Gearheads of War

from all other games that I have ever played (including, as I have said before, BioShock).  In BioShock, the much lauded and advertised "moral" choices are contrived.  There is never the fear that you actually won't make it regardless of what we decide to do.  We know that there are two possible paths that will probably both allow us to finish the game. It is contrived.

In Left 4 Dead, these are our buddies that we either leave behind to die, or go back to rescue at the risk of our own lives.  

I think it was Crunk who suggested it a while back, for DLC, they need to crank it up a notch by changing the getaway vehicle to being a 2 or at most, 3 seater.  Make that dilemma all that much more agonizing.  Universities offer courses on ethics, morality, and philosophy - they should at the very least, use L4D for supplementary "materials". Without actually engaging in the acts themselves, the closest one can come to facing the impossible decisions that professors will have their students argue over, is to throw those students into a Left 4 Dead movie (and preferably Versus at that, where things are just that much more frantic and emotional).

Seriously, if I were Valve, Microsoft, or EA, I would be promoting the HECK out of that aspect of the game.  Not only is it the most enjoyable MP of the year, it is the most emotionally and intellectually challenging Game of the Year.  Jaime Griesemer from Bungie made that famous quote about finding the perfect 30 seconds of gameplay and then just repeating that over and over again.  Great idea for action games.  However, Sid Meier (Civilization, Pirates!) said something along the lines that great games are those that give you meaningful choices, over and over again.  When you are finished the game, it will actually tell a story.  That is what L4D is.  Choices.  From beginning to end.  But with rip-roaring action.

Simply brilliant.