There are four playable human characters in the game, each with a different and
unique appearance. Each player is randomly assigned a character when they join
the server and each character has the same abilities and may use the same
weapons.
As the survivors you must fight your way through varying environments filled with hordes of the Infected to escape to safety.
Playing as a Survivor
Each scenario starts in a small room where you can select various weapons, ammunition, grenades and health kits. As you proceed through the checkpoints you will get access to increasing powerful weapons. As well as guns and grenades you will have access to a melee attack, which is something you will use very, very often. When you right click your mouse, you swing whatever weapon you have equipped and push away whatever zombie is closest - often into a group behind them causing them all to fall over each other.
The Infected have no guns, they have low health, and they don't deal a lot of damage. What they do have, is numbers. You may be able to take down a entire group of them, but there are always more. You will often find yourself quickly surrounded. Some of the most exhilarating moments are when you are being pinned down in the middle of a zombie horde, out of ammo and wildly swinging your weapon, desperately clinging to life.
Left 4 Dead has a unique health system. When your health goes down to 0, you fall on the ground and start to "bleed out". While you're laying on the ground you get a new temporary health bar that ticks down quickly. You still have access to your pistol to shoot but if no one rescues you, your health runs out and you are dead and kicked to spectator mode. When you're on the floor a survivor can hold their use key on you and help you up. This doesn't take too long (a few seconds) but seems an entirety when you see a new horde of zombies are charging at you.
You can be helped back up two times and be just fine, but on your "third strike", when you get helped up you get only 25 temporary health that slowly ticks down. If you get knocked down during this time, you will die. You can remedy this by using health kits which give you permanent health, and also pain pills that heal you with only temporary health which slowly ticks away.
After you do get killed you are booted to spectator mode. There are two ways you can respawn. One is when remaining survivors reach a checkpoint (with half health). The other way is that scattered throughout the maps are closets. The survivors can hear you screaming for help and see your body banging up against the door wanting out. All somebody has to do is open the door and you are spawned back into the game, alive and well. When more than one person is dead, whoever died first gets out of the closet first, and each closet only allows one person to come back.
In Left 4 Dead, survivors can see each other by a green outline when they are behind walls in different rooms. It may look a bit odd but it's necessary. It is very easy to get separated and lost in Left 4 Dead and being able to see your team-mates is a good way to quickly catch up to them. You can also find your closet buddies quicker so they can respawn.
- Francis - The
tattoo-covered biker
- Zoey - The teenage
daughter of a wealthy family
- Bill - A Vietnam
veteran
- Louis - An assistant
manager at a local retail electronics chain store
 |
 |
| Francis | Zoey |
 |
 |
| Bill | Louis |
As the survivors you must fight your way through varying environments filled with hordes of the Infected to escape to safety.
Playing as a Survivor
Each scenario starts in a small room where you can select various weapons, ammunition, grenades and health kits. As you proceed through the checkpoints you will get access to increasing powerful weapons. As well as guns and grenades you will have access to a melee attack, which is something you will use very, very often. When you right click your mouse, you swing whatever weapon you have equipped and push away whatever zombie is closest - often into a group behind them causing them all to fall over each other.
The Infected have no guns, they have low health, and they don't deal a lot of damage. What they do have, is numbers. You may be able to take down a entire group of them, but there are always more. You will often find yourself quickly surrounded. Some of the most exhilarating moments are when you are being pinned down in the middle of a zombie horde, out of ammo and wildly swinging your weapon, desperately clinging to life.
Left 4 Dead has a unique health system. When your health goes down to 0, you fall on the ground and start to "bleed out". While you're laying on the ground you get a new temporary health bar that ticks down quickly. You still have access to your pistol to shoot but if no one rescues you, your health runs out and you are dead and kicked to spectator mode. When you're on the floor a survivor can hold their use key on you and help you up. This doesn't take too long (a few seconds) but seems an entirety when you see a new horde of zombies are charging at you.
You can be helped back up two times and be just fine, but on your "third strike", when you get helped up you get only 25 temporary health that slowly ticks down. If you get knocked down during this time, you will die. You can remedy this by using health kits which give you permanent health, and also pain pills that heal you with only temporary health which slowly ticks away.
After you do get killed you are booted to spectator mode. There are two ways you can respawn. One is when remaining survivors reach a checkpoint (with half health). The other way is that scattered throughout the maps are closets. The survivors can hear you screaming for help and see your body banging up against the door wanting out. All somebody has to do is open the door and you are spawned back into the game, alive and well. When more than one person is dead, whoever died first gets out of the closet first, and each closet only allows one person to come back.
In Left 4 Dead, survivors can see each other by a green outline when they are behind walls in different rooms. It may look a bit odd but it's necessary. It is very easy to get separated and lost in Left 4 Dead and being able to see your team-mates is a good way to quickly catch up to them. You can also find your closet buddies quicker so they can respawn.
