Gaming’s seventh generation brought forth the ability to truly game around the world on consoles with friends and strangers alike. While systems like Sony’s Playstation 2 and Microsoft’s original Xbox had online multiplayer options, it wasn’t until Microsoft released the Xbox 360 with an updated version of its online multiplayer model – Xbox Live – that gamers really got the chance to experience dedicated multiplayer online gaming without owning a computer. Under the Valve Studios umbrella, the future Turtle Rock Studios (then “Valve South”) crafted a perfect masterpiece for the perfect time when gamers were looking for enjoyable, though easily accessible multiplayer experiences featuring zombies during the monstrous creatures’ then-recent height of popularity. Following an even more enjoyable sequel, Turtle Rock reformed away from Valve; eventually releasing the critically mixed “Evolve” that focused on PVP, four-against-one action instead of what its predecessor had to offer.
Going back to the drawing board and looking to recreate the magic they did in 2008, Turtle Rock embraced what made the “Left 4 Dead” games so famous and started working on the spiritual successor to “Left 4 Dead 2”. In August, gamers were given the chance to test out what was to come with a beta that left mixed feelings not only among the player base, but also yours truly – a person who spent triple digits numbers in terms of hours playing the “Left 4 Dead” games on the Xbox 360. With that being stated, I was excited to see the full offering and what improvements the developers made between the game’s beta and its full release.
Did I Complete “Back 4 Blood”?
Very similar to its unofficial predecessors and similar games in the genre, “Back 4 Blood” is about the grind in terms of completion. “B4B” features a quartet of acts broken up in various numbers such as “Act 4” only containing one mission even though the acts before it almost reach double digits in terms of sub-sections. In all, completing the game’s campaign can take roughly eight to ten hours on the “Recruit” difficulty level. Beyond finishing the campaign on all three difficulties is the addition of a PVP mode known as “Swarm”. In “Swarm”, teams of up to four players take on another quartet with one team playing as the special zombies known as “Ridden” in a best of three series where the environment gets more enclosed due to deadly bugs creating a dome effect. These specialized Ridden sport abilities & designs unique to their sub-categories including the acid vomiting “Retch” or the massively large, sledgehammer-like “Tallboy”.
The most necessary aspect to both learn and advance in the game is its card system. With cards earned through gameplay or purchased via in-game currency known as “Supply Points”, players will have to build card decks in an effort to strengthen a player’s team so they can make it further in the story or do well lasting in “Swarm”. There are some odd developer decisions like only the host of a campaign game online (as of this time, solo campaign play doesn’t allow for gaining achievements/trophies or “Supply Points”) can benefit from moving through the campaign instead of every “Act” being available to play initially like it was in “Left 4 Dead”. Having to go back and replay “Act 1” several times to discover this limitation added unnecessary hours of play with yours truly just being happy making it through the campaign on “Recruit” difficulty. Taking some time in “Swarm” mode reinforced the decision to have a “Horde” mode style PVP experience instead of a “Campaign Versus” offering similar to “Left 4 Dead” wasn’t a good idea.
Did “Back 4 Blood” Live Up to the Hype?
Considering the developer behind this game, it’s not surprising that jumping into this from a gameplay perspective would feel like familiar territory for experienced first-person shooter players. The player chooses one of eight characters who all sport different starting load-outs and specific abilities like Mom having an extra “life” so she’ll have to be downed three times to die instead of two like everyone else, or Walker boosting the team’s overall health. These special character traits tie into the aforementioned card system fairly well with gamers having the ability build their card decks around their favorite character like focusing on cards that buff melee damage or even potentially healing with melee kills when playing as the little bruiser Holly.
The card system is rather addictive and encourages further grinding in hopes of attaining better cards because the better the cards, the better chances of surviving those latter acts and higher difficulties. During the campaign, players will be presented with “Corruption” cards that must be chosen before a mission start. These Corruption cards vary from debilitating the players by darkening the entire area to the point of near blindness until an enemy is right on a characterer, to rewarding a team with more in-game money for all four characters making it to the safe house.
Beyond the typical weapons like guns & nail-covered baseball bats are defensive measures such as grenades, barbed wire fences, and defibrillators to revive that fallen ally (though if the players can make it further in a map after that ally dies they can find & free them from a hive to return said character back to the mission).
An interesting addition to the gunplay compared to its predecessors is attachments. At the start of each level, players can spend the other in-game currency, “copper”, that is found throughout every stage to purchase things like health kits and those Molotov cocktails. Copper can also be spent to purchase attachments for the guns currently possessed by the player, or even buy new weapons. But spending copper comes at a big cost as the currency is spread across the entire team.
So if a player is selfish and spends copper solely on themselves & their inventory it will definitely hinder another player. This choice emphasizes the team aspect in the game’s campaign and can definitely help unite players. Unfortunately, weapon attachments aren’t stored in a character’s inventory and is stuck on whatever weapon it’s attached to with the player only being able to switch a current attachment for another one, nor can a liked attachment be put on a newly found, more impressive gun that is in the same category of the currently-held firearm.
