‘Back 4 Blood’ game review: Zombies return in this powerful, adrenalin-filled rampage

In the multiplayer gaming world, before the battle royale genre took over multiplayer gaming, there was Left 4 Dead, positioned as a co-op four-player survival-horror game that unleashes zombie hordes on you. . Given developer Valve’s track record of leaving great franchises in the way — say Half-Life 3 — the wait for Left 4 Dead 3 was well worth it, and it came in the form of Back 4 Blood, the spiritual successor in everything but name. Was. Best of all, Turtle Rock Studios, the team responsible for the original, is behind the new game.

(Sign up for TODAY’s Cache, our technology newsletter, for insights on emerging topics at the intersection of technology, business and policy. Click here to subscribe for free.)

The story is as simple as it gets: a mutated virus outbreak causes the world to be overtaken by zombies known as ‘riders’. You and your friends play as survivors who have designated themselves as the ‘Cleaners’ to wipe out the infected and make the world habitable again. There are eight of them, four of which you can unlock and play – all come with their own unique stat book and are fully customizable.

fun game mechanics

However, it is not as simple as you would think; While your team is constantly overwhelmed with terrifying zombies, you’ll also have to fight large mutations. Thankfully, you have access to multiple guns and melee weapons to go ballistic. As a robber-shooter, you get even better guns along the way, so be vigilant during your fights. The game also features a rogue-like card system that lets you customize your characters by building decks to earn cards and upgrade your killing streak and style. We suggest you go full melee, strengthen your defense and become that close combat tank or make your shotgun strike more impressive.

Back 4 Blood is essentially Left 4 Dead at its core, but with snappier first-person shooter mechanics in line with today’s world, dominated by Battlefield and Call of Duty games. The guns feel comfortable and satisfying and the enemy designs are impressively bloody, especially when they splatter in the wake of your fire and fury. Look forward to the club-armed Tallboy, the long-necked Snicher that alerts the crowd, the explosive Riker and the rather nimble, four-armed Stinger.

There’s one thing that Back 4 Bloods does well: The AI ​​is called Game Director, which randomizes encounters with hordes of zombies, allowing for more replayability. Couple that with a diverse range of locations and you get a mission structure that is worth revisiting.

While the game is a lot of fun in co-op, it gets quite repetitive in solo despite a solid companion AI… in fact, the added companionship through adversity works here. There is a PvP versus mode outside the main cooperative campaign; You can play in the sandbox-style arena as either a rider or a cleaner. However, it’s wildly unbalanced with an overpowered ride and it looks like Turtle Rock needs a little more work on it.

A screenshot from the video game ‘Back 4 Blood’ in which human players ‘cleaners’ prepare to fight a special ridden zombie known as ‘Reeker’. photo Credit: Turtle Rock Studios

Back 4 Bloods looks good with simple graphics, to make sure your system’s GPU can increase the maximum body count. It’s impressive how it’s able to present so many zombies on-screen. While there is variety in the levels, the atmosphere feels a bit more boxy. The zombie design has Resident Evil-ish elements, though they do the job pretty well. The game gets it right with eight heroes who tread the line between gritty and stylish in a post-apocalyptic way. They’re all ready to kill, no weird Blizzard-esque Victoria’s Secret zombies here.

Whether you’ve played Left 4 Dead or not, Back 4 Blood offers variety to your multiplayer repertoire; It’s a powerful, adrenalin-filled rage that keeps getting better if you have a regular group of friends you can enjoy with.

The author is a tech and gaming enthusiast who hopes to finish his science-fiction novel one day