Left 4 Dead Survival Pack

Left 4 Dead Survival Pack Expansion

Rating: M

Score: 9.5/10

Some expansion packs are more like entirely new games than just add-ons. The Survival Pack is one of those. It adds a lot of gameplay with simple fun. This expansion is available for both the PC and the Xbox 360.

As readers might remember, I gave Left 4 Dead a superb score for being an amazing Co-Op experience but it was a lackluster single player game. Really, the Survival Mode is no different. Co-Op is jaw-droppingly good, while the single player is just decent.  Make sure you have online play; this review was mostly judged on the Co-Op fun .

The Survival Pack brings two things to your Left 4 Dead experience: Survival Mode (that was obvious), and two new Versus maps (the two maps you couldn’t play on before, for whatever reason).  The Survival Mode is the main crowd-pleaser, but the two new versus maps are welcome additions too. Whose idea was it to have a Survival Mode in Left 4 Dead? They need a raise. It’s the perfect addition.

                The gameplay of Left 4 Dead is enhanced. You’ll see more zombies running around you than normal humans at Walmart on Christmas Eve. It’s easy to get over-run by zombies, which is why teamwork is so important. Special Infected zombies like Hunters, Smokers, Boomers, and Tanks also add to the necessity for teamwork.

                Unlike the normal campaign, where you’re running from place to place getting attacked by hordes, you will be confined to one small area fending off endless hordes of zombies for as long as you can survive them. Ammo and weapons are given to you beforehand. Furthermore, you can find Molotovs and Pipe Bombs, along with other goodies.

                At each of the 21 venues, once you activate the switch to call the horde, things go from bad to worse. The only break you’ll  get are 5 second ones right before a Tank (or a few tanks, no joke) arrive to destroy. This break can be used to heal, reload, get ammo, or just prepare yourself for another wave of zombies.

                You are timed throughout the whole mode, and as you survive longer, the hordes get more intense. How so? More zombies, and less time between Tanks, that’s how.  About seven minutes into battle, and you’ll be struggling to hold on. Usually about 4 Smokers, 2 Boomers, 3 Hunters, and a Tank at once will appear. This can vary dramatically, thanks to the “AI Director”.

                 I talked about the AI Director in my original review of Left 4 Dead, but let’s recap anyway. The AI Director changes the game each time you play. Thanks to AI (artificial intelligence), don’t expect the exact same hordes of the exact same zombies each time. One play-through might have double the Smokers of another play-through. The AI Director keeps the game from getting stale and requires gamers to be on their toes at all times.

This is one amazing add-on Left 4 Dead fans shouldn’t miss. Thanks to it being free (you download it, no strings attached), there’s no reason for everyone not to have this add-on. Prepare to play Left 4 Dead much more frequently with this remarkable expansion.