Here's another boss that looks nothing like what I had expected. The Hunter is somewhere between the Smoker and Boomer in terms of recognizable appearances. Built like a normal Infected but cowled and stealthy, the Hunter looks more like a zombie dressed for infiltration than a predatory beast. This isn't a bad thing, but I was definitely expecting something different. To be honest, I could never get a good look at the Hunter, as he was either stealthed or leaping across the map too fast.
The Hunter

I know many people are excited about playing as the Hunter and I don't think you'll be disappointed. The Hunter is the only boss that can be played by two individuals at one time so you're likely to play the Hunter more than the other bosses. This turns out to be a good thing because you're going to need the practice. Of the four playable Infected, the Hunter is unquestionably the most challenging to learn; his primary attack (the pounce) is challenging to accurately land and beyond this, his unique abilities offer a tactical depth that goes well beyond the others.

The Hunter's greatest asset is stealth, speed, and overall map accessibility. In a game in which ambush is key, the Hunter wins hands down - he is the only Infected with the power of invisibility. To do this, the Hunter must stand against a wall for a few moments before fading from view. He is only invisible while he is immobile; moving or attacking drops the invisibility immediately. He is not entirely undetectable, however, as the Hunter frequently emits a low growl that can be heard by Survivors in the area. Fortunately, the Hunter has enough sense to stop this when the Survivors get too close.

Jumping with the Hunter is a lot of fun, and just a simple click of the right mouse button sends you rocketing through the air. Time things right, and you can wall jump from building to building, accessing areas with speed and fluidity unimaginable with the other Infected. I think that this will turn out to be the most interesting part of the Hunter and I look forward to seeing what kind of combinations the community will be able to put together - something similar to conc runs on a Team Fortress Classic map (pictured below).
Hunter wall jumping diagram

The Hunter has two primary attacks using his jump ability, the pounce and the lunge. The lunge is pretty straight forward and easy to do. Simply launch yourself at a Survivor and you will rocket them back a good ways. This can be used to knock a player out of position, cause falling damage, or even cause a Survivor to fall to their death. Just be careful not to miss here, or you may be the one to fall. The pounce is much harder to pull off but is useful in many more situations and can be quite satisfying. To setup for the pounce, you must first become invisible. When invisible, your jump will arc you towards your opponent, where you will land on top of them and proceed to shred them to pieces. At this point you are fully committed to the attack and, like the Smoker, cannot stop until the Survivor is dead. Think of the pounce as trying to land a grenade directly on the head of the Survivor. Our biggest mistake with this was trying to strike the Survivor directly, rather than landing on top, so be sure to arc yourself up and onto the player, rather than smashing head first into them (pictured below). The Survivor does have a brief moment to counter your pounce with a melee attack, which will leave you vulnerable and most likely dead. If you succeed in the pounce, the remaining Survivors can either blast you or knock you off with the melee attack (if at all possible, Survivors, use your melee attack: friendly fire hurts). If teammates do not interfere, you will continue slashing the Survivor until they are dead.
Hunter pounce strategy diagram

When aiming to strike with the pounce, you must take into account that it's an arc and not a straight shot. Being able to judge distance and timing will be critical to playin

I was pretty surprised when I first saw the Smoker because he really doesn't stand out from the crowd. Although still badass, he is a normal looking Infected with a gaping mouth and an ugly face. He is probably the hardest boss to notice in a group of the regular Infected. Although you may find this disappointing, the camouflage actually gives the Smoker an interesting tactic that I'll cover in a moment.
The Smoker

The Smoker's primary weapon is his fifty foot tongue that really makes him the hit of every party. The tongue seems to have mutated to allow prehensile movement (like your thumb or a monkey tail) and can be used in a number of different ways, depending on the situation.

The most defining use of his tongue is to choke an unsuspecting Survivor. This can be achieved in one of two ways: 1) you can climb to a point above the Survivors, working your way to a higher level or by using one of the nifty glowing ladder points to take a clear shot at a Survivors head, and watch as you yank the Survivor off his feet and let gravity do its work or 2) snag the Survivor from a more even level (or even a lower level) and snag them on something like a lamp post or corner as you pull them in, choking them to death. I think this was my first real satisfying experience as an Infected; there's just some sick pleasure to be had in grabbing that straggling Survivor, yanking him from the group, and watching as you choke the life out of the poor sap before his teammates can rescue him. When you do choke somebody from above, Left 4 Dead makes great use of the Source engine's physics and the Survivor actually dangles while choking. If a Hunter comes around and lunges at the dangling Survivor, the Survivor will sway back and forth like a pendulum.

