- We are in October, my dear Gerard.
- Absolutely my dear Eric! And as we all know, in October, it's the opening of the hunt!
- And not just any hunt, Gérard! Renew your permits, because it's zombie season!
- And what is the fashionable hunting spot this year, my little Eric?
- I was impatiently awaiting this question, my dear Gerard, since this year they invaded my mother-in-law's apartment!
- Your mother-in-law did not live in the retirement home of the Domaine de la Fleur Bleue Fanée?
- Yes, but this establishment now bears the name of Back 4 Blood, why?
- Because it's not a zombie hunting area, Eric.
- And what do you call that, Gerard, wrinkled individuals who stagger slowly and endlessly wail until they have their mouth glued to your face? That's the very definition of zombies, Gerard.
- You are not wrong Eric, but renaming the retirement home where your mother-in-law lives with the name of a video game in order to violently purge it of its occupants just because they are useless, costs money money in retirement pensions and pissing off their world is not legal. Without forgetting that it is to finally touch the inheritance...
- And since when do we care? Call Manu and Jean, we found our new playground! I take care of weapons and maps.
- Cards, my dear Eric?
- We are not savages and can enjoy a game of cards after our hunting party. It goes great with knackis for the camp we'll set up to watch all those vi...zombies burn in their nests.
- What a great idea, Eric! You will always amaze me with your ingenuity worthy of the greatest genocidaires!
- Hahahaha !
Behind this skillfully thought out introduction with subtlety (or not at all), you have just unknowingly entered the world of Back 4 Blood, spiritual heir to the exciting Left 4 Dead and its sequel. And for good reason, because behind the project are the same thinking heads who have long wanted to develop a sequel. The only reasons Back 4 Blood isn't called Left 4 Dead 3 and the game didn't arrive sooner is because Valve, which owns the L4D license, isn't on board. Hence the name change and some differences. The core of the concept, however, remains the same.
But for those who don't know Left 4 Dead, a little summary after you slap yourself a few slaps for missing out. Go slap yourself, I'm waiting. Stronger, we're not weaklings here if we want to survive zombies!
Well, that'll teach you. I can educate you now.
So Left 4 Dead, just like Back 4 Blood, is a game in which you play as a member of a group of 4 survivors who must go from Point A to Point B's safe room, then from Point B to the shelter of the Point C, and so on, until you reach the end of the campaign. The game is played in cooperation and this point is extremely important, since playing it personally means the almost certain defeat of the whole group. You have to understand these poor little zombies too, you and your juicy carcass full of essential nutrients and tasty like no other. No wonder they're chasing your ass in an effort to feed!
It is therefore necessary to cover your back, take care of each other and work in teams because the zombie threats are more relentless.
However, even if the game is the spiritual sequel to Left 4 Dead, the title from Turtle Rock Studios does not rest on its laurels and offers a lot of new things to try to renew the genre, starting with the level structure. No more small independent campaigns without a real story, here we have a big campaign articulated in acts and chapters. Concretely, this does not change much, except for a more advanced narration in order to allow a real scenario to be stalled. So be careful, don't expect originality because we are dealing with a classic of the zombie infestation genre, but it's not bad to be entitled to the ins and outs of the game.
Second big change is the addition of a card system. Over the course of your successful outings, you will earn supply points which will allow you to unlock cosmetic elements for the protagonists and weapons, but also and above all cards. These bring attributes to your characters and, if the basic cards seem more or less anecdotal, once you have collected a few, you can start making and then perfecting one or more builds that bring a lot of depth and allow you to s adapt to your style of play or to create specializations, roles within the group so that you are ready in all circumstances. Add to that that each of the 8 playable characters already has its own specificities (also one of these novelties) and we have a great wealth of possibilities ranging from a fairly tanky build to the healing specialist through the attack-oriented character and all that. that there is possible between. Really very interesting, but you have to choose your cards wisely because you can only use one deck (although you can create several to be able to change specialization) of 15 cards per outing.
The rest of the gameplay is articulated as being a first person game where cooperation is crucial and this is probably the biggest problem of the game despite the collision bugs between creatures and the environment, because Back4Blood needs cooperation so badly. that it is better to communicate and play with people you know, so the random and random players of the matchmaking are of poor quality in the matter to believe in yet another Call of Duty. And the fact that the game is cross-play does not really help to limit the invasion of idiots from other platforms, even if you can play with friends - of quality, them - who play on other media. I have pages and pages of idiots reported and blocked to attest to this phenomenon which is unfortunately not specific to this game and, quickly, the moderation system shows its limits with tools that are too rigid such as, for example, the fact that you can't report a jerk right at the end of the game, it has to be during. It will also not be necessary to rely on the AI which takes over to complete a team when members are missing. Because even if she shoots with skill, for the rest, she is completely off the mark, even going at times to remain motionless instead of following you, or to find herself stuck by a small easily circumventable obstacle.
When you are in a permanent horde situation that only ends when you reach a specific point and the 3 bots do not follow you, you feel it pass badly and the insults fly out even more abundantly than during a family meal with my mother.
Apart from the campaign mode (solo campaign, online or quick game), the game offers a Swarm mode. Behind this enigmatically entomological name hides a versus mode in which 4 survivors must survive on pieces of campaign maps, under certain conditions, the attack of zombies led by 4 other players who will embody special zombies, and we then switch roles. The team with the highest score after these 2 rounds wins the game.
Rather nice, and relatively well balanced even if some times of appearances of special creatures deserve to be a bit adjusted in one way or the other depending on the creature, this mode will however not replace in my heart that of Left 4 Dead. Because the versus of Left 4 Dead was the campaign in which 4 players could embody the special infected to prevent the 4 opposing survivors from reaching the next checkpoint in furious and strategic confrontations, until the allies had succeeded in their course or until they are incapacitated by zombies.
Too bad this mod didn't come back. Because even if the Swarm mode retains a little the spirit of cooperation to succeed, concretely, we remain on a classic 4 v 4 of classes where the strategy has been set back a little on the side of the zombies, the latter being less fragile .
In any case, Back4Blood is fun, I have fun like crazy with decent players, but I still miss Left 4 Dead a little. Because although the game has the taste and the smell of it, the fire that engulfed me playing it non-stop for days and days on end is not completely present this time around precisely because of the absence of this campaign mode versus... Its absence is probably due to the fact that there is some aim assist when zooming in on consoles, but I would definitely trade that assist to find what for me made the usability and the Absolute Left 4 Dead fun.
And it is while writing these last lines that I finally realize that Left 4 Dead is dead for good. Rest In Piece Bro.
- Xbox (version testée Xbox One)
- PlayStation
- Steam
