Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead (abbreviated L4D) is a multiplayer co-operative survival horror FPS game developed by Valve Corporation. The game has been built using Source engine and is available on PC and Xbox 360.

The game puts four human playable or AI-controlled Survivors of an apocalyptic pandemic against hordes of the Infected. Regular Infected are controlled by the game AI, while human players can control up to four mutated Boss Infected with special abilities in versus mode. The goal of Left 4 Dead for the Survivors is to help each other make it through a level to safety. Infected players must cooperate to stop them.

Left 4 Dead was released on November 18, 2008 in the United States and November 21st in Europe. The game was first revealed in the Christmas 2006 publication of PC Gamer UK with a six-page article describing a playthrough at Valve's headquarters. A teaser was released with The Orange Box. The game was first playable at the Showdown 2007 LAN in San Jose and at QuakeCon 2007. A demo, initially to be released on November 6, 2008 to people who pre-ordered the game, was publicly released on November 11, 2008.

As of December 07, 2008, Left 4 Dead earned an 88 out of 100 from Metacritic. To see the info about the updates, go to Update info

The basic gameplay never changes from map to map, so players will learn their way around fairly quickly. The Director keeps things from getting monotonous, however, by throwing in different challenges in every level. No two playthroughs are exactly alike.

The Cover
Some ask what the box cover is meant to represent. Some say 4 the four fingers, represent how many survivors, playable infected, Campaigns that there are or just the title of the game as this is also very probable due to the hand being the "left" hand while only having "4" fingers while also being "dead," making up the title (Left 4 Dead).
 * It might also be a hint that their might have been originally "5" survivors seeing as the first installment of the game begins after 2 weeks of the outbreak possibly meaning that in the future, the number of playable survivors might dwindle or increase, though this is all speculation. Another speculated guess would be that the hand has some sort of significance to what transpired during the first 2 weeks, as another image of this hand being x-rayed can be seen in The Hospital level in No Mercy.

The Survivors
There are four playable human characters in the game. Every Survivor has his or her unique appearance, personality, and background, though all Survivors are equal in speed, strength, rate of fire and health etc. There is no stronger Survivor, so character choice is purely preference and not ability.

The Infected
In addition to the common Infected, there are 5 different types of Special Infected in the game. Only 4 are usable by players in Versus Mode. Each Infected has their own unique attacks and method of use, but all attempt to work in tandem to defeat the Survivors before they complete the level.