Left 4 Dead – Crash Course Pack
October 6, 2009 - With only a few months until Left 4 Dead 2, Valve has just released an update for the original Left 4 Dead with additional downloadable content to fulfill the zombie butcher within you.
Known as Crash Course this two chapter expansion is a little shorter than the original campaigns which launched with the game back in November ‘08. It gives you a good excuse to boot the game up for some brutal sessions before the sequel arrives.
For Xbox 360 owners you may feel like you’re being screwed since you have to pay 560 MS points ($7 – £5) where PC owners receive it for free.
Whether you find yourself purchasing the content or not, Crash Course gives your another opportunity to slaughter hundred’s of infected by yourself with the computer AI or bring your online buddies along for the ride.
Within the content you have the Campaign mode maps which clocks in about an hour average with friends or alone and this also includes Versus mode where you defend yourself from the human controlled living dead.
It also comes with two new survival maps where the survivors try to survive endless waves of the infected for as long as possible, this was originally released back in February ‘09 along with two full campaigns of Death Toll and Dead Air for versus mode.
The mission starts with the survivors surrounding a crashed down helicopter from the end of the No Mercy campaign, sadly for the passengers the pilot had also became infected which causes the events for the chopper to crash land, there’s no special cut-scene but you get the meaning of what happened from the survivors while they talk among themselves.
Throughout your night out on the tiles you come across empty warehouse buildings and abandoned vehicles while wandering the empty streets in search for another escape vehicle.
The levels are pretty crammed together for the most part which provides even more tension because you don’t know where the next set of horde and bosses will be appearing from. Luckily Valve has been kind enough to toss in plenty of weapons, ammo and explosives to help you through to the end.
If your the hardcore player of Left 4 Dead or a novice, the same components are found here as in the original maps. Hunters lurking in the shadows waiting to pounce, smokers approaching from alleys to the rooftops, and the humble Boomer waiting to hurl it’s vomit and bile.
Witches are less frequent but can still be heard whimpering in the hard to spot shadows. As before they will be in your direct path with the only way to get past is to flick the torches off and sneak past.
The disgruntled and monstrous Tank also makes a re-appearance just when you think everything is going hunky-dory and lucky for you with the majority of the chapters having building interiors with narrow openings you can take the Tank down from a safe distance, just watch out for those hurling slabs of concrete.
The majority of the chapters are just shooting and keeping together as a strong team like before. A few instances will have you needing to activate a device.
These are the only ways to proceed forward within the stage such as blowing up a roadblock on a bridge with a Howitzer since the safe room is on the other side of the bridge. The second sequence has you powering up a generator which will give you and the others access to the escape vehicle. Once powered up you must defend yourselves while the vehicle is lowered from the ceiling.
Both these locations are also the settings for the Survivals levels, with both being very open it takes team strategy to complete on the hard modes. The clock will feel slow with the mass influx of infected attempting to obtain your brains, and their will be invasions to the later stages.
Crash Course isn’t anything new we’ve seen in the previous stages of the game, just new layouts and finale scenes. It’s good for those who want a quick game since both scenes clock shorter and it has the bonus of extra achievements.
It won’t amaze you but it’s good for the price to hook up with friends on a Friday night.
If you find yourself undecided on whether or not to purchase Crash Course for the Xbox 360 and short on cash, I suggest waiting for Left 4 Dead 2 which is merely a month away from release and will feature plenty of new features that Crash Course won’t be able to offer.
If you want to buy the content regardless of the price, then go for it. It will offer plenty of fun and is very reasonable for the Xbox 360 price even though PC owners can have it for free.
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