Tuesday, 12 October 2021

Despite disappointments, Back 4 Blood is a bloody good time that fans will love.

While the last decade has spawned an abundance of zombie games, we haven't a return of the co-op zombie shooter genre that Turtle Rock Studios once debuted with Left 4 Dead. These games have maintained a strong community of players over the years, still among the most played PC games, but there's only so much to squeeze out all these years later. Like the thousands of zombies that they've hacked, slashed, and blasted apart, Left 4 Dead fans are hungry — not for the flesh of the living, but sinking their teeth into a fresh new experience.

Enter Back 4 Blood, Turtle Rock Studios' spiritual successor to its beloved Left 4 Dead franchise. It sports fan-favorite features from Left 4 Dead, including an AI Director system and special mutated zombies. However, from modern shooter mechanics to deck-based build crafting, Back 4 Blood promises a creative take on Left 4 Dead's hit formula.

I've been excited to play ever since I went hands-on with the Back 4 Blood beta this summer, and now that it's here, I'm confident in saying that Back 4 Blood is the "Left 4 Dead 3" that myself and many others desire. There are some things that disappoint me, but overall, Back 4 Blood is a bloody good time that any fan of Left 4 Dead (or any other co-op shooter) will love.

Back 4 Blood

Bottom line: Despite a few shortcomings, Back 4 Blood is nevertheless an excellent and fresh take on the beloved Left 4 Dead formula.

The Good

  • Fantastic gunplay
  • Card system is genius
  • Excellent level design
  • Fun characters

The Bad

  • No solo progression
  • No Versus mode
  • Stuttering issues

$60 at Amazon (Xbox) $60 at Microsoft (Xbox) $54 at GMG (Steam)

Disclaimer: This review was made possible by a review code provided by WB Games. The company did not see the contents of the review before publishing.

Back 4 Blood: What you'll like

Back 4 Blood is essentially everything that made Left 4 Dead so good, but better. Gunplay and movement feel great thanks to snappy arcade-style animations and the addition of sprinting and clambering. There are also tons of different weapons that you can find scattered throughout each level. Each one fills a unique role in the game's wider sandbox; for example, assault rifles and light machine guns are ideal for mowing down crowds of regular zombies, while sniper rifles and shotguns deal huge chunks of damage when targeting weak spots. There are also plenty of weapon attachments you can find or buy with Copper (money obtained via gameplay) that allow you to buff and tweak weapon performance. Back 4 Blood's arsenal of support items includes Left 4 Dead classics like pills, medkits, and pipe bombs, plus new items like razor wire fences, firecrackers, and tool kits.

Category Back 4 Blood
Title Back 4 Blood
Developer Turtle Rock Studios
Publisher WB Games
Genre Co-op shooter
Game Size 40GB
Players Multiplayer
Launch Price $60

In terms of the zombies, Back 4 Blood's roster of special infected isn't quite as large as its predecessor's. Regardless, there are plenty of threats looming, from tanky Tallboys that soak up damage and deal heavy melee attacks, Hockers that pin players down with adhesive goop, and Snitchers that attract hordes if disturbed. There are also several boss-style zombies, such as the gargantuan Ogre, or the aggressive Breaker that resembles Left 4 Dead's Tank.

Back 4 Blood's card system gives players many fun opportunities for build crafting.

The game's standout feature is its card system, which players can engage with to create decks of helpful stat-boosting cards like increasing health, improving damage output, or buffing healing items. Players can include up to 15 cards in their decks, and at the start of each level, they'll be given an opportunity to select one card to activate from their lineup. Completing levels earns supply points, which can then be spent on new cards, or cosmetics like skins and sprays. I've had a ton of fun putting together specialized card decks for becoming a melee juggernaut, keeping teammates healed up, or dealing huge damage to special infected with weak spot crits.

There's a catch, though — the Ridden can also activate Corruption Cards of their own that force you to deal with new challenges. These can include thick fog that blankets the next level, a tougher variant of a special infected, or additional sources of noise that can attract hordes like security alarms on doors. These Corruption Cards add a nice twist to the gameplay, and when you combine them with the AI Director's dynamic weapon, equipment, and enemy spawns, there's an incredibly replayable experience here.

