Left 4 Dead

Co-op is fast becoming a staple of many multiplayer-enabled console titles these days. The notion of playing together as a team towards a common objective is the new black, as opposed to simply fragging the hell out of each other for kicks and gamerpoints (you know who you are). However, very few developers can stand up and honestly say their game was built with co-op in mind. Some games pull it off incredibly well, while others offer a co-op mode that feels tacked on and more like an after-thought than a core feature.

If there's one thing developer VALVE know, it's a good multiplayer experience, and their latest offering, the apocalyptic zombie-fest Left 4 Dead, is sure to be the online sleeper-hit of the year. Sure, 2008 has seen an over-abundance of horror games, but none do things with this much intensity and appeal. Set in an abandoned city, four survivors must shoot their way to freedom using whatever weapons they can lay their hands on. You can choose to play the campaign solo with three insanely smart AI charactes or hop online and play through the whole game with three online players.

The campaign comprises four missions, split into five stages and spread across different settings. For example, the first mission 'No Mercy' sees your squad battling through the streets and warehouses to the rooftop of Mercy hospital for helicopter extraction. The fifth 'finale' stage of each mission is the extraction, where your team have to hold out against wave after wave of the infected for a whole ten minutes until rescue arrives.

But just how easy is fending off the game's brand of zombie? Where some games give you hordes of slow, shuffling brain-munchers to pick off at will, Left 4 Dead's enemies are stupidly fast, attacking in large packs, ensuring every battle is as tense as the last. If you use a bit of cunning though you can get the drop on the infected before they see you, but this is definitely no stealth game and is much more fun when you wade in guns blazing.

The infected also come in various 'special' flavours such as the Smoker, who can lasso members of your team and drag them off for a good chomp - meaning it's up to the team to free the victim before they get killed. Boomers explode when shot and hurl foul bile at the survivors. If someone gets hit, the stench attracts a massive pack of regular infected, steamrolling you if you are unprepared. Tanks are hulking behemoths, capable of punching you really far; not ideal when you're running and gunning across rooftops. They can also rip up parts of the tarmac and hurl them at you, which wouldn't be so much of a problem if they weren't so stubborn to kill. Finally, Hunters leap about at insane speed, pouncing on unsuspecting survivors and literally tearing chunks out of them. This movement makes them tough to pick off.

Easily the most dangerous foe in the game, the Witch is a nasty piece of work. There is only one of these enemies per level and their location changes with each play through so you need to be careful not to startle her or else you will get floored in an instant. Luckily, you can always tell when one is around as you can hear her eerie sobbing getting louder as you approach. She's a bastard to put to sleep once you've alerted her, luckily she only attacks the nearest player so often the sacrifice of one person is worth it.

Downed players can be revived by a teamate given they aren't too banged up. The way you help players out is a genuis stroke, as you can be a greedy git and keep health packs and painkillers for yourself, or share the wealth with the less-fortunate. Also, should a player get knocked over and pinned by a group of infected, allies can use melee attacks or well-placed rounds to take them out. Very few co-op games give you this sense of working as a team because make no mistake, without your friends by your side, you will be zombie-chow in no time.

Of course, where would any good multiplayer game be without a versus mode? Here, you have pretty awesome deathmatch mode, pitting survivors against the 'special' infected types. Despite the different skills each side has, things remain pretty well balanced here.

Left 4 Dead has come late in the year but will surely appeal to first-person shooter fans or those tired of the standard deathmatch and co-op game models. This could easily be the sleeper hit of the year, with the potential for new downloadable missions and modes serving as tantalising prospect.