Back 4 Blood: The better Left 4 Dead?

I don't know about you but I have been desperately waiting for Left 4 Dead 3.  I've sat here waiting for a sequel, and it never came. Then I saw Back 4 Blood and hoped it would be close to Left 4 Dead. It's so much more than Left 4 Dead. Valve if you're out there. I think you messed up by waiting so damn long to release your Left 4 Dead 3. I really hope you got something amazing in the works because Back 4 Blood is fun as hell.

Turtle Rock Studios has a gem on their hands with this game. Playing the beta had me sold on buying the full game within 20 minutes. Wasn't even a 2nd thought, this is a game I need. The game is very similar to Left 4 Dead if you are familiar with it, and it should be. Some of the original devs are behind it. Unlike Left 4 Dead your characters are more than skins. They give you different perks and they give your team some too. This means that character you pick really affects your team.

One of my favorite twists on the genre is the card system. The game director will decide what to do in every single game. It will choose some corruption cards that will affect your gameplay. Is there fog? How about ridden that are beefier and do even more damage? Since the director is drawing cards to make your mission harder it would only be fair if you got some cards up your sleeves. You start off with a premade deck of cards and can unlock more later on with supply points that you get from playing the game and completing additional challenges.

The cards can change your gameplay pretty quickly. As shown in the trailer you can specialize in a demo build, or get up close and personal with melee weapons. In the beta I found myself enjoying the card system, and it was very basic for me. I wanted to go fast, and the game let me. I was dumping all my cards into Stam so I never had to slow down. I wanna go fast, and I don't want to stop. One of the cards I found super interesting was the ability to get coins at the start of every round. It was interesting, and I'm excited to play with it more, but I feel like it's pretty weak. I didn't find myself running out of money. I was buying full life, medkits, pipe bombs, and ammo almost every round. I ended the beta run with 4k coins to spare and a fully purple AK.

With the character and card, the system explained it's time to really get into what makes the game feel great. The shooting, and movement to me feel fantastic. In Left 4 Dead 2 the aim punch from a normal zombie smacking me and slowing me down drove me insane. It really hindered the way I like playing these kinds of games. I really enjoy going fast and bob and weave. In Left 4 Dead 2 getting hit usually killed me because of where I positioned myself (in the middle of everything). I enjoyed doing this because it felt epic to be in the middle of the horde, rather than kiting them back or up on a hill. With Back 4 Blood this really isn't an issue. I was in the middle of everything all the time and it felt great. This doesn't mean you can't hang back and have some fun. Like I said I put everything into movement so I could go fast. My team was behind me and still having a blast with it.

The guns feel pretty good. I like the diversity that they are trying to create with them. The ability to change out the parts of the guns really feels great too. I'd really like to see more attachments with positives and negatives as well. My main concern is gun balance. It's a pretty common theme with my friends that we just use the AK 47. The gun for an auto seems to do the most damage and has little recoil. If you're used to shooters you won't miss because of recoil, and this is kind of a shame. I was really expecting something like Counter-Strike where the AK is really strong if you can control the recoil.

The zombie diversity in the beta was okay. I really can't wait to see what else they throw at us. The Ogre was not as epic as I was expecting and kind of felt like a gimmick. I'm sure when the director spawns him at a bad time he will feel a little more epic. A lot of the ridden we did not encounter, and I'm sure this is due to the beta being the first act. The crawler on the walls was a welcome surprise. Fun fact walls are not the only thing they can climb. Better be prepared to look in the trees...

With the game not being out and only the beta, I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. I already bought the game, and am waiting for release. I can't freaking wait. I really don't think you'll be disappointed with this game, but never the less you should never pre-order games. They will still be there after launch and the reviews are in. Of course, I ain't listening to that advice on this game.