After Left 4 Dead came out last year, I spent many, many nights fighting the zombie apocalypse with friends and co-workers, going through the campaigns over and over again, and never getting bored of the experience. The teamwork aspect really brought something new to the game, and made it one of my favorite titles of 2008, in addition to my favorite shooter and multiplayer experience. Now that Left 4 Dead 2 is out, there are some new characters set on surviving massive amounts of zombies, but the core concept is the same: work together if you want to stay alive, and make it through each campaign as a team. Sometimes it’s hard to give up that health pack you’ve been hoarding to assist your limping teammate, but you would want him to do the same for you, right? And maybe you can make a clean break for the safe house, but should you really leave anyone behind? These are the kinds of questions often raised during typical gameplay sessions of L4D and L4D2, and last night I got a taste of just how fickle my friends could be.

(Warning: semi-spoilers below).

I had played through the entire game, and arrived at the final stage of the last campaign: the bridge finale. I was Rochelle, Coop was Ellis, Luke was Coach, and Nick was starring as himself. After hours of teamwork, we had almost made it to our final destination; all we needed to do was lower a bridge, and make a mad dash across to be rescued by a helicopter. Of course, this was easier said that done. As we raced past abandoned cars and hordes of undead, we were met with Special Infected, Tanks, and plenty of obstacles. We stopped to kill one Tank during our first pass, which wasn’t terribly difficult with all of us opening fire on him, and then kept on running. I finally saw the helicopter pad, and the waiting chopper, after several minutes of frantic, fast-paced survival. I was going to make it! I had one foot in when I heard Coop shout “Help me!” I stepped out of the chopper and looked back. To my horror, he wasn’t close behind me like I thought; he was being pummeled by a Charger a bit back.



For a brief second, I considered leaving him, even trying to justify it by telling myself that Nick or Luke would help him out. But I just couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. I could have survived on my own, but it wouldn’t have been right. I stepped away from the helicopter and rushed to Coop, opening fire, only to be immediately knocked down by a Tank that seemed to come from out of nowhere.

We didn’t make it.

The level started again. As we prepared to leave the safe house, Luke came up with what he believed to be a brilliant plan: just keep running, no stopping for anything, not even Tanks. Coop and I pointed out that while that sounded great in theory, it probably couldn’t be executed; Tanks generally don’t take it very well when players try to simply outrun the monsters, not to mention that we still needed to deal with Jockeys, Hunters, and Smokers, which can quickly lead to trouble for any single player if he or she is left alone. It just wasn’t going to work, we tried to tell him, and we needed to fight that first Tank. Since we made it through most of the level unscathed, we figured that if we could just near the end and then rush for the chopper—together—we’d be fine.



The bridge lowered. We jumped on, a bit more confident this time. We knew where we were going, we knew the path to take between cars and buses, and we were slightly more organized. Luke was in the lead; I was trailing him, with Coop slightly behind me. We heard the terrifying crescendo and knew a Tank was approaching; jumping down from a higher platform, he was on top of a bus as we approached, ready to kill.

Before I knew what was happening, Luke shouted something about running for it and took off. The Tank jumped off the bus in between me and where Luke had been, and turned his sights on Coop and me. I was trapped, with a Tank in front of me and cars to my left and right. “Luke, help!” I shouted as I emptied my ammunition into the beast. “Come back!”

He didn’t come back.



After knocking me around, the Tank threw Coop off a bridge, never even giving him a chance. I managed to run past, and to be honest I’m not even sure what happened after that. All I knew was that Luke was making his way to the helicopter, not pausing for a moment to wait, to help. He ran for it, as I was eventually swarmed and then knocked down by a Tank. The same Tank? A new Tank? I don’t even know. As the chopper took off, and the end credits rolled—in memory of Rochelle, Nick, and Ellis—Luke laughed and laughed into his headset. “I regret nothing!” he shouted, like the bastard he is.

I’m not going to lie, I was pissed.

In the video game reality, those four characters had made their way across multiple state lines, surviving against all odds. Did they do all of that just so Coach could turn on them at the last minute? What about all the times we healed you, and helped you up, Coach? “Oh, relax, it’s just a game!” Luke said. Yes, okay, in that case, Left 4 Dead 2 is just a game, but the hours Luke, Coop, and I put into that game were real. We had spent an hour on “The Parish”, and after all of that, we couldn’t even feel the victory of survival just because our so-called friend had to be a selfish prick?



I know that in both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, there are times when not everyone makes it to the end of a campaign. It happens. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it, and that I understand. I wasn’t trying to commit suicide when I got off that helicopter the first time we crossed the bridge; I just thought that if there was even a chance that someone else could make it, I had to help. Alternately, if Luke had been the only player to survive after a heated battle in which he genuinely tried to be the best teammate he could be, I wouldn’t have been quite so upset about it, but that’s not what happened. Even he admitted it, saying “I don’t deny that I’m an asshole” before repeating “I regret nothing!”, giving a few more douchey snickers.

Despite my frustration last night, I love the way that Left 4 Dead 2 presents these sorts of moral dilemmas to players. I made my choice when I got off the chopper, and Luke made the exact opposite choice the next time. I wanted us to live as a team, while Luke wanted to survive on his own, regardless of what happened to us. So I ask you: What would you have done? What kind of morally ambiguous situations have Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 left you in? And on a scale of 1-10, one being “sort of a jerk” and 10 being “biggest jerk ever”, where does Luke fall?