November 4th is the publicized release date for Left 4 Dead, a new shooter from Valve and Turtle Rock Studios (who were responsible for new maps and ports of Counter-Strike). The basic premise of the game is familiar to anyone who’s watched Night/Dawn/Day of the Dead, 28 Days Later or, well, any zombie films. You play one of four survivors fighting your way through hordes of Infected/Undead and your goal is simply to, well, survive.

I am pants-wettingly excited about this game.

Allow me to let you into a little secret – I’m a total wuss when it comes to scary video games. I never got very far in the marine campaign of the original Aliens Vs Predator because I used to get freaked out whenever my motion detector would blip (never had any problem playing the alien campaign though). I loathe the bits in Half-life 2 and the episodes with the headcrabs and zombies because they I jump whenever they leap out unexpectedly (especially those long legged, black, posion headcrab motherfuckers) System Shock 2 was plain creepy and I know there are other games I’ve found myself unable to play after a while because they just creep me out.

So why am I looking forward to a game which is totally about the horror and the scares? Well, you know I said you play one of four survivors? Yeah, well, it’s a co-op game so your mates can play the other three.

How fucking cool is that?

There aren’t enough co-op games around these days outside of multiplayer shooters with team deathmatch modes. Left 4 Dead’s appeal is that it lets you and your mates actually stand together in a typical zombie film scenario and fight your way through the undead/infected masses. Team play is rewarded and, by the looks of things, essential if you’re going to make it through the game. The big sell at the moment is on the A.I. that controls the zombies – in particular a feature called The Director which is intended to adapt the game to the way you play it. So if you’re struggling, it will tone down the zombie onslaught and if you’re doing well, it will throw even more at you. I’m not sure about this – it almost implies that you can’t lose but I guess it does mean that if you suck as a team then you’re not going to get penalized which is probably a good thing. It also implies that no two games will ever be the same. I believe that it will also identify if one player is acting all maverick and actually shift the zombie behaviour appropriately which is definitely going to make it more interesting.

Even so, this game has so much potential that it won’t fail to rock, totally and utterly. Come on – how can you not be excited about this if you’re a) into zombie films and b) into video games? The closest I’ve got so far is an add-on for Counter-Strike: Source called, originally, Zombie Strike which basically sets some server rules so that one side walk and only use knives. Oh, and adds 20-30 extra enemies on the side you’re not on. It’s pretty scary as they move very silently and can suddenly appear behind you. On the other hand, if you have the machine gun, it’s easy to win, even if you’re playing solo. However, it’s still just Counter-Strike with zombies. Left 4 Dead will put in that post-zombie plague environment with corresponding goals (“Head for the helicopter – it’s the only way out!”) If you happen to be lucky enough to have more than 3 mates then they can play too one of three overpowered, mutant infected that have special abilities to use against the survivors as well as particular ways of setting up ambushes (like climbing up a building and waiting until the survivors are underneath you before jumping down and scaring the crap out of them).

Because this is being developed by Valve, the anticipated release date of November will probably get shifted until something like Q2 next year. They are notorious for missing deadlines but only because they release stuff “when it’s done!” I’ll be disappointed but trust that they’ll knock this out of the park just like they did with all the Half-life games, Portal and Team-Fortress 2 (which spent the best part of 10 years in development!) Early impressions and hands-on sessions are, apparently, extremely favourable and if I only buy one more game this year then Left 4 Dead will be it.