Apocalyptic Survival is a game genre swarming the market: Lollipop Chainsaw, Dead Space 3, and Half Life are all amazing titles.

But the game that first sparked public interest in this now popular genre was Left 4 Dead.

Is the success of this series because of its graphics, gameplay or originality?  The first game’s release in November 2008, and its anticipated sequel Left 4 Dead 2 in November 2009 ,sparked worldwide interest in the topic of man-eating corpses walking the earth. This game is cheap now and is still a fun party game, but is it worth it?

The game was the first of its kind – introducing objective based zombie apocalypse games to the market. Team based gameplay was indirectly implemented as players must stick together or with their AI counterparts if they are playing alone, or else.

The overall difficulty lies within the zombie types and controls. The zombies come in a wide variety, and the games special infected also adds diversity.

Unlike other first person shooters, Left 4 Dead’s control scheme is unique, not in how the character is handled, but in the screen. Most weapons in L4D have a usable scope. However, using it gives you a large blind spot.

The second game, L4D2, is definitely  a step up from the first. More realistic graphics, more common infected models, more special infected, and others. The new common infected give the player a better sense of realism, while the new special infected make sure the player doesn’t spend too much time enjoying the new scenery.

Left 4 Dead was a real gem when it came out. But it has certainly been surpassed by other, newer games in the genre. But the game still lives on, cheaper and still fun. So, is it worth it?  Play it and decide for yourself!