LO500 Featured Battle: Resident Evil 4 vs. Left 4 Dead

^{Resident Evil 4's chainsaw chase, or Left 4 Dead's boomer bile?}

VOTE NOW: The Laser Orgy 500 - the Phoenix's quest to crown the greatest video game of all time.

Resident Evil 4 (2005), widely considered to be the best of the Resident Evil series, places pretty-boy protagonist Leon firmly in the center of the action, while also revealing bits of the story's conspiracy in tantalizing bits and pieces. The game doesn't overpower you with narrative and lengthy cutscenes, opting to let hordes of zombies overpower you instead. RE4's chainsaw-wielding cretin alone (pictured above) has induced many a gamer nightmare and/or panic attack. The game also gave us the beloved Merchant ... as well as the despised, pitch-voiced Ashley Graham.

The more recent Resident Evil 5 didn't frighten so much as bore RE fans, and one problem cited was the addition of co-op. Once you can play with someone else, zombies don't seem so scary anymore.

Except that's not the case at all in Left 4 Dead, a zombie shooter that relies heavily upon cooperative play and still manages to keep the stakes higher than your heart-rate. There is no narrative in L4D; you're faced instead with fourth-wall breaking concepts, like the AI director that arranges each level to challenge your playstyle in particular.

Where RE4 capitalizes on the personal fear that comes from playing a survival horror title all by your lonesome, L4D uses the stress of team play to build tension and force players to work together (or throw each other under the bus, depending on what kind of friends you have).

As the foremost favorites in the contemporary zombie shooter genre, these two contenders deserve to face off in the ring together. Decide between these two games and more in the Laser Orgy 500!