Left 4 Dead (Game of the Year Edition) (Xbox 360, 2009)

I love the zombie genre and if you feel the same then you need to check this game out. Beware though, these are not your typical slow zombies you find in a lot of movies.. these are the infected and they come fast, hard, and in numbers! Plus there are a few "special" infected to pounce, constrict, puke on, and pummel any survivors trying to reach evacuation.
For offline play, the solo campaigns are fun with a tolerable AI but is best with a friend in co-op. The online co-op is great for killing off hordes with four players, and the versus is fantastic by allowing you to control the special infected as a separate team to attack the survivors! Everything flows awesome with this game and is definitely worth checking out.

I'd owned the first edition of Left 4 Dead since it was released on November 18th, 2008. Hardly a day went buy that I did no play it. When the free survival pack was released, I downloaded it immediately as well. So why buy this version of the game, which includes no new content?

One reason would be if you have an Xbox with no hard drive. the survival pack is around 100MB, which would be a large chunk of an Arcade's 256MB of storage. Of course you can still play the other modes (campaign, versus, and offline single player) with the old disc even without the survival pack download. Versus mode is where this game shines the most, so some folks might not miss the survival pack.

For me, the main reason to buy this copy was to tell Valve thanks. They made what might be my all-time favorite Xbox 360 game. They gave us the survival pack content for free. They have brought every applicable game tweak and patch on the PC version over to the Xbox version, when they could of just left well enough alone (though I would love to see the kind of stats that PC players get to see). Valve lived up to the hype on this one, as they so often do with their games (see also the Half Life series, Team Fortress series, and Portal).

I sincerely hope they come out with a third edition of some kind, so I can buy it as well.

Any game from Valve and Gear Box is going to be a very good shooter with a good story behind it. Does anyone remember Half Life? The first person mechanics are tight and precise. Story helps you to feel involved with the other characters through their interactions and task required.
To top it all off, there are plenty of "water cooler" moments that will make your jaw hit the floor.
Just buy the game then get the sequel. It will not disappoint.

Well I have played Valve games in the past and this seemed really similar to Half life and Team Fortress, but more of a dumb downed version of them combined. This is a fun first person shooter game that's very fast and easy to play and just jump in it whenever you want. That's what I like about the game, it's a simple concept. The zombies and the Special Infected and the bigger guys (including the Witch) make it fun and add a sense of tactical effort that your team has to use in order to overcome the zombie invasion. The music is really great too which makes the player feel paranoid that a zombie can pop out of nowhere and the subtle hints in the change of music help you realize when the horde of zombies is going to come or when the big guy starts to come on the scene. All of those elements combined make it feel like a great game. However, I feel like it wasn't innovative enough. They added the molotave and the grenade which attracts the zombie, but as a whole the game doesn't feel "complete". As if it's missing something. The next game is going to feature many more weapons and melee weapons as well, so maybe that's what is missing from the first game. Overall, it's a good game that you should play if you already havn't played it. Good job, Valve!

I've played Left 4 Dead quite a few times with friends a while back. It's the only shooter game I've ever played that I'm actually decent at. That said, I was certainly willing to pay the $25 or so the Gamestop charges for a used copy, but I'd rather find it cheaper if I could. Ebay's the way to go! I decided on this particular copy for price and price alone. I just happened to win it. However, I should point out that this is not a game for children or people who scare easily. Otherwise, Left 4 Dead rocks!