Back 4 Blood

The good news is that I'm really starting to enjoy the game. The bad news is that it took me a whole month to get to this point. I don't have a lot of time to game these days and was expecting it to be like Left 4 Dead where I could log on and get to shooting without much fuss.

But the card system, supply runs and awkward campaign mode added a layer of complication I didn't want to have to deal with.

Now that I took some more time to learn how the card system works and put more thought into that strategy I'm enjoying it more.

I hated it for the first few weeks but initially I was looking for more action without all that effort.

From what I've seen online Back 4 Blood has a lot of people hating on it and calling it boring and bland. I can completely see their point of view because coming from the Back 4 Blood Beta I knew this game wasn't ever going to break any records or blow people away. I predicted the game would get some backlash for its bare bones setup and I was on the fence about buying it but I have to say I've actually become quite addicted and am having a great time meeting new people each time to play through it with.

I'm someone who loves the classic days of games like Gears of war, Rainbow six vegas and other games including Left 4 Dead where co-op gameplay was brilliant and fun. Over the years that has become a distant memory and gave way to PVP only games stuffed with more loot boxes than you can shake a stick at, but Back 4 Blood brings the good old Co-op slaughter I love.

I'll start with the positives: Great exciting gameplay, fast paced action, lots of dangerous "Ridden" enemies, good variety of weapons, weapons feel truly unique and sound great.

The card system was more intriguing than I first thought, the characters have special 'abilities' which makes for great strategy especially on the harder difficulties. The graphics on Series X were great, the blood and guts effects are great and stand out. The co-op campaign is my favourite genre.

The negatives: Not nearly enough customisation items, repeating the same campaign missions will bore most people after a while, some of the challenges are FAR too unachievable, the matchmaking system needs work, there is simply no story.

The lack of story is one that a lot of people won't mind and while I don't care too much I can envision how they could have implemented a better story rather than 4-5 cutscenes and that's it. There is a PVP mode but I have to be honest it's not something I'm interested in and from gameplay that I've seen it doesn't look like it's going to blow your socks off (Think Gears of war Judgments beast mode)

The matchmaking for a specific mission, especially if it's a mission in the middle of an 'Act' can be brutal because you almost never find a compatible game (Xbox Series X) If you can however complete the full campaign then 'quick play' is great for simply dropping into a random mission and helping others out while earning yourself some nice supply points along the way.

For me I would have loved to see a ranking system implemented where each level you gain you unlock a new customisation item, This means more customisation items and more reason for people to continue to play so they can level up and unlock new stuff. There is a form of this In the game with the supply groups but it's not nearly as enticing. That being said I think the replay ability is to gain 'supply points' and use them to buy some of those limited Customisation items, and while some of the challenges are so far beyond what a normal player could achieve I do think this will be fun for the hardcore player to brandish a special spray, Weapon skin or character model that very few people have. While the items are limited I did find myself really excited to work towards and unlock certain items, for example recently I unlocked a gold desert eagle skin which looks great and stands out.

Overall I do agree this game is pretty bare bones right now and needs a lot of additions, both in terms of unlocks and modes/campaign maps however I found myself really addicted to the fun and challenging gameplay, the strategy of the card system, the style and graphics and finally the intrigue of what's to come with the promised DLC's. I love this game because it's a rare co-op Campaign game that you can hop on for 30 mins or 8 hours and have fun every single time. Long live Co-op games.

Special zombies not so special, why? Because every 2 minutes one after the other pops up making them feel like ordinary zombies and good lord the regular infected design is terrible another thing to point out is the games sound design isn't very good compared to left 4 dead. Had tried to turn on my flashlight but discovered it automatically turns on whenever I enter a dark room but what if I want to leave my flashlight on like in left 4 dead. What I did enjoy was the gunplay and I guess grinding to unlock stuff look the game isn't bad but its not good either. This game is far from what left 4 dead did.

Having never played the earlier left for dead games, I am not comparing it to those and can't speak for the people who loved those games, although this makes me want to go try those ones now. I'm someone who spent a ton of time with BO2 zombies and WAW zombies back in the day so that's what I'm comparing them to. The game has little to no story, unless you wanna dig into it which I don't. What this game is is mindless shoot the bad guys with friends fun. I've spent a few late nights blasting away without thinking about anything. Sure the cards are a bit confusing at first but you can just pick them randomly without it hurting the game, but they will enhance it if you care. Even my wife who doesn't play much other than zombies played a bit and really enjoyed it. I did try to play alone and gave up pretty quick so if you don't have friends then don't bother but if you like getting 4 friends together and just having fun I would recommend it.

Turtle Rock promised us that Back 4 Blood is a "spiritual successor", but in reality, everything has changed. The Infected, now called the Ridden, are pretty slow, unlike Left 4 Dead, where the fast-paced zombies can be intense. There's also a new card system, which is complicated. Each character has a serving purpose, making you HAVE to choose a character that fits your playstyle, where in Left 4 Dead, all you do is choose a character and choose a weapon. No character has a specific purpose. There are only 4 types of ridden: Normal, Tallboys, Stingers and Reekers, but in exchange have sub-classes. The map design isn't good, but it isn't bad. It's just generic. Overall, the game isn't fun, the characters aren't funny, the map design is alright (I'll give it that), and the campaign is short. The reason Left 4 Dead is easy to pick up, is because it's simple. The on-screen directions cause no confusion, making it easy to learn it. I personally didn't like it, but I hope you do.