That particular period was the belle époque of Xbox Live, backed by the enlightened glow of Halo 3 and grinding merrily with Gears of War. It told the far more compelling tale of the Xbox 360, to which, on consoles, the game was exclusive. I’m pretty sure that Left 4 Dead had a plot, as well-all about the “Green Flu,” and the bands of naturally immune people floundering in its wake-but it didn’t need one. When the opening cutscene began to play, I already had the lively chatter of two friends in my ears, eager to get blasting and the notion that we might all sit together on the internet, quietly absorbent, as the story was sprayed in our direction, seemed about as natural as the Devil Worm. First, it is charmingly schlocky, with its extraterrestrial undertones and its tidy cheapness. Now, two things should be noted about this setup. Four such stragglers-controlled by you and three allies, hopefully-alight at a settlement in Evansburgh, which is soon besieged, and the action is underway. Earth is overrun by vertically motivated corpses, and humanity survives in small, fraying pockets. The plot of Back 4 Blood spins around something called “Devil Worm,” which sounds like a funk compilation album but is in fact a parasite, crashed down from space. My favourite moments are those laughably narrow scrapes, where you lunge into a safe room and bolt yourselves in, with all hell broken loose and lapping against the door. No, it’s when one tiny error-disturbing a group of noisy birds, for example, thus alerting a swarm of zombies-ruffles your teammates’ feathers, and smooth humming gives way to frenzied squawking. Not, as you may presume, in the clever coordination of tactics or in the efficiency with which a team, like a smoothly humming machine, can storm its way through each level. The answer, I reckon, is in Turtle Rock’s understanding of where the real thrills lie. Both are rich in the brain-busting spray of headshots, and both supply steady hordes that demand teamwork to manage. It was only recently I was enjoying World War Z with friends, and not too far before that it was Zombie Army 4: Dead War. Surely, in a genre as thronged as the zombie shooter, which thrives on the reanimation of long-dead ideas, Back 4 Blood shouldn’t feel quite so refreshing to play? Still, when the well is as befouled and bottomless as this, who’s complaining? It took all of four minutes for me to reacquaint myself with the joys of old though, what struck me as strange was the feeling that they were old-that it had been too long. As such, there is a little sadness to Back 4 Blood a talented team, known for a single great game, tries to face its fears and evolve, but ends up going back to the well. The truth-we may as well admit it-is that we did indeed leave Turtle Rock for dead. Unless you are a connoisseur of V.R., submerging your head at regular intervals, you probably didn’t play Journey of the Gods or The Well, either.

Then there was Face Your Fears, a horror game for the Oculus Go, but, seeing as what a large chunk of people fear is the dose of travel sickness that attends the donning of a virtual-reality headset, not many people actually faced it. Whose blood should the studio be after? Is it ours? After Left 4 Dead, Turtle Rock made Evolve, which, true to its name, gave us the opportunity to team up with friends and discharge high-calibre weaponry at aliens. Hence the name, which contains a hint not only of homecoming but of revenge. But don’t let that put you off: the important shuffling is still done by the dead-at high speed-and Back 4 Blood, though technically a new game, is older than ever. Well, there is a slight change in the formula: we now have collectible cards to manage, which deck us out with upgrades and special abilities. If you were worried over whether the new release would simply serve up the same mouldering design that we got over a decade ago, or if it would actually try and freshen things up, rest assured. The developer is Turtle Rock Studios, most famous for Left 4 Dead -which offered precisely those pleasures back in 2008. At last, just as the wait for the next opportunity to team up with friends and discharge high-calibre weaponry at zombies was growing truly intolerable, along comes Back 4 Blood.

Back 4 blood review