It seemed like such a nice town. A gorgeous lake, an amusement park, a four star hotel. All the perks of a great vacation spot. It also had the added benefit of some good old fashioned small town businesses, a top hospital, and a great school system. Who wouldn’t want to visit?

Until the fog rolls in, anyway. At that point you best grab the nearest broken radio, a lead pipe, and a flashlight. Trust me, you’re going to need all of them. And while you wander blindly through the inky darkness, you’d best take note of that low, pulse-like throbbing coming from somewhere beneath you. It’s almost as if this town is alive. Clutch that radio tightly; it’s your only warning. Stumbling through the abandoned streets, you spot a wall splattered with what could be blood. Smeared through the plasma is an ominous message: “Welcome to Silent Hill.”

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Left 4 Dead. I’ve been following it for over a year, and I can tell you it is going to be good. Great, even. Something about zombies and Valve generally speaks favorably in my mind. It’s a pairing as epic as Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet and Ophelia. There’s really nothing to complain about here–except for the delays.

Instead of talking about that, though, let’s talk about the game. The brains behind it, the blood it promises, and the Molotov cocktails it’s going to bring this November.

Let’s talk about why you should be talking about it now.

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When the apocalypse comes and the undead rise from their graves, I’ll be prepared–will you?

You might be, if you’ve played the right video games.

It all began with the original Doom. I’m sure everyone’s played a version of this game. In 1993, id Software decided that zombies on Mars sounded like a great plot idea and thus Doom was born. The basic story of the game is that you’re an ex-Marine on the moons of Mars when the gates of Hell open and undead come out. Your entire squadron is dead, and you have to fight your way to freedom. The premise is so simple that the main character doesn’t even have a name. Despite its simplicity, or perhaps because of its simplicity, the original Doom was a break-through game and grew into a successful series. What Doom taught me at the tender age of eight or nine was that I was helpless in the wake of the living dead as well as prone to screaming.

What Doom taught video game designers, however, was much more important. The game was revolutionary. It started with a character whose only equipment was a pistol, isolated him in a foreign environment, and included dark design with narrow corridors. This disorienting experience gave a sense of panic. Adding to that, everything was real time and enemies came from all over. You had no time to think and pause if you wanted to live. The camera also made it impossible to see what was behind you, generating unease and vulnerability from the player. Using these techniques, Doom taught video game designers the concept of immersion. Without immersion, there is no fear. You do not fear Bowser when he captures Princess Peach, unless you’re a complete pussy. Similarly, you don’t really get too scared when playing Final Fantasy VIII even if you’re fighting a boss. This is because you are watching the story, not experiencing it. You are actively withdrawn.

A lot of this withdrawal has to do with ambiance. Another is pacing. House of the Dead and its sequel took what Doom offered and raised it a notch a few years later. The game was predominately distributed in arcades and actually had the player shoot with a gun-shaped controller. The screen was also bigger, and graphics had undeniably improved in the three year gap from Doom’s release to HotD. Along with the graphics, the plot developed more, offering a bit more of an attachment to the hero and his plight of escaping the hordes of undead. Of course, it was nothing complicated; a scientist goes mad, and releases his creations upon the unsuspecting world. Still, it was a little more close to home than, say, zombies on Mars.

The biggest thing HotD did to zombies was the pace change. The player was swarmed by zombies from all sides and often forced to choose which path to take in a split second. House of the Living Dead was the first game to implement the branching path scenario; to make actions have real consequences other than life or death, consequences that change the overall path and ultimate conclusion of the game. For example, if you saved a man in the opening of a game from the zombies, you would end up taking an entire different path with different encounters than if you let him die. This is a lot more realistic than an entirely linear path with predetermined outcomes such as Doom was.

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