I also love Back 4 Blood's level design. It's got plenty of meticulously designed locales that demand cooperative play, which prevents people from cheesing each level in speed runs. This is one of my biggest issues with the Left 4 Dead games, and I'm glad Turtle Rock Studios made Back 4 Blood's levels harder to exploit. There are also several levels that task players with rescuing survivors and recovering important supplies, and these objectives offer a nice change of pace compared to the standard "reach the safe room" levels.

Finally, Back 4 Blood's characters are fun to play as thanks to their unique personalities and humorous voice lines, and they all bounce off of each other well. For example, the nervous and jumpy Evangelo is contrasted nicely by Doc's stoic no-nonsense attitude, and I've enjoyed hearing their quips to one another as I've shot and chopped my way through the undead army. Considering these are characters that players are going to spend a lot of time with, it's good that they're likable.

Back 4 Blood: What you'll like less

The decision to lock solo players out of Back 4 Blood's progression is baffling.

The biggest issue I have with Back 4 Blood is that it doesn't allow solo players to earn supply points to unlock new cards and cosmetics. It's true that Back 4 Blood is meant to be played as a multiplayer game, but some players don't have friends to play with and don't enjoy playing games with strangers. The decision to completely cut them off from making any progress towards new cards and cosmetics is baffling, and I hope Turtle Rock Studios reconsiders their position on this in the future.

Secondly, there's no PvP Versus mode, which is quite a disappointment. It's replaced by a mode called Swarm in which a team playing as the humans has to hold out as long as possible against a team of player-controlled Ridden. The mode is fun, but it shouldn't be replacing the fan-favorite Versus mode that allowed players to control Ridden in Left 4 Dead's campaign levels.

Finally, I experienced some annoying stuttering while playing Back 4 Blood on both Xbox and PC. It didn't happen very often, but when it did, it made it incredibly difficult to fight the zombie hordes and even led to my death in one instance. It's not a game-breaking issue since it doesn't happen frequently, but it should nevertheless be addressed.

Back 4 Blood: Should you play it?

Despite Back 4 Blood's solo restrictions, stuttering issues, and the lack of a Versus PvP mode, it's ultimately still a fantastic spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead that any fan of Turtle Rock Studios' original franchise shouldn't miss.

4 out of 5

Without a doubt, Back 4 Blood is easily one of the best Xbox shooters available if you enjoy co-op. And while the game does have a few disappointing aspects now, I'm hoping that the developers will be willing to lift solo play restrictions and add in a Versus mode moving forward.

Back 4 Blood

Bottom line: Back 4 Blood is the "Left 4 Dead 3" that fans have been waiting for, although the lack of solo progression and a Versus PvP mode will undoubtedly bother some.

$60 at Amazon (Xbox) $60 at Microsoft (Xbox) $54 at GMG (Steam)



Related Posts:

0 comments:

