I don't throw the word "masterpiece" around lightly. But this game is an absolute masterpiece.

I enjoyed this game as a kid when it first came out on Xbox. I stopped playing it for over 10 years (basically forgot about it)... and then decided to boot it up again.

I can't believe how well this game has aged! The graphics are still sharp, the character models' mouths move, the voice acting is excellent, the music is iconic, and all the dynamic systems that work together to bring you to the brink of "overwhelming" (ie. sound design, randomization, punishment for camping) without making the game feel "unfair" is one of the greatest achievements in gaming.

Quick shout-out to the special enemies... phenomenal. There's something special about your entire team working together to point out potential foes, like "Careful, there's a Charger nearby..." or everyone shouting "TANK!!" and all hell breaking loose. And then there's the Witch, which uniquely brings the team together, especially when she's walking around, and you're on Survival mode, where she will one-hit-kill you (...unless you're carrying a trusty defibrillator!).

In case you can't tell: This is an absolute MASTERPIECE of co-op gaming. This game created a new genre of co-op shooters, even though there's no fancy name for it (not sure why).

Furthermore, it works even on old Macs with bootcamp (ie. 2013 Macbook Pro) without any lag and with excellent graphics. After a decade of inactivity, I can say that this is probably my favourite PC game ever, and I was shocked to see how many thousands of people are still playing it daily. I would have loved to see procedural generation in this game (randomized maps), but custom maps from the community are still being made all the time, and the randomization & unpredictability in each map (eg. where/when enemies or items appear) keeps things feeling fresh & fun all the time.

I still enjoy exploring the games Left4Dead inspired, but I think I'll always come back to this.

I don't throw the word "masterpiece" around lightly. But this game is an absolute masterpiece. I enjoyed this game as a kid when it first came out on Xbox. I stopped playing it for over 10 years (basically forgot about it)... and then decided to boot it up again. I can't believe how well this game has aged! The graphics are still sharp, the character models' mouths move, the voice acting is excellent, the music is iconic, and all the dynamic systems that work together to bring you to the brink of "overwhelming" (ie. sound design, randomization, punishment for camping) without making the game feel "unfair" is one of the greatest achievements in gaming. Quick shout-out to the special enemies... phenomenal. There's something special about your entire team working together to point out potential foes, like "Careful, there's a Charger nearby..." or everyone shouting "TANK!!" and all hell breaking loose. And then there's the Witch, which uniquely brings the team together, especially when she's walking around, and you're on Survival mode, where she will one-hit-kill you (...unless you're carrying a trusty defibrillator!). In case you can't tell: This is an absolute MASTERPIECE of co-op gaming. This game created a new genre of co-op shooters, even though there's no fancy name for it (not sure why). Furthermore, it works even on old Macs with bootcamp (ie. 2013 Macbook Pro) without any lag and with excellent graphics. After a decade of inactivity, I can say that this is probably my favourite PC game ever, and I was shocked to see how many thousands of people are still playing it daily. I would have loved to see procedural generation in this game (randomized maps), but custom maps from the community are still being made all the time, and the randomization & unpredictability in each map (eg. where/when enemies or items appear) keeps things feeling fresh & fun all the time. I still enjoy exploring the games Left4Dead inspired, but I think I'll always come back to this.