Left 4 Dead The Sacrifice Review

Written by: Psyko113   

This is gonna be a pretty damn short review. Tonight, we've got the newest DLC for the Left 4 Dead series, "The Sacrifice."

It's pretty straightforward. The survivors from the first game are all aboard a train that comes to a stop at the end of a track, and from there they have to move on foot to the next area of safety.

You start off in a trainyard, and eventually make your way around a harbor/port-like area. From here, you find yourself arriving at a granary or waterside mill of some sort, that soon leads you to the area seen in the finale from "The Passing" in L4D2 (this same place acts as the finale location for "The Sacrifice"). There are three generators set up in the area, and all three need to be turned on for the bridge to function. However, once everyone is safely atop the catwalks above the bridge structure, one of them goes out, and that's when it's up to one member of your team to head down solo to get it started again (however, as the title implies, that person doesn't make it out).

There's a decent set of achievements to unlock with this DLC (the achievement list is the same for both games, so you don't benefit downloading it for one versus the other), some of which deal with environmental effects, and others just simply gameplay mechanics. There's a couple that really can't be unlocked when playing solo, so you'll need at least one other person playing with you online to get everything.

The environments are mapped out pretty well, though sometimes the transition from one area type to the next seems really sudden, or the area is just designed too maze-like...or at least that's how it will feel during a first play-through.

The controls and such are exactly what you'll have come to expect, so don't anticipate any surprises there. The only subtle difference that seems to have been made (though it may just be my imagination) is with the enemy AI: the commons seem to occasionally spawn in a way that they're able to flank you now, which is something that they didn't do before. It may just be the way the levels are laid out, or it may actually be a new line of code to the programming. Either way, it makes working as a team and watching each others backs that much more fundamental.

In the end, it's pretty short (three levels to the campaign), but still worth it. Since it's available for both games, I'd imagine most are going to get it for one or the other, with only those either devoted to the series or completionists when it comes to their achievements getting the DLC for both.