Let’s start by stating a very obvious fact – Friendly fire kills. It can decimate teams who were previously mowing through the horde in seconds, and see tensions rise in your fellow players at an alarming rate. In short - It’s bad. Still, I’m here to try and make it good, by pointing out idiotic maneuvers and stopping bullets from penetrating your soft flesh. Yes, friendly fire will probably still happen after you read this, and the “Safety first” achievement will still remain floating in the void of impossibility, but at least people won’t be hunting down their attackers with murderous intent anymore…
Stop taking the Shotgun. Really.
To put it bluntly, zombie films lied to you – The shotgun isn’t the ultimate weapon when it comes to wiping out the horde. Sure, it’s nice to mow them down with blast after blast, but every weapon can do that, and even do in the close ranges the shotgun is meant to excel at. The crucial factor here, however, it that one errant twitch of the trigger with a different weapon isn’t going to down the one person who’s healthy in the blink of an eye. It’s certainly possible for every weapon to kill you, but at least they don’t have much spread, meaning you can actually kill a zombie pounding on someone without blasting the legs off both parties.
Look, I understand it’s useful. I understand you should have at least one of them on your team. But can we scale it back a little? Perhaps show a little more thought in your choice of weapon, instead of just going for the one where your inevitable mistake will cost everyone dearly? You’ll be surprised what a little thinking can do!
Watch where you stand
Those four words seem to have an aurora of obviousness about them, but it’s surprising how many people simply don’t know this. Listen up, you bumbling fools; Do not walk out in front of someone who’s scoping out the corridor ahead, as they will want to kill zombies and not you. Stop running round like mad the second things get a bit crazy, because that makes you very hard to miss. Oh, and stop trying to hog the glory of a kill by running into the warzone and then bitch about it when you inevitably fall down. Ok?
In fact, trying to get in front of someone or edging closer to the scope of fire is an unwise move practically all the time. Sure, you might not be killing as many zombies as you wish, but you could still do such practical things such as watching the rear. Keep team movement as logical and natural as possible – Don’t just stick your gurning face in the middle of someone’s screen whenever the time feels right to do so.
Fire or fisticuffs – the eternal question
Sure, it’s true that people normally enter a game of Left 4 Dead with the best intentions in mind. They want to help by blasting those zombies threatening your life and generally trying to save the day. The thing is, they may inadvertently be causing more harm than good… They may mow down the zombie beating down on you, but if the path of bullets then continues into you due to the lack of good reactions or pure bad luck, the whole protection was for nothing. Basically, you should only be firing if you have a clear shot, and if there’s even a minuscule chance of there being collateral damage, you should move in for the family friendly melee attack. Observe…
Naturally, that’s only a general rule. If the situation needs bullets, use bullets. If the situation needs you to cover the door of a closet using an endless flow of melee attacks, use melee attacks. The key point to remember here, however, is to remember the trigger finger is not the answer to every problem that arises.
Have a computer player?
This is just a thought, but it’s an interesting one… The AI may wander round aimlessly, waste health and die quite a lot – But it will never shoot you. Instead, it will do stupidly skillful things such as shooting through tiny gaps and stopping that single zombie without even laying a scratch on you. So, if you’ve got someone who’s incessantly shooting you to death, perhaps the only viable option is to vote them out and replaced by the computer. Maybe blasting through an easy campaign with all the other players being AI could net you a certain achievement that has been mentioned above… *Hint*
In the end, it was an interesting decision to put friendly fire in Left 4 Dead, but it makes the game infinitely more strategical, annoying and downright insane as a result. Take these tips on board, and maybe the only annoyances that will be created won’t be ones done by your own hand…
(Note to all rifle-lovers. I’m not dissing it, I’m just saying that you need variety).