There are some big gameplay issues specifically in regards to “B4B’s” campaign. Unlike “Left 4 Dead”, there are no real musical cues to alert players a special Ridden is arriving especially the gigantic “Ogre”. But considering how many special Ridden are constantly thrown at a team, maybe having musical cues would’ve been annoying because instead of spawning one special Ridden at players at a time, the game will send a Tallboy in immediately followed by a time bomb-style Retch that, when it explodes, sends the nearby protagonists – known as “Cleaners” – flying backward and maybe even off the map. These special Ridden spawns are complemented by the massive numbers of regular Ridden that show up en masse at any given moment.
Sadly for players, luck is really necessary to be successful even if the team is cohesive. Another issue in terms of gameplay design are the maps’ openness full of options for exploration. If teammates don’t stick together they are open for a “Stinger’s” web that will pin down an ally who can only be freed by a friendly melee attack. But exploration can provide great benefits such as discovering a room that needs a toolkit to unlock the door where fantastic supplies are housed. If players take their time and explore, the game will start sending Ridden both regular and special to force the players to move – a problem that becomes more profound during higher difficulties.
AI allies are both improved from their mostly useless counterparts when playing the beta, and disappointing when compared to those friendly bots in “Left 4 Dead”. While the AI teammates will heal the player and pick off incoming Ridden, they don’t have the good sense to heal themselves with found medical cabinets or promptly reviving teammates (not to mention simply getting caught in a loop or a graphical glitch). Another odd decision is limiting continuation options for players. Not only does “Back 4 Blood” lack mission checkpoints similar to its predecessors – meaning a failed run will see players going back to the start of a level – there are also a limited number of continues after succumbing to the Ridden. While having limited continues does heighten the tension, an unexpected moment out of the players’ control can mean the difference between making it through a level or having to redo everything without the surety that it will work out next time.
Similar to the campaign’s presentation and gameplay decisions being a mixed bag is “Swarm” mode. Adopting a more “Horde” aesthetic where players use the Cleaners to take out both AI Ridden and player-controlled special Ridden, “Swarm” presents an on-screen clock to correlate with growing waves and a shrinking area cut off by the dome of vicious insects constantly buzzing around. “Swarm” is best of three rounds with the teams switching between Cleaners and Ridden with the squad that holds on the longest as the Cleaners winning the round.
Ridden players can also use copper earned by landing attacks or simply dished out randomly to upgrade the offensive and defensive measures of both types of Ridden. “Swarm’s” biggest issue has to be team number distribution. While the hope is always having a full team, there’s a good chance that won’t happen or players will drop out after losing the first round. Instead of replacing the missing player with an AI bot, the mode continues own no matter if the team is now at a disadvantage or not – completely opposite of both “Left 4 Dead” and “B4B’s” own campaign. With small maps, easy exploits as Cleaners including one-hit kills on special, character-handled Ridden due to their glowing red weak spots, and disadvantageous moments beyond a player’s control really hinders what could’ve been a fun PVP mode.
Technically, “Back 4 Blood” is admirable in terms of frame rates not dropping or causing the game to chug, hit detection mostly being reasonable, and hard crashes are pretty much nonexistent on the Xbox version. One of the most impressive features is protecting a player’s spot if said gamer gets disconnected from a session. Players will be able to pretty quickly rejoin the game’s server and, most of the time, even get back into the same game they were playing even if it was with randoms. The only issue with rejoining a game may put the player in control of another character if a new player joined during the re-connection and picked their character. Like so many games in this genre, the story is pretty forgettable with cutscenes usually focusing on moving from one point to another while shooting down mounting zombie forces until the Cleaners win.
“Back 4 Blood” has a great gameplay foundation with some detrimental developer decisions in regards to special Ridden gratuitously spawning, drastic difficulty spikes, constricting solo-play options, and a disappointing PVP mode. What could’ve been the perfect counterpart to a historic game is instead something that is hindered by innovation and odd decisions.
Should You Play “Back 4 Blood”?
One of the biggest positive aspects of “Left 4 Dead’s” co-op gameplay allowed for players both new and old to work together and, usually, do well especially on the easier difficulties. “Back 4 Blood” demands casuals to become experienced players or die constantly at the team’s expense. The card system works well in assisting players, but isn’t as critical to the core gameplay as the developers wanted without crushing difficulty spikes that, once again, will force players to re-strategize if they can, or punish the entire team if their card deck is elementary and/or they just started playing the game in general.
“Swarm” pales in comparison to what came from the “Left 4 Dead” games and definitely won’t bring long-lasting players or memories. The best option in playing “Back 4 Blood” is through “Game Pass”, but only if you have enough friends or dedicated randoms to join various sessions of blood & guts. But for those looking for a one-to-one experience similar to “L4D 2” will be sorely disappointed like that moment when a bunch of Ridden prevent you from making it off a ship set to explode in ten seconds, or the servers crash and everyone but your character is stuck in a painful loop of screams & running animations.
