Memorial Bridge

Memorial Bridge is the third chapter in the customised Cold Stream campaign which was subsequently beta-released as a DLC in March 2011.

Survivors leave the safe room and climb a series of stairs, dealing with a small handful of passive Common Infected found along the way. An aluminium ladder leads up to the open air, and gives access to the roof of a concrete service structure, located in a small park next to the Memorial Bridge. The park is densely populated with Common Infected who will respond aggressively to the sight of the survivors. A Tank can also sometimes spawn in this area. In any event, the fighting is intense, but not too difficult if the team stays up on the structure, and allows enemies to follow their pre-scripted attack lines to climb its walls, and bring them into close range vulnerability. A follow-up horde of Common Infected may also materialize once the park's original inhabitants have been culled (note that when playing single player, it is essential to step away from the head of the ladder since it is not unusual for AI Bots to hang back down inside the structure).

Once the park is clear, the survivors head up the side of the bridge using a zigzag flight of concrete stairs. In doing so, care must be taken as a Spitter or Charger may be waiting in ambush.

At the head of the stairway, a few Common Infected will be seen in the gap, and, if he has not appeared previously, a cautious peep around the corner to the right may reveal a partially visible Tank flapping his arms up and down.

Action from this point will be intense all the way to the end of the chapter, so teams need to get their game faces on, and not relax for a moment.

A proven strategy is to exit the stairway onto the bridge, and engage immediately-visible targets on an as-is, where-is basis. If the Tank is present, he should be dealt with as a first priority. After that, a good idea is to go left from the stairway exit, clear it, and restock on ammo from the pile found there. Once ready, survivors head over the bridge, which they will find to be a tangle of vehicles, barricades and gaping holes down to the river below. Tactics are necessarily opportunistic, but good fire discipline is necessary since ammo is limited and infected are many.

About a third of the way over the bridge sits a fuel tanker. If the ladder on its rear is used, players can get up on top and enjoy the benefits of longer sight ranges, and protection from infected at ground level.


 * There is a glitch where, if a human player climbs up onto this fuel tanker, and is incapped by a Hunter, the AI Bots will stand around on the ground as though nothing has happened to their teammate.

About halfway across the bridge is a second fuel tanker, which blocks the way, and which must be climbed. On top will usually be found a Grenade Launcher. At the front end of the fuel tanker is a bus, whose roof must be accessed by survivors in order to proceed. At this point, a horde will spawn, followed by a spontaneous explosion, which blasts a semitrailer rig out of the way, and clears the route ahead. After restocking on ammo from the rear of a white container, the survivors cross a gap in the road surface, using a steel girder (only the right-hand one gives a secure footing). Once over the gap, players can look to the right and see two arrows pointing out onto a plywood and scaffolding structure, hanging off the side of the bridge.

Once on this structure, by looking down through the cracks between the plywood sheets, an Infected will usually be seen moving around on the lower level. After dispatching this threat by firing down through the gap, players move to one end of the stucture, and carefully drop down to the lower level. Then they move back to the opposite side, and, looking down, they will see a long flight stairs, set into the side of the bridge pylon, leading down to a platform containing ammo and supplies.

Proceeding on down the stairs to their end on a bridge abutment, survivors will discover an M60 (but many players tend to walk right past it without noticing, because of no outline, and because a box of Laser Sights takes their attention instead).

The next part is relatively straightforward, since players simply wade through the river towards the boat ramp, next to a yacht club-type of structure on the bank. Climbing up a ladder to a deck, built onto this structure overlooking the river, will reveal further supplies. At the landward side of the boat ramp will be found a large group of Infected that will have to be disposed of before proceeding (a Pipe Bomb or Bile Jar is useful here). Players then enter a junkyard beneath an overhead expressway leading onto the bridge above.

The moment the survivors enter the junkyard, the expressway is bombed, debris rains down, and a Panic Event is triggered. A good idea is to stay near the right hand wall of the junkyard, so that infected can only approach from one side. Players must push forward to the end of the wall and, after traversing a short switchback, enter a second area where a safe room door is plainly visible in a structure towards the rear.