What is it with my obsession with zombies? Perhaps it’s just because I powered through The Walking Dead comics recently, or maybe it’s just that I don’t think we’ve seen them done properly in games… yet. I loved both Left 4 Dead games, despite the Classification Board’s best efforts to neuter the second game, but I had a core idea that I’d love to see in the series that has yet to be done.

This Infected mofo is about to stop clowning around...

I actually had this idea for Left 4 Dead 2 but, following in the pitch-perfect corniness of the ’4′ in the franchise’s title, it seems a more natural fit for a third Left 4 Dead outing. The idea is simple: throw in a third faction.

The easy pick as far as I’m concerned would be to make the military the third group vying for blood. Maybe they’re there with Black Mesa-type intent: hell bent on covering up a mess they created. Or maybe they’re just there to clean up a mess, and aren’t in the mood for checking anyone’s immunity to the zombifying outbreak. As far as I’m concerned, that part is kinda irrelevant in the Left 4 Dead universe.

Sure, it might be a bit of a headache to balance a third faction, especially if they’re of a similar gun-toting variety as the Survivors, but that would be Valve’s headache to cure, not mine. After all, I just want to play this damn game. Back on topic, I envision the military guys as being slower due to more armour (they don’t want to fall prey to bites, right?), perhaps they have access to alternate routes and are more about cutting Survivors/Infected off at the pass than keeping up with the fast-moving factions.

It’d be cool if they could use/create traps, bash through doors (like the Infected do) and follow a class structure. Something straightforward: heavy weapons, sniper, assault, etc. Snipers could get on roofs with grappling hooks, and possibly even make use of zip-lines to get around quickly. The flip side would be an incredibly low pain threshold.

And then there’s the possibility that the military faction could make use of vehicles, creating roaming (or stationary if it’s too hard to balance) mini-bosses in multiplayer. Hells yes!

The bottom line is that everyone has a reason to want to destroy everyone else. And that’s about the gist of it.

Love it? Hate it? Additions? Subtractions? Let me know in the comments section below.