Currently Playing

• Left 4 Dead
• Unreal Tournament 3
• Picross
  

While I still have relatives who want to get me gifts for the holidays, and being who I am they are quite lost on what to get me besides games, I skimp on a fair few November titles to give out as those sorts of ideas. That leaves me a month or so of waiting before I play games like Mirror's Edge to the fullest, which is fine, because it looks worth the wait. At least, for my sake. While I wait I can burn off time on this new flash game from a dude named Brad Bourne. It looks like it's coming along pretty well, actually, in an addicting little package that mirrors the actual game's flow really well (...I didn't even mean to do that. I swear to god).

It's only in beta but it plays well so I'm looking forward to the final package. Also, EA is officially sanctioning/supporting this flash game. ...Huh. Probably a smart move on their part.

Currently Playing

• Left 4 Dead
• Saint's Row 2
• MK vs DC Universe
  

Zombies have always held a pretty special place in my heart and in my soul. This is why I've been pretty pleased by a barrage of random zombie appearances in games that really don't have much business having zombies in them. I mean, I've always enjoyed Dead Rising, but zombies just seem like they belong in shopping malls in rural areas.

More recently, Saint's Row 2 was released and it contained a Zombie Survival mini-game. It was the only mini game of its kind, allowing you and some other survivors to heft some of the game's best weapons and mow down hordes of zombies that close in on your house. It seemed random, and out of place, but among the other insane stuff in that game, from skydiving to sewage spraying to streaking, I could dig it.

Then it got more random with the appearance of zombies in the new Call of Duty: World at War. Not just ANY zombies, mind you: Nazi Zombies. The mode has you holed up in a house, lasting as long as you can against wave after wave of nazi zombies. Now the subtlety has been yanked pulled even further back I'm losing sight of it.

Now thankfully, another actual zombie game has come out to give zombie fans an even further zombie fix. Left 4 Dead to that end is awesome. It does zombies, and it does them very, very well.

But the most appealing thing to me is the cooperation they emphasize so heavily. Left 4 Dead, being a pun, contains four different characters that go through all the campaigns. Other players can jump in and out of the game whenever, each character transitioning from AI control to player control as it has to. Certian "boss" zombies will trap or pin down characters, and require the help of others to save them. When a character dies they "fall" and another has to help them up. The "tank" is an unfairly bulky, strong zombie that requires all four players to work together very well to bring it down.

Suffice to say that you're forced to play nice with your three companions or you won't survive. Few games actually force and reinforce teamwork as well as this one does, and that makes online and team play way more fun for it. The zombies don't hurt much either.

If you've even remotely enjoyed shooters or zombie movies/games before, play it right now.