Post a Comment

ShortNewsWeb

Blog Archive

Categories

'The Woks of Life' Reminded Me to Cook With All the Flavors I Love (1) 10 Scary Podcasts to Listen to in the Dark (1) 11 Ways to Automate Your Life (and Get Back More Free Time) (1) 13 of the Best Spooky Episodes From (Mostly) Un-Spooky Shows (1) 13 Spooky Movies Set on Halloween Night (1) 16 of the Best Ways to Declutter Your Home (1) 1Password Now Generates QR Codes to Share Wifi Passwords (1) 2024 (15) 21 Thanksgiving Movies About Families As Screwed-Up As Yours (1) 30 Movies and TV Shows That Are Basically 'Competence Porn' (1) 30 of the Most Obscenely Patriotic Movies Ever (1) 31 Spooky Movies to Watch Throughout October (1) 38 of the Best Queer Movies of the Past 100 Years (1) 40 Netflix Original Series You Should Watch (1) 55 Box Office Bombs Totally Worth Watching (1) Active Directory (1) Adobe's AI Video Generator Might Be as Good as OpenAI's (1) AIX (1) and I'd Do It Again (1) and It's Not Worth the Price Hike (1) and Max Bundle Isn't a Terrible Deal (1) and the Dreo Solaris Is the Best Space Heater I’ve Tried (1) and These Are My Favorite Tech Deals From Walmart’s Black Friday Sale (1) and These Water-Resistant Running Shoes Are a Game Changer (1) and They're All on Sale for Black Friday (1) Apache (2) Apple Intelligence Is Running Late (1) Apple Intelligence's Instructions Reveal How Apple Is Directing Its New AI (1) Apple Passwords Is Now on Firefox (but Not for Windows Users) (1) Apple's Latest Update Might Have Opted You Back Into Apple Intelligence (1) August 18 (1) August 4 (1) August 5 (1) Avoid an Allergic Reaction by Testing Your Halloween Makeup Now (1) Backup & Restore (2) best practices (1) bleepingcomputer (115) Blink Security Cameras Are up to 68% Off Ahead of Prime Day (1) Bluesky Has Trending Topics Now (But You Can Disable Them) (1) CentOS (1) CES 2025: Asus' Zenbook A14 Is the Lightweight Laptop My Back Wishes I Had (1) CES 2025: Govee’s New Pixel Light Will Remind You of a Lite Brite (1) Configure PowerPath on Solaris (1) Congress Might Ban DeepSeek (1) Documents (2) Don't Buy the New iPad Air (1) Don't Fall for This 'New' Google AI Scam (1) Don't Rely on a 'Monte Carlo' Retirement Analysis (1) Eight Cleaning Products TikTok Absolutely Loves (1) Eight of the Best Methods for Studying so You Actually Retain the Information (1) Eight Unexpected Ways a Restaurant Can Mislead You (1) Elevate Your Boring Store-Bought Pretzels With This Simple Seasoning Technique (1) Even Steam Has Malware Now (1) Everything Announced at Apple's iPhone 16 Event (1) Everything I'm Seeding in February (1) file system (6) Finally (1) Find (1) Find a Nearby ‘Gleaning Market’ to Save Money on Groceries (1) Five Red Flags to Look for in Any Restaurant (1) Five Ways You Can Lose Your Social Security Benefits (1) Flappy Bird's Creator Has Nothing to Do With Its 'Remake' (1) Four Reasons to Walk Out of a Job Interview (1) Four Signs Thieves Are Casing Your House (1) gaming (1) Goldfish Crackers Have a New Name (for a Little While) (1) Grok Is Now Available Without an X Account (1) Hackers Now Have Access to 10 Billion Stolen Passwords (1) How I Finally Organized My Closet With a Digital Inventory System (1) How I Pack Up a Hotel Room So I Don’t Forget Anything (1) How Opening Multiple Bank Accounts Helped Me Manage My Money Better (1) How to Buy Residency in Another Country With a 'Golden Visa' (1) How to Cancel Your Amazon Prime Membership After Prime Day Is Over (1) How to Choose the Best Weightlifting Straps for Your Workout (1) How to Do Fartlek Runs (and Seven Different Kinds to Try) (1) How to Enable (and Turn Off) Apple Intelligence on an iPhone (1) How to Get Free Car Maintenance and Repair Work (1) How to Get Started With Bluesky (1) How to Keep Squirrels Off Your Bird Feeders (1) How to Mute Words and Phrases on Your Bluesky Feed (1) How to Protect Your Kids From Identity Theft (1) How to Remotely Control Another iPhone or Mac Using FaceTime (1) How to Set Up Your Bedroom Like a Hotel Room (and Why You Should) (1) How to Speak With a Real Person at Target Customer Service (1) How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac (1) How to Take Full Control of Your Notifications on a Chromebook (1) How to Track Your 2024 Federal Tax Refund (1) How to Use Picture-in-Picture Mode on an Android Phone (1) How to Write SMART Goals That Actually Help You Reach Your Fitness Dreams (1) Hulu (1) I Chose the Beats Fit Pro