Left 4 dead Versus Nazi Zombies

[nomore]

Gameplay
In Left 4 Dead, the dreaded zombie apocalypse has finally occurred, and most of humanity has turned into a ravenous swarm hungry for succulent human flesh. A handful of survivors are immune to the zombie virus and, armed with weapons real and makeshift, must battle their way to a series of safe houses that ultimately lead to salvation and rescue. It's a thrilling tale of survival and horror, punctured by plenty of bullets and explosions.

In Call of Duty: World at War, you don't have much time to pat yourself on the back after crushing the Third Reich, because after the credits roll you find yourself facing hordes of Nazi Zombies. So you and three others must defend a bunker against unending waves of Nazi zombies, with each successive wave more challenging than the previous one. You gain points for killing zombies and repairing barricades and these points can be spent to purchase weapons, ammo, and to unlock rooms to the bunker. However, there is no salvation at the end of this game, as the zombies are a metaphor for the inescapable nature of death. You can fight to prolong your life as long as possible, but eventually the zombies will get you.

Winner: Left 4 Dead. There's a lot more depth and adventure to it. Plus, the fact that you can win makes it slightly less morbid.

Setting
If there's one weakness to Left 4 Dead it's the limited number of scenarios. Still, each of the four scenarios in the game has five levels that cover everything from forests, cities, sewers, and even an airport. There are 20 level totals, which is a boatload compared to Nazi Zombies' lone level, which is set in a drab bunker in the middle of a torn-up battlefield. Think of it as a concrete tomb.

Winner: Left 4 Dead. Not much of a contest here.

Zombie Variety
It's easy to feel sympathy at times for the zombies in Left 4 Dead. Clad in the clothes they were wearing when they got infected, you encounter former cops, soldiers, stylish young women, grandpas, and more. In the airport levels, it's not unusual to blast zombie pilots and TSA personnel, as well as a flight attendant or two. You run into the whole fabric of society, all now the walking dead. On the other hand, there aren't many qualms about blasting the zombies in Nazi Zombies, especially when they're wearing Wehrmacht uniforms. Take that, Fritzy!

Winner: Left 4 Dead.

Zombies Behavior
Nazi Zombies adheres to the original zombie concept, which is basically a shambling, walking corpse with poor coordination. Sure, the zombies get faster and tougher the further you get into the game, but ultimately they look and move like zombies should. Left 4 Dead goes for a more modern, revisionist take on zombies. These zombies are less like walking dead and more like enraged people. They sprint at you, leap over fences, and have a rage and purpose to their movements. Then there are the boss zombies, like the corpulent boomer that vomits on you, or the lanky smoker with his frog-like tongue. It's just not what you expect when you think zombie.

Winner: Nazi Zombies. What can we say? We like old fashioned zombies.

Single-Player Gameplay
It's possible to play Left 4 Dead by yourself, as the game will provide three decent bots to fill out the rest of your team. These bots are competent enough that you could make it through the scenarios on the default difficulty level, but at advanced and expert it becomes very difficult. Nazi Zombies, on the other hand, doesn't offer bots to help you out, and that makes things a lot harder, not to mention less fun. You definitely need to be playing with at least one other player in Nazi Zombies to really enjoy it.

Winner: Left 4 Dead.

Weapons
Since it is set during World War II, Nazi Zombies naturally features an arsenal of weapons appropriate to the era. There's the M1 Garand, the StG44 (the first major assault rifle), German "potato masher" grenades, and more. They're all solid weapons, and the only departure from reality is the ray gun, a sci-fi weapon straight out of 1940s movie cereals. And the bunker does have a handful of explosive barrels outside, but once you use them up, that's it.

Left 4 Dead relies on more generic weapons. Sure, the assault rifle looks like an M16 and the submachine gun looks like an Uzi, but they're referred to as merely "assault rifle" and "submachine gun." Then there's the shotgun, the combat shotgun, the hunting rifle, and the pistol. There are no proper grenades, but Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs make short work of the zombie horde. And Left 4 Dead also lets you use objects in the environment as weapons, such as gasoline containers and propane tanks. There's no shortage of mayhem, here.

Winner: Left 4 Dead. Sure, World at War's ray gun is cool, but give us exploding propane canisters any day.

