This is as close to a real Left 4 Dead 3 or next gen Left 4 Dead game as we're ever going to get. And I love it. So why? Well, it doesn't go super crazy in one direction that's completely unrelated like Back 4 Blood being more like Black Ops 2 zombies, or Warhammer being Medieval and high fantasy outer space, in fact, it actually fixed a ton of things I used to get annoyed by in both Left 4 Dead games. So first off, they fixed how the weapons were generally kind of all just ok in L4D2 instead of being all super useful like L4D1. It's somewhere in the middle where every gun is fairly useful, but ammo is slightly nerfed. So it avoids the bloat of having 3 melee weapons that are reskinned 10 times, and having 2 duplicates of the same SMG and pump action Shotgun but both are shiny. I can use two desert eagles. About time. So to compensate for the lacking ammo, they added 3d printers and buildable barricades, guns, and traps you can make with the propane. I'm glad I wasn't only one who thought it was weird when I got told to set up defenses in L4D2, but never actually had anything to set up. Unless you count throwing a gas can in a door as a "defense" when your team can't aim and just set the door on fire for no reason. There's also some achievements and little bits of lore, which is nice. You can also grind some challenges and get skins and secrets like dual wielding MP5s. It's something from the original Left 4 Dead that was cut, but they put it in this game in a way that worked well and wasn't intrusive. Melee isn't the only option anymore, and dual pistols works very well, however recognizing enemies is a bit hard sometimes. Mostly because this game has evolve aliens. So that artstyle is very visually noisy and looks like rock monsters. The thresher is probably the worst, but other than that, the rest look extremely unique, and bar one boss, none are recycled like Back 4 Blood. And they all have musical numbers with the beast and blackout being my favorites. The aliens are very dense, but the gore has reverted to L4D1 levels, so mostly droopy looking ragdolls and barely any gibbing. However they are not very fast, which makes them very easy to cheese. Although when you do some event, they will knock you out real fast. So they can be very formidable and will catch you off guard. They have two main modes, story and invasion. Story mode is the usual ordeal, point A to point B. If you have played a co-op game, you know how this works. Run to the end and troll your friends by killing them with a shotgun and get slapped by your little brother. The story maps are oddly short, but there are a decent amount of them. About 11. Most of them take 20 minutes to 1 hour depending on the difficulty. The bots are super janky, but they work well enough. I guess that's just a staple of these games. Although your ass is toast if you get knocked down above your friendly bots. Just ask anyone about bots and ladders in Left 4 Dead, they will tell you so many horror stories. Same thing in Earthfall. Fun story mode, although you won't understand most of it unless you read the lore. So it's ok. Online still works well surprisingly. Invasion is a very elaborate horde mode where the maps change and new areas open up. This is the best part of the game, and is extremely fun. If you need any reason to buy this game, that's it. Whatever issues the story mode might have are gone in invasion. The bots work very well and the gameplay is super tight. The last map is a bit janky with way too many explosives, but other than that, Invasion is awesome. If this game goes on sale, or you wonder what to do with a drunken sailor on occasion, this game will absolutely entertain. In conclusion: Unfortunately, no one has really been up to the task of making a new Left 4 Dead game like this since. World War Z is about the only one that's come close. After Jim French (Bill's voice actor) tragically died in 2013, there was no way Valve was going to continue making Left 4 Dead games hearing his suffering voice like a ghost. It was super depressing, and really killed their morale to keep making these games. I'm no Valve employee, but if I was already losing interest in making a generic zombie game I only made because some new guys we bought forced us to, I would lose any interest when I started puppeting a dead man's voice for a zombie game where he's suffering and running for his life from normal places turned into hell. That sounds haunting. So if you go into this expecting a new Left 4 Dead, you won't be disappointed unless you're taking it too seriously and start nitpicking with a fine comb. However, maybe it's ok to live knowing no one lives forever. Loss isn't forever, and death doesn't mean we can't learn and grow from the mistakes others made. If not Earthfall, someone will give life to a game just like Left 4 Dead. But if they never do, save Earthfall some sugar. That's all I ask of you. Give it a try. It really deserves it.
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