Review: New Left 4 Dead Campaign: Crash Course

I've had a chance to play the new L4D campaign, Crash Course. I'd read that it was geared towards Versus mode, promising to deliver a more fast-paced version of Versus. I also knew it tied the storyline between No Mercy and Death Toll together. Other than that I was in the dark on what to expect from it.

As far as single player is concerned, Crash Course opens with the survivors standing near the crashed wreckage of the helicopter they had escaped in at the end of No Mercy. The opening banter between the characters is hilarious. (In one instance, Francis says without a hint of sarcasm, "Man, I love helicopters!" while looking at the burning wreckage. Zoey replies, "Uh, Francis, are you all right?" Francis shakes his head, "Whoa! Musta hit my head in the crash. I mean, 'I HATE helicopters!'") The level layout and architecture is similar to No Mercy and Death Toll: lots of abandoned cars and trucks to weave around, several warehouse areas to go through, and tight alleyways. The levels sometimes did not seem to flow as well as they did in the original campaigns. Perhaps just because it's new, perhaps because I've only played with the AI-controlled other survivors, but I found myself getting lost or being unclear on where to go next on a few occasions, especially in the alleyway areas.

The opening conversations of Crash Course serve to reinforce its presentation as a continuation of the No Mercy storyline. In all of the original campaigns' openings (i.e., those of No Mercy, Death Toll, Dead Air, and Blood Harvest), the survivors make generic suggestions about what their goal should be, lacking any trace of each character's personality. As you play through the levels, they begin to express themselves more when they speak, making you feel as though the group is bonding in game, and, in fact, making you relate more to each of the characters. At the opening of Crash Course, they already appear familiar and chummy with each other, reminding you they just fought through apartments, subways, warehouses, sewers, and a hospital as a team.

Crash Course's most noticeable difference from the other campaigns is that it only contains two levels. They are, however, lengthy and difficult levels, reminiscent of the notorious "Construction Site" level on Dead Air. The levels present a significant amount of new and exciting gameplay. The finale is a good example, proving to be one of the most intense fights of the game. It takes place in a junkyard and tasks the survivors with starting a generator in order to lower a truck, located in a nearby warehouse, which they can then escape in. When the generator is started, several spotlights illuminate the area. There are several ideal locations for the survivors to defend within the warehouse, but there's a twist on this finale. Sometime after the first tank is killed, the generator shuts off. The players must leave the safety of their entrenched position and wade through a sea of zombies into the junkyard, now almost completely dark since the lights were run by the generator, to restart the power. It's an ingenious trick: Leaving the easily defended positions in the finales is often fatal. Players rarely move from their position until the very end, when the rescue is available. In Crash Course, you have to move halfway through the siege to a decidedly unsafe position, then either try to stay there, or move again to a more defensible position.

Although I haven't played the Versus mode in Crash Course yet, it could definitely be played in half an hour, which was their goal. Since the two levels are so long, with multiple paths through narrow, twisting corridors and alleyways, a moderately skilled team of special zombies could easily separate the survivors and tear them apart.

Unfortunately, it appears Left 4 Dead is no longer half price on Steam, but if you have the game already and haven't checked out Crash Course yet I highly recommend it. While not a huge departure from the original campaigns, it offers enough new content to remind you of the simple joys of killing zombies.