So I preordered Left 4 Dead about 2 weeks ago and today I got the demo download offer from Steam. Let me tell you right now, this is the GOTY. Valve once again shows us that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to make a good game; you just need to make a really badass wheel.

By that, I mean that the game doesn’t do anything particularly new or different aside from the AI director, which customizes the game each time you play, adding atmosphere, zombies, boss zombies and powerups along the way depending on how you’re playing the game. This is a straight shooter that gives you more things to shoot that pretty much any game before it, 50+ zombies at a time in some situations. It’s mindless, it’s simple to pick up and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.

When I first heard about this game, I was excited. Fucking zombies, who doesn’t love fucking zombies, and more than that, who doesn’t love slaughtering fucking zombies? But when I started to see the promotional material for it, I got a little concerned. I’m a strong supporter of the slow, Romero style zombies, but this game opted for fast 28 Days Later style zombies. Disappointed as I was, I wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to massacre legions of undead.

As it turns out, my fears were completely put to rest as soon as I started playing. The zombie balance is perfect, they don’t feel overpowered in the slightest, in fact, their heads come off with a delightful ease. They do swarm with supernatural efficiency if you let them, but it’s quite possible to engage and neutralize an entire room of zombies without taking a single point of damage. Also, stopping a zombie mid-run and having it stumble over its own dismemberment is a joy everyone should experience just once.

Valve once again shows a deep understanding of what it’s players want from a game, they don’t resort to cutting the lights, leaving you to fire aimless into darkness for a cheap “scare”, they give you plenty of ammo (depending on difficulty), unlimited flashlight and competent co-op AI. They’ve made what many companies don’t seem to want to anymore, a fun game.

Preorder it now, you will not be disappointed.