Left 4 Dead is brilliant. And why shouldn’t it be? It was made by Valve! One of the most ingenious game studios in existence and a shining example of a developer that truly values originality, Valve is a game studio that has consistently re-defined what you are able to do with a first person shooter.

Left 4 Dead is the only TRULY CO-OP first person shooter I’ve ever played. Sure, team tactics could put you at an advantage in any first person shooter versus match or campaign run but they by no means defined the game. Developing on-the-fly strategies for dealing with tanks and badly timed hordes mixed with screams of “shotty down in front!” and “get in a corner!” DEFINE this game. And then there’s the Versus mode. Having two teams of people working together makes for good times; you barely realize you just spent an hour on the edge of your seat.

Unfortunately, this game was not designed with a douche filter. Nothing brings heart break like spending half an hour trying to find a game where no one is team killing or running through the level alone or afk. I gave up a long time ago looking for games where everyone had headsets. Recently, it’s gotten much worse. I blame Christmas for putting the game into the hands of meatheads and trigger happy Ritalin deprived 14 year olds. But like a lover whose significant other has put on too much weight and spends days watching Slice, I will wait and hope and search message boards for like minded players. I’ll wait for the douches to get bored and then L4D and I will spend happy days running through zombie infested streets together, hand in hand.