boss Infected" mutants The Survivor Co-op Game Mode is played out across four sprawling campaigns set in urban & rural environments Each campaign has an over-riding team objective & is comprised of five large maps The campaigns link together to tell the story of the Survivor&s escape to safety The team of four Survivors may be comprised of 1 to 4 human players allowing for single-player & multiplayer co-op games Next generation AI technology powers all non-player Survivor & zombie characters This is facilitated by the AI Director a pool of systems used to procedurally generate a unique experience by monitoring the players& experiences & tailoring the pacing & difficulty of action for each game This makes for a different experience each time the game is played In Left 4 Dead&s Vs Mode players may play as a Survivor or as one of four types of Boss Infected Each of the Boss Infected possesses an exceptional mutant ability
- such as a 50-foot tongue lasso (Smoker) or a giant belly full of explosive methane gas (Boome)
- instead of traditional firearms Addictive co-op action gameplay from the makers of Counter-Strike & Half-Life Advanced artificial intelligence drives both friendly & unfriendly creatures to dynamically create intense single-player co-op & multiplayer experiences every time the game is played 20 maps & 10 new weapons over four sprawling campaigns Match making stats rankings & awards system drive collaborative play Designer&s Commentary mode allows gamers to go behind the scenes of the game Powered by Source & Steam