If Left 4 Dead has any one problem, it’s the sheer bloody length of its campaign missions. With four chapters in a campaign, it’s perfectly possible to spend an hour blazing through zombie hordes, but with eight chapters in a versus match, games drag on.
So goes Valve’s justification for Crash Course’s half-hour, two chapter length. It all sounds a little suspect, but it turns out they’re on to something – Crash Course is shorter than L4D’s other campaigns, but it’s more intense and perfectly pitched for versus play. It takes the survivors through alleys and yards to a last stand at a truck stop, where you’ll fight off the hordes while trying to keep a generator running. It’s L4D’s best siege by far – keeping two plates spinning while wave after wave of flesh-munching freaks pour in.
At 560 points, the 360 version is 560 points more than it costs on PC, but that’s Microsoft’s fault, not Valve’s. We’re not holding it against them - this is snappier and moves faster than the other campaigns, but never feels rushed or wasted.
Oct 15, 2009
