The tone is also flat and serious, missing the levity and dashes of humour that made Left 4 Dead such a riotous affair.īut this game is a resilient creature. The Cleaners are dull protagonists, while the environments are nondescript backstreets and industrial yards swathed in murky shadow. But Back 4 Blood’s initial hours nonetheless lack a certain spark. The game’s wide variety of weapons are fun to use, the zombies splatter pleasingly when shot, and the Game Director keeps you on your toes even on the easiest difficulty. The action is overseen by an AI ‘Game Director’ that harries players with carefully timed undead hordes and an array of super-zombies, variously able to trap you in a sticky web or spatter your team with Ridden-attracting vomit. Most missions involve players fighting with guns, bombs, and baseball bats to reach a safe-room, all while the game makes active efforts to thwart you. It is an off-brand imitation of Left 4 Dead’s classic action: up to four players band together as ‘Cleaners’, embarking on a four-act campaign to wash a post-apocalyptic world in the blood of awkwardly named zombies, the Ridden.

Card powers! Loot tiers! Custom character skins! It’s like ordering chips in a trendy burger restaurant and finding your fried potatoes barely visible beneath a pile of jalapeños and pulled pork.ĭespite a messy first impression, the spice and protein Back 4 Blood heaps atop Left 4 Dead’s framework ultimately pays off. Valve’s 2008 cooperative classic was beautiful in its simplicity, a simplicity Back 4 Blood seems determined to bury beneath a mountain of artifice. I ’m not sure what I expected from Turtle Rock’s spiritual successor to zombie shooter Left 4 Dead, but I know that card-collecting wasn’t on the list.

Back 4 blood game