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.

Teams leave the safe room and climb a series of stairs knocking off 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 a human player. A Tank can also sometimes spawn in this area. In any event, the fighting is fast and furious 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 if the human player stands on the roof at the top of the ladder).

Once the park is clear, the team heads 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, as he may well be, he should obviously be dealt with as a first priority. Thereafter, a good idea is to go left from the stairway exit, mop up there and restock on ammo from the pile found in that area. Once ready, teams 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 enemies are many.

About a third of the way over the bridge is 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 enemies at ground level. However, a glitch means that 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 ostensible 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 teams 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-painted container, the team crosses a gap in the bridge road surface using a steel girder (only the right-hand one gives a secure footing). Once over the gap, teams 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, teams move to one end of the stucture and carefully drop down to the lower level. Thereafter, they move back to the opposite side and by 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, teams will discover further supplies (e.g. a box of Laser Sights).

The next part is relatively straight forward since teams 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). Teams next enter a junkyard beneath an overhead expressway leading onto the bridge above.

The moment a team enters the junkyard, the expressway is bombed, debris rains down and a Panic Event is triggered. A good idea is to hug the right hand wall of the junkyard so that enemies can only approach from a 180 degree vector whilst pushing forwards to the end of the wall and, after traversing a short switchback, entering a second area where a safe room door is plainly visible in a structure towards the rear.

Overall, this is relatively challenging chapter featuring almost nonstop combat and some very clever design and visual elements.