Pulling this off these chokes turns out to be a little harder than you might expect. For one, the Smoker is very frail and can only take a few more shots than your average zombie. This is a real problem because when you do grab a Survivor and start pulling him in, the Survivor has a brief window to turn around and blast you to pieces. Once you start choking the Survivor, however, they become helpless and must rely on their teammates to save them. Here we see the biggest weakness of the Smoker: once you commit to an attack, there's no stopping it. From the time that you fire your tongue to the time that you roll it back up, you cannot move. This applies even if you missed your initial attack. There was nothing more painful than missing a shot because you know you just revealed your position and the Survivors are going to follow that tongue right back to its source. So you're sitting there, swearing at yourself and praying that you can get that tongue back in so you can turn tail and run - not a happy feeling. Even if you manage to grab a Survivor and start choking them, you're still just a sitting target until the Survivor is dead.

The challenge, however, is worth it. I did manage to choke a few Survivors out and I loved it. As a Smoker looking for the choke, you must first choose your position. The most obvious is to go high, and I must admit this is where I was most successful, but don't forget you can snag Survivors around objects as well. Also, when looking for a choke, try to snag the Survivor without being too close to the edge of the building. Step back a little and let the building provide you some cover (pictured below). My first choke happened when the Survivors were battling in the center of a mob of Infected and a Hunter had just appeared on the scene. In the chaos and struggle with the Hunter, the three teammates weren't able to get to their friend in time.
Smoker strategy diagram

If you stand on the edge as a Smoker you make yourself vulnerable to Survivor fire. For maximum choking effectiveness, stand farther in and choke at an angle. The Survivors will have to run in order to get the right angle on you, in which time you might have already accomplished your goal. Chokin

ARMED AND DANGEROUS

In Left 4 Dead there are two tiers of primary weapons: the weapons available at the start of the scenario and in checkpoints, the pump shotgun and the Uzi submachine gun; and then the weapons available later on in the scenario (found "in the wild", where you'll have to keep alert while getting them, and also in the very last checkpoint before the finale), which include the M16 assault rifle, the hunting rifle, and the auto shotgun. When you find the second tier weapons you usually have the opportunity to also pick up a second pistol (to dual wield).

None of the weapons have any sort of silencers or secondary fire. The only use besides shooting and killing is the melee attack, which is an indispensable tool that you will use very, very often. When you right click your mouse, you swing whatever weapon you have equipped and push away whatever zombie is closest. The coolest thing about it is that when you're surrounded by a mob of zombies, one push can send many of them flying back. If you push one zombie into another, they both fall back. It looks great and many times it's the only way you can stay alive. Also, if a Boomer gets too close, the only method to further yourself from him is to continually just push him back, run away then blow him up.

First Tier Weapons

Pump Shotgun: Not much needs explaining here.. it performs exactly like you would expect. It's a solid gun that gives a very satisfying feel whenever you blast a zombie. There were 8 shells maximum, and if you're going to go Rambo and just blast away at everything you will find yourself in a bad situation (as I did).. the great thing about the shotgun is that with it's power you can kill 4 or 5 zombies in one blast if you aim it and time it right. An advantage the pump shotgun has over the Uzi is that you can reload a single shell at a time, meaning when you do find yourself out of ammo, you can melee push a zombie back, reload and shoot. The pump shotgun has huge power up close, but don't even bother using it at a distance.
Zoey firing the Uzi SMG

Uzi SMG: The Uzi fires real fast and doesn't feel weak to use at all. It sounds and feels like it actually has some power, which is a nice change from a lot of games where SMG's feel like toys. In my time playing I preferred the Uzi to the shotgun because I prefer being able to take out targets at range instead of letting them get close. The Uzi is surprisingly accurate over long distances, as long as you crouch and burst fire.

Second Tier Weapons
Bill unloading the M16

M16 Assault Rifle: The M16 looks very much like the beloved M4A1 in Counter-Strike, so if you think of that you have a pretty good idea of what this weapon is like. It is a good weapon at all ranges, allowing you to spray and pray and mow down entire legions of zombies in one clip, or being able to pick off wandering zombies from afar.

Hunting Rifle: BOOM HEADSHOT. AWPers, I present you your weapon. The hunting rifle is the most satisfying weapon I played with, and I certainly played with it a lot. It has a scope, but when you're indoors or in close quarters you don't need to use it. Scoping does make it more accurate, but from what I could tell it was accurate enough without it. As I've mentioned before, the graphical effects in the game are amazing - blowing heads, arms, and other body parts off is a common occurrence especially when using this weapon. It has penetrating power, so it can shoot through some walls, which (if we had known the map better) would be great if you suspected a boss infected was hiding around the next corner.

Don't think of it as a slow and cumbersome sniper rifle, because it shoots fairly fast and shooting it without the scope is perfectly fine. Do not think you will be strafing between shots, either. Movement affects the accuracy of your weapon much more easily than in Counter-Strike, so moving and shooting is a definite way to get killed. I should also mention that when you are scop