Left 4 Dead

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Certain Affinity

Left 4 Dead is a first-person shooter with a focus on group survival in a zombie-infested city. Your goal, with three other players (whether they be friends, strangers, or computer AI) is to have all four group members surviving by the end of each hour-long scenario. The game is fun enough when playing through solo with computer allies, but it really shines when you get three pals to play with you and all four of you can enjoy trying to survive together. There isn't much of a story here - four scenarios about an hour long each - but it's fun enough to play where it doesn't need much of a story to keep you coming back for more. While there are minor story bits to be found here, Left 4 Dead is all about the gameplay, and while it can feel simplistic and repetitive at times, it also feels very well done and designed in such a way where the repetition almost feels like a good thing…you’ll find yourself almost looking forward to repeating a similar situation that you just survived just because of how entertaining it was to survive it. I’ve never spent hours upon hours playing Left 4 Dead, but I do still enjoy popping it in every now and then to complete a scenario, generally by my lonesome, but this game really does shine when you’ve got some friends to shoot through the zombies with you.

Review added: 10/13/2019

Left 4 Dead 2

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Valve Software

Left 4 Dead 2 takes all of the fun of the original game, adds in a larger variety of zombies and weapons, and tweaks gameplay to create an excellent sequel. Unlike the previous game, which was pretty much just purely shooting up zombies while trying to survive with your teammates, Left 4 Dead 2 introduces mild tasks to break up the shooting (for some teammates, anyway) like collecting various gas canisters to fill up a vehicle with gas, which has a teammate grabbing gas canisters while everyone else covers them and makes sure they make it to the car…Why they’d need a full tank of gas to escape a mall littered with flesh-eating zombies, I have no idea. One would imagine that a single gas canister would be enough. Anyway, these tasks aren’t just about breaking up the shooting, but also for really making everyone work together as a team. It works really well in that regard. Left 4 Dead was a solid team-based shooter. Left 4 Dead 2 was even better. Now that it’s been over a decade, I’d love to see Valve develop a third entry in the series to see what else they can improve upon with this formula.

Review added: 10/05/2020

Lost Odyssey

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Mistwalker

When Hironobu Sakaguchi founded Mistwalker, Blue Dragon was its first release. While it wasn't a bad RPG, it wasn't quite what a lot of fans wanted from the man behind the original Final Fantasy games. Then came Lost Odyssey, and the Final Fantasy fans all celebrated. If you told someone back in 2007 that Lost Odyssey was actually the next Final Fantasy game, I bet nobody would have batted an eye. It looked and played like a beloved Final Fantasy game from years past…and thanks to Nobuo Uematsu composing the music, it sounded like a Final Fantasy game as well. Lost Odyssey is one of the best traditional RPGs to come out in the last 20 years. Without spoiling the story too much, your party consists of both immortals and mortals, with the immortals able to automatically resurrect after a few turns if they fall in battle. The immortals learn skills from being in the same party as the mortals, so the key is rotating your party members so that you can power the immortals up as much as possible. I liked this aspect, because unlike many RPGs, this encourages you to spend plenty of time playing as every single playable character. The turn-based combat also has some timed button press aspects that make the battles a little more engaging than your typical RPG. Throw in a cast of likeable characters, a compelling story, and plenty of side quests to tackle if you want more out of the game, and you've got yourself an absolutely fantastic RPG. If you're an RPG fan and you've never had the chance to give Lost Odyssey a try, I highly recommend doing so. You won't regret it.

Review added: 10/05/2020