Over the AirPods Pro (1) I Tested Grok 3 (1) I'd Recommend These Seven Outdoor Security Cameras I've Tested (1) I'm a Runner (1) I'm a Shopping Writer (1) I’m Always Cold (1) If You Got a Package You Didn't Order (1) If You Hate Running (1) Important Questions (17) Install and Configure PowerPath (1) interview questions for linux (2) Is ‘Ultra-Processed’ Food Really That Bad for You? (1) Is Amazon Prime Really Worth It? (1) It Might Be a Scam (1) July 14 (1) July 21 (1) July 28 (1) July 7 (1) June 30 (1) LifeHacker (214) Linux (36) Make and Freeze Some Roux Now for Easy Turkey Gravy (1) Meredith's Training Diaries: How I Crushed My Marathon Personal Record (1) Meta Releases Largest Open-Source AI Model Yet (1) Monitoring (3) music (688) My Favorite 14TB Hard Drive Is 25% Off Right Now (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Max (2) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Apple Pencil Pro (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Nest Mesh WiFi Router (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Google Pixel 8 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: PlayStation 5 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: Samsung Odyssey G9 Gaming Monitor (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: SHOKZ OpenMove Bone Conduction Headphones (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The 13-Inch M3 Apple MacBook Air (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Beats Pill Portable Speaker (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Garmin Forerunner 955 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Garmin Venu 3S (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Google Pixel 9 Pro (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Kindle Colorsoft Signature Edition (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Microsoft Surface Pro (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Sonos Era 100 (1) My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: These Bose QuietComfort Headphones (1) My Favorite Tools for Managing Cords and Cables (1) Nagios (2) Newtorking (1) NFS (1) Now Is a Good Time to Buy a Refurbished M-Series MacBook (1) OMG! Ubuntu! (688) OpenAI Just Introduced More Ways to Use ChatGPT on WhatsApp (1) Opera’s New Browser Is Built to Break Your Doomscrolling Habit (1) Oracle Linux (1) oracleasm (3) osnews (34) Oura’s Readiness Score Finally Takes Menstrual Cycles Into Account (1) Password less communication (1) Patching (2) Pixel Studio Is the Easiest (If Not the Best) Way to Make AI Art on Your Pixel 9 (1) Poaching Is the Secret to Perfect Corn on the Cob (1) powerpath (1) Prioritize Your To-Do List By Imagining Rocks in a Jar (1) Red Hat Exam (1) register (128) Rsync (1) Safari’s ‘Distraction Control’ Will Help You Banish (Some) Pop Ups (1) Samba (1) Samsung Just Announced the Galaxy S25 Series (1) Save Time and Air Fry Your Pumpkin Pie (1) Scrcpy (1) September 1 (1) September 15 (1) September 2 (1) September 22 (1) September 23 (1) September 30 (1) September 8 (1) Seven Home 'Upgrades' That Aren’t Worth the Money (1) Seven Things Your Credit Card’s Trip Protection Won’t Actually Cover (1) Six of the Most Common Tax Myths in 2025 (1) Six Unexpected Household Uses for Dry-Erase Markers (1) ssh (1) Stop Your iPhone From Sharing Photos' Data With Apple (1) Swift Shift Is the Window Management Tool Apple Should Have Built (1) System hardening (1) Tailor Your iPhone's Fitness Summary to Your Workouts (1) Target’s ‘Circle Week’ Sale Is Still Going After October Prime Day (1) Target’s Answer to Prime Day Starts July 7 (1) Tech (9584) Tech CENTRAL (47) Technical stories (200) technpina (12) The 30 Best Movies of the 2020s so Far (and Where to Watch Them) (1) The 30 Best Sports Movies You Can Stream Right Now (1) The Beats Solo 4 Are 50% Off Right Now (1) The Best Deals on Robot Vacuums for Amazon’s Early Prime Day Sale (2) The Best Deals on Ryobi Tools During Home Depot's Labor Day Sale (1) The Best Early Prime Day Sales on Power Tools (1) The Best Last-Minute Valentine's Day Gift Ideas for Under $30 (1) The Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch on Netflix This Month (1) The Best October Prime Day Deals If You Are Experiencing Overwhelming Existential Dread (1) The Best Places to Go When You Don't Want to Be Around Kids (1) The Best Places to Order Thanksgiving Dinner to Go (1) The Best Strategies for Lowering Your Credit Card Interest