Free, but there's a reason for it
Since last holiday season’s Left 4 Dead release, gamers have been vanquishing homicidal zombies with bloodthirsty glee. But as fun as the game is, no one can deny the lack of content there seemed to be. With only four campaigns and a versus mode that utilized the same locale, you could only play for so long before it felt tired. To combat this zombie exhaustion, Valve released the Survival Pack which aimed to increase the longevity of the experience. It wasn’t worth the wait.
Before anyone implodes on themselves, understand that I had a great time with this game. Left 4 Dead is a great multiplayer experience that combines the best aspects of horror and tactical gameplay we hardly see anymore. And therein lays the issue; it’s just a multiplayer game and with that comes limitations. You can play the game on normal and fly through it with no real issues, but the real game starts at the higher settings that require you to work as a team and move as a steady unit. The campaigns are a good time, but only for so long. After the fifteenth No Mercy run, the scenario starts to lose its luster. This is especially true in regards to the versus component of the game. Before the content update, you could only play two campaigns in versus. Thankfully you can play them all now, but it doesn’t hide the fact that it’s still the same thing, just with player opponents.
Beside the addition of the versus campaigns, the spotlight of this downloadable content surrounds a new mode called Survival, and it’s exactly what you think it is. Survive as long as you can against an endless wave of zombies in a fixed area. This sounds great on paper, and I’m a big fan of survival gametypes, but it’s nothing more than a short, not so simple distraction. The action starts instantaneously and before you know it, the putrid undeadliness converge on your location. If there’s any kind of slip up, even one, it’s game over. Unless you have an A-team that knows how to work together and are committed to learning the best strategy, you’re not going to have a good time. As a matter of fact, I expect you to check it out, play a few rounds, and then go back to versus or campaign runs with your friends.
When Valve announced this DLC it made me excited for the seemingly absent meat of the game. It surprised me even more when the Survival Pack was announced to have no fees attached. And just when I thought there were no more surprises, I find out that what I’ve been waiting for was practically nothing at all. Couldn’t we have received some new campaigns? Maybe just one more to play through? That’s right, we did get one. Oh, but it’s only a lighthouse available to defend in Survival? Thanks for the kick in the balls Valve.