Left 4 Dead

1001 Video Games

Left 4 Dead appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Censored cover art

• The Japanese cover art for the game is slightly censored.
• In the Windows version, the hand's thumb (which is severed in the original cover art) is covered by a small label which says "Best of E3" on it. And in the Xbox 360 version, the thumb isn't missing, it's simply held down, hidden under the palm.
• The German cover art for the game is also censored, as it usually is over there. However, the uncensored cover art can be found underneath the outer paper slipcover.

German version

Besides the cover art differences described above, there a number of other changes to the German version: * The intro misses the cut off thumb and some blood. There are additional cuts in the Xbox 360 version. * Other Survivors don't bleed when shooting them * All splatter effects (cut off limbs and exploding heads) were removed * Killed enemies disappear instantly * There are no special animations for burning enemies * Xbox 360 only: Blood was recoloured green (infected) respectively grey (survivors and other instances) and bleeding does no longer effect the textures of wall or floor.

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

Japanese release

Funnily enough, the Japanese PC version of the game is unrated. It does not have a CERO rating (unlike the XBox 360 version, which was rated Z, equivalent to the ESRB's Mature / Adults Only ratings, PEGI's 18+ rating, and the OLFC's 15+ rating).

References

One of the game's achievements, "Zombie Genocidest", asks the player to kill a total of 53,595 infected. This is a reference to the "Zombie Genocider" achievement in Dead Rising, which asks the player to kill 53,594 zombies. The Crash Course download campaign even adds a new achievement, "The Littlest Genocide", which tasks the player with killing 5,359 zombies on that particular campaign.

References to the game

Left 4 Dead was parodied in an episode of "Die Redaktion" (The Editorial Team), a monthly comedy video produced by the German gaming magazine GameStar. It was published on the DVD of issue 06/2009.

Recycled content

Left 4 Dead recycles a lot of content from previous Valve games. Examples: The sound indicating an incoming horde is from the "On a Rail" chapter of Half-Life. * Various weapon sounds are taken from similarly functioning weapons in Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life: Counter-Strike. * The gas can looks and functions like the way it did in Half-Life 2, with the exception that Half-Life 2's gas can didn't ignite the environment around it, only enemies. * Map props from assorted Counter-Strike: Source maps can easily be spot . * The Tank moves just like the way Dog does in Half-Life 2.*

Awards

• GAME British Academy Video Games Awards

• 2009 - Multiplayer Game Award

• GamePro (Germany)

• February 26, 2009 - Best Console Multiplayer Game in 2008 (Reader's Voting)

• GameSpy

  • 2008 – #3 Game of the Year
  • 2008 – #3 PC Game of the Year
  • 2008 – #4 Xbox 360 Game of the Year
  • 2008 – Multiplayer Game of the Year
  • 2008 – Multiplayer Game of the Year (Readers' Vote)
  • 2008 – PC Action Game of the Year
  • 2011 – #11 Top PC Game of the 2000s
• GameStar (Germany)

• February 26, 2009 - Best PC Multiplayer Game in 2008 (Reader's Voting)

• Golden Joystick Awards

• 2009 - Online Game of the Year

Information was also contributed by 雷堂承太朗 -djsw-, Nelson340, piltdown man and sgtcook.