Rate (1) The Best Way to Clean a Microwave (1) The Best Ways to Store All Your Bags and Purses (1) The Boox Note Air 4C Is a Color E-Reader and Digital Notebook in One (1) The Easiest Way to Free Up Disk Space on Your Mac (1) The Latest watchOS Beta Is Breaking Apple Watches (1) The Marshall Emberton II Speakers Are $70 Off for Black Friday (1) The New Disney+ (1) The PowerSchool Breach May Have Compromised Over 70 Million Users' Data (1) The Real Cost of Using a Nespresso Machine (1) The Samsung Galaxy Buds 3 Pro Are $60 Off for Black Friday (1) The Two Best Times of Year to Look for a New Job (1) the X Rival Everyone's Flocking To (1) There's a Fix for Apple Mail's Weird Archiving Behavior (1) These Anker Soundcore Sport X10 Earbuds Are Cheaper Than Ever (1) These Bissell Vacuums Are on Sale Ahead of Black Friday (and They're All Great) (1) These Googly Eyes Will Help You Find Your Mac's Cursor (1) These Meatball Shots Are My Favorite Football Season Snack (1) These Milwaukee Tools Are up to 69% off Right Now (1) This 2024 Sony Bravia Mini-LED TV Is $400 Off Right Now (1) This 75-Inch Hisense ULED 4K TV Is $500 Off Right Now (1) This App Lets You Create Automations Your Mac Usually Doesn’t Support (1) This Google Nest Pro Is 30% Off for Prime Day (1) This iPhone and Mac App Lets You Edit Your Bluesky Posts (1) This MagSafe-Compatible Power Bank Is 40% Off for Black Friday (1) This Peanut Butter Latte Isn’t As Weird As It Sounds (1) This Safari Extension Gives You More Control Over Your Reddit Feed (1) This Tech Brand Will Get the Biggest Discounts During Prime Day (1) This TikTok Upholstery Cleaning Hack Actually Works (1) Three New Things We Know About the Nintendo Switch 2 (1) Three Quick Ways to Shorten a Necklace (1) Three Services People Don't Know They Can Get From Their Bank for Free (1) TikTok's '5x5' Cleaning Method Is Great If You're Short on Time (1) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Monday (4) Today’s Wordle Hints (and Answer) for Sunday (11) Try 'Pile Cleaning' When Your Mess Is Overwhelming (1) Try 'Pomodoro 2.0' to Focus on Deep Work (1) Try 'Rucking' (1) Ubuntu News (352) Ubuntu! (1) Unix (1) Use the ‘Organizational Triangle’ to Keep Your House Neater (1) Use This App to Sync Apple Reminders With Your iPhone Calendar (1) Use This Extension to Find All Your X Followers on Bluesky (1) Use TikTok's 'Rage Cleaning' Trend to Get Your Place Spotless (1) veritas (2) Videos (1) Warner Bros. Is Uploading Classic Movies to YouTube for Free (1) Was ChatGPT Really Starting Conversations With Users? (1) Watch Out for These Red Flags in a Realtor Contract (1) Wayfair Is Having a '72-Hour Closeout' Sale to Compete With Prime Day (1) We Now Know When Google Will Roll Out Android 15 (1) What Is the 'Die With Zero' Movement (and Is It Right for You)? (1) What Not to Do When Training for a Marathon (1) What to Do When Your Employer Shifts Your Pay From Salary to Hourly (1) What to Look for (and Avoid) When Selecting a Pumpkin (1) What to Wear to Run in the Cold (1) What's New on Max in December 2024 (1) What's New on Netflix in March 2025 (1) What's New on Prime Video and Freevee in September 2024 (1) Where to Stream Every Nominated Movie Before the 2025 Oscars (1) Why the Apple TV App Is Better on Android Than iPhone (1) Why You Can't Subscribe to Disney+ and Hulu Through Apple Anymore (1) Why You Might Want to Avoid the Latest Chromecast Update (1) Why Your Home Gym Needs Adjustable Kettlebells (1) Windows (5) You Can Easily Add Words to Your Mac's Dictionary (1) You Can Fight (and Avoid) Your Landlord's Cleaning Fees (1) You Can Get 'World War Z' on Sale for $19 Right Now (1) You Can Get a Membership to BJ's for Practically Free Right Now (1) You Can Get Beats Studio Buds+ on Sale for $100 Right Now (1) You Can Get Microsoft Visio 2021 Pro on Sale for $20 Right Now (1) You Can Get This 12-Port USB-C Hub on Sale for $90 Right Now (1) You Can Get This Roomba E5 Robot Vacuum on Sale for $170 Right Now (1) You Can Hire Your Own Personal HR Department (1) You Can Search Through Your ChatGPT Conversation History Now (1) You Can Set Different Scrolling Directions for Your Mac’s Mouse and Trackpad (1) You Need Beneficiaries for More Accounts Than You Think (1) Your DeepSeek Chats May Have Been Exposed Online (1) Your Verizon Bill Just Got a Little More Expensive (1)

Recent Comments

Popular Posts

Translate

My Blog List

Popular

System Admin Share

Total Pageviews