Production Values
Left 4 Dead is built on the Source Engine, which originally powered Half-Life 2. Granted, Valve has added many improvements and features over the past four years, and the graphics have a very clean and crisp look to them. Call of Duty: World at War is built on the gorgeous engine that powered last year's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and it offers plenty of eye candy itself. Both have great audio effects when it comes to weapon noises and zombie moans, but Left 4 Dead adds top quality voice acting and a rich script.

Winner: Left 4 Dead. This one is mainly due to its edge in the sound department.

Overall Winner
Left 4 Dead.

On paper, Left 4 Dead is the superior zombie game. Of course, that makes sense, since it's an entire game while Nazi Zombies is merely a bonus mode tacked onto the end of Call of Duty: World at War. Still, that's not to say Nazi Zombies isn't fun; it takes a little while to build up, but once the German zombies amp up the pressure you'll be caught up in the undead-killing action. But keep in mind that both games are a blast if you play with others online. And the upside is that both will prepare you well for whenever hell does fill up, and the dead do end up walking the Earth.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/935/935739p1.html

[Nunz]

I dont even get the point of this lol.

1 Single map, a extra bonus mode vs a 49.99 dollar game.

eh?

[nomore]

I think people thought every aspect of Call of duty 5 will be better since COD4 was a good game, and they realized an extra bonus mode can't compete with a complete game.

[yoz]

Originally Posted by Nunz

I dont even get the point of this lol.

1 Single map, a extra bonus mode vs a 49.99 dollar game.

eh?

Yeah absolutely pointless

[Sundance Kid V2]

Originally Posted by yoz

Yeah absolutely pointless

qft!

[klutzon]

Well, this review definitely cleared things up for me:

Left 4 Dead is better because it's an actual zombie game as oppose to a zombie mod tacked onto another totally zombie-unrelated game!

That was killing me for a while man...

Thanks for the thread nomore! (no sarcasm)

[Dwarden]

considering that WAW contains same unfixed bugs from COD4 i find it laughable to even bother to think about why i read this ...

so if you hate someone donate him COD4 datadisk named WAW ...

[Jay20016]

Okay...

So having not played CoD:WaW... I thought that they were making fun of the enemies in it... stating that they might make better zombies than those in Left4Dead...

I thought it was funny. Now this whole bit about it actually being a zombie level.... not so funny anymore, kind of sad.

[spindoctor]

both games have guns and zombies and nothing else in common. how is this worthy of an article?

[col200]

It should be CoD5: 'Nazi Zombie' mode VS GoW2: Horde Mode.
They're much more alike than L4D and CoD5:Zombies.

[WilyCoder]

Originally Posted by spindoctor

both games have guns and zombies and nothing else in common. how is this worthy of an atricle?

shhh some idiot writer is trying to keep his job

[spindoctor]

[Porter_]

Both games have co-op action with up to four players against the undead, so it's tempting to draw comparisons. So we did. Of course we recognize that Left 4 Dead is a full game and CoD's mode is a bonus game so directly comparing their qualities isn't exactly fair. Still, if you were wondering how they stack up, we've outlined both games' relative strengths below across a number of different categories.

On paper, Left 4 Dead is the superior zombie game. Of course, that makes sense, since it's an entire game while Nazi Zombies is merely a bonus mode tacked onto the end of Call of Duty: World at War.

they address the fact that one is a full game and the other is just a bonus game. there's no harm in making this comparison just for the hell of it. it's not like they're saying "OMG L4D is so much better than COD:WAW, don't even waste your money on COD:WAW!". some of you need to lighten up.

[spindoctor]

Originally Posted by Porter_

there's no harm in making this comparison just for the hell of it.

there's no point either. which is what we're saying.

[Porter_]

Originally Posted by spindoctor

there's no point either. which is what we're saying.

i've seen a couple threads on different forums where people were asking which is better - L4D or COD:WAW co-op nazi zombie mode. whether that's a valid comparison or not is subjective. the point is some people are indeed interested in this.

[ALaz502]

Originally Posted by Jay20016

Okay...

So having not played CoD:WaW... I thought that they were making fun of the enemies in it... stating that they might make better zombies than those in Left4Dead...

I thought it was funny. Now this whole bit about it actually being a zombie level.... not so funny anymore, kind of sad.

It's not a "zombie level" within the single play campaign or anything like that.

It's a tacked on multiplayer mode that you get as a bonus for beating the game.