One 4 Nine

I'd say that it's finally time for another Left 4 Dead campaign but, you know, it's always time for Left 4 Dead on this blog. And this time I've got something a bit more... mysterious for all of you...

Author: keved

One 4 Nine (As always, download all parts for the campaign to run).

Another campaign that kinda/sorta/maybe tries to explain the origin of the virus, huh? Man, how many of those are there? Well I can guarantee you that there aren't any quite like this campaign.

Deep in the Nevada desert the survivors from the second game have tried, and failed, to escape the infection. With nowhere else to go, they resort to following the rumors of a nearby military base that is offering shelter but end up finding more than they could ever comprehend.

The entire campaign takes place at night and, as with the previous campaigns I've reviewed, there is custom graffiti that tells a story through questions rather than answers. All across this base are strange equations and numbers scrawled over the walls, and warnings telling of something that the United States Military found in the desert. The messages implore the survivors to go no further, but at the same time promise answers to be found at the heart of this military installation.

You'd much rather forget what you see on the other side of this door. Trust me.

The entire campaign has this strange air of apprehension about it, like you don't know exactly where you're heading, but you just know that it won't be very good. And I like that. It's like a horror movie during the times that it's quiet, as opposed to the usual Left 4 Dead mod of an action-survival flick with zombies. As you go deeper and deeper things get more unsettling until, at more than one point, you're literally crawling over mountains of carcasses and picking your way through checkpoints where the guards all died of self inflicted wounds rather than any zombie attack.

For most of the campaign everything is shrouded in darkness, literally too. A lot of it takes place on the interior of the base so for the most part you'll be going through corridors and offices though it does open up at several points, even offering you the chance to have a more vertical battle trying to climb some catwalks later on. There are also plenty of mounted guns sprinkled about, and for the most part they are placed in much better places than they are in the vanilla campaigns, finally letting players vent their frustrations out in .50 caliber doses on the swarming hordes the AI Director sends after your souls.

And, as you draw nearer to the climax of the mod, things get downright foreboding.

What are the odds of finding a happy ending at the bottom of this?

Here is where it's all been leading, after pulling you and your group over mountains of dead bodies, slaughtering your way through hundreds of zombies, and witnessing the utter disaster that took place throughout the facility. You finally discover what they army unearthed...

"Wut." - Coach, greatest philosopher of our age.

...The Monolith?

Yeah. And, as eagle eyed fans of Half Life would have noticed in the screenshot above that, the symbol of The Combine (Primary antagonists of the Half Life series for those who don't recognize it) is scrawled on the wall there, not too far from the 'Lith, as we like to call it.

Dayum.

What even... is happening?

Like I said, it's all more questions than answers. BUT, if you're looking for answers about the story in this mod and it's ending, you can go here to find out all about. And I think that it's compelling, in that unexpected sort of way. I enjoy sometimes being left wondering, still asking questions. It's not for everyone, sure, which is why that link is there.

But I need to make a note here of the finale. It WOULD be the standard "Hold the line" against waves of zombies, but once it begins your screen will begin flashing brightly with different colors and you'll be looking through a colored filter for pretty much the entire finale. It's very unexpected and the sudden shock of it can hurt the eyes, so brace yourselves for that if you do decide to give this mod a go.

So, if you want to play through something that is atmospheric, strange, and filled with uncertainty, go ahead and book this vacation to Nevada. And escape the zombies once and for all...