Linked almost everywhere by now, but still: a marvellous, marvellous game, dead simple to play, thoughtful, and well-paced. A must-play, really.

"To extend the "director" metaphor, Left 4 Dead's AI Director was a bit like Alfred Hitchcock: a master of suspense. Left 4 Dead 2's AI Director (dubbed AI Director 2.0, conveniently enough) is perhaps from a younger generation of "torture porn" filmmakers. In place of suspense is sheer brutality and instead of tiptoeing along the precipice of failure, you're pushed over. And over. And over." Much as I'm enjoying L4D2, I think this is an appropriate metaphor: it's not just that it's hard, it's that it's *relentless*; the suspense of L4D is missing a bit.

Simple paintings of arcade games. Pretty!