Left 4 Dead: The Sacrifice: Level Review

Introduction 

The Sacrifice is the last campaign in Left 4 Dead. It is one of the best campaigns in the game. It is on the shorter side of the campaigns, but that is fine. The Sacrifice did not need to have more levels, it did everything it needed to do in the amount of time it had. 

This article is part of the Left 4 Dead collection. You can view the whole collection here. 

What makes The Sacrifice good? 

The Sacrifice is one of the best campaigns in Left 4 Dead because it tells a story without overstaying its welcome. During the events of the Sacrifice, you can get an achievement for killing Bill, and in canon he is dead. 

What makes The Sacrifice stand out as one of the better campaigns is the clear focal point of the campaign. The designers knew what they wanted to do and what story they wanted to tell.

The lack of ambiance is not an issue. 

The Sacrifice tells a story and because of that, the lack of level ambiance is alright with me. With Left 4 Dead there is a give and take that I have grown to get used to. Although this give-and-take gets less noticeable in the second game, it is highly noticeable in The Sacrifice campaign. 

Your group is trying to cross a bridge at the very end of the campaign and one member has to jump down to refill a generator. Bill ends up doing this and it causes a ripple effect with Zoey: She goes through subtle character development that can be seen in the second game. 

The level design is lacking 

The biggest fault with The Sacrifice campaign is the fact that the level design is extremely shallow. Despite having a shallow-level design the set pieces get their point across. The Sacrifice did not need to be overly complicated. I realized this during my second run of the campaign. 

What makes the level design lacking is how bland everything looks: Again, this is okay because the campaign serves a purpose. Despite the levels looking bland it was still a good time to run through the campaign. 

In closing… 

The Sacrifice is a fine campaign that serves its purpose. The Sacrifice campaign is meant to tell a story and it succeeds in doing that. Granted, for the whole story to be told the player will have to sacrifice Bill and get the achievement that goes with it. 

Because the Sacrifice campaign does not overstay its welcome and succeeds at its goal, this level is going to get 3/5 stars. 

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Left 4 Dead: Blood Harvest: Level Review

A shot from the Blood Harvest.

Introduction

The Blood Harvest campaign is one of my all-time favorite campaigns. So revisiting it has felt like returning home to an old friend after many years apart. Although some of my opinions of the Blood Harvest campaign have changed, many of my thoughts and feelings haven’t changed a bit. 

This article is part of the Left 4 Dead collection. You can check out the whole collection here. 

Revisiting Blood Harvest 

Going through the game to complete various articles for the Left 4 Dead project has me looking at different levels. Taking a look at each level again has made me realize I hated some levels that were awesome and loved some levels that have not been fun to replay. For this article I replayed Blood Harvest twice: Both times I found myself having a fantastic time. 

It had me wondering: What makes the Blood Harvest campaign so good? Why don’t I mind replaying this campaign repeatedly? 

When it comes down to thinking about my reasons for liking the Blood Harvest campaign it comes down to a couple of things. First, the campaign is fluid and the beginning and ending make sense. Second, you can tell the designers had a clear goal in mind when crafting the Blood Harvest campaign. Third, the last level of the campaign is fun. 

A fluid campaign from start to finish. 

As you travel through Blood Harvest you will venture through farm buildings, a corn field, and other dense areas. At the end of the campaign, you will defend a farm while waiting for a truck to pick you up. 

Blood Harvest is not a vertical level: There are some moments when you can climb to a second floor of a building. However, it is not like No Mercy or Dead Air where you are constantly climbing things to get to where you need to go: This is a boon for the Blood Harvest campaign. 

Blood Harvest feels like the designers had a solid concept and they were able to put it together with ease. 

The ending of Blood Harvest 

Some of the Left 4 Dead campaigns have endings that feel like they drag on. Blood Harvest does not have that feeling, it never felt like it was overstaying its welcome. A big reason for that is because of how the ending level is structured. 

Waiting for the truck by the farmhouse was fun: Blood Harvest is yet another level with a fun defense point. Infected people coming from all around the house add to the challenge and the excitement of the campaign. 

Although Blood Harvest is one of the similar campaigns in Left 4 Dead, it shines because of the ambiance and the well-put-together level concept. For those reasons, I am going to give Blood Harvest 3/5 stars. 

⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 3 out of 5.