Turtle Rock Studios’ zombie shooter Back 4 Blood has that nostalgic feel to it. From the gameplay to the numeronym title, everything refers to Left 4 Dead. With a generous dose of modern design, it resembles an old-school experience. Back 4 Blood’s four-act campaign can be played by up to three players. In this episodic adventure, you pick up supplies, clear out hordes, and just survive. The story isn’t the focus of it, so I can’t tell you much. As the various zombie slayers (or “cleaners”) quarrel with one another, there is the odd cutscene.
Turtle Rock’s laid-back approach to the story here might not be for everyone in a big-budget, AAA video game. Back 4 Blood isn’t about Walking Dead drama; it’s about shooting zombies. Lots of them. Across shotguns, pistols, machine guns, submachine guns, and even melee weapons, Back 4 Blood excels. As you tear through hordes, you feel like a post-apocalyptic badass thanks to aggressive reload animations and blood-splattered gun details. Although it doesn’t require much skill, the aim-assist does most of the work for you.
While encountering the typical onslaught of enemies is not new, it usually has a positive impact on gameplay. (Unlike the outwardly similar World War Z, where the zombies never felt varied enough.) While dealing with zombies coming from all sides, you have to keep your head on a swivel in order to avoid being caught out. Sadly, your movement doesn’t match the gameplay situation well. Please add crouch-slides to all first-person shooters. We all let out a collective shiver at the mention of “endgame” content, but, for better or worse, it is here.
By completing runs, you can earn points that allow you to purchase various perk cards. These vary from stamina boosts to extra ammunition. Honestly, I don’t really see the appeal of studying spreadsheets when I have spooky vistas and zombies to look at. In fairness, Back 4 Blood’s card system impacts gameplay in a real way. Considering that this system has a seemingly endless supply of cards, you can do a lot with stamina builds.
In Back 4 Blood, there are three difficulty levels: Recruit, Veteran, and Nightmare. While reviewing, my friend and I tried Veteran and the difference was obvious. While Recruit lets you chat while casually killing zombies, stepping up requires coordination and communication. This puts an emphasis back on the card system. In the lower difficulty, corruption cards felt more like set dressing. Recruit to Veteran is perhaps too steep, but this immediately appealed to me. With Destiny Raid’s episodic structure, you won’t feel like you are signing up for a huge Destiny Raid that will take up your entire day, even if you just want to tackle one level at a time.
It was a real surprise to me when Back 4 Blood captured the essence of Irn Bru-tinged gaming sessions when I was a teen. It might not be for everyone because of the card system and difficulty levels. I can’t emphasize enough how dull this game is when you play alone with a squad of bots. This is especially true when you consider its current progression system. The key to Back 4 Blood’s success is co-op, and if you’re just playing solo, it’s hard to recommend. It may be tough to convince three other friends to buy a AAA game. While there is online matchmaking, it loses some appeal with strangers. Xbox Game Pass players are in the best position to try this one out. A zombie-killing dream team will love Back 4 Blood.
