14 DAY TRIAL // I've been playing Left 4 Dead 2 once more, largely because I wanted to boost the numbers of my Steam achievements, meaning that I'm forced to do some pretty interesting things just to complete the challenges thought up by the developers at Valve.
While hunting for achievements can be pretty fun, especially with friends through the cooperative mode, there are some moments when you just feel like smashing the keyboard in frustration.
I've been having quite a lot of fun, but it all turned sour when trying to complete the "Guardin' Gnome" achievement.
For those that haven't played Left 4 Dead 2, this challenge tasks you with rescuing a miniature garden gnome, Gnome Chompski, during the Dark Carnival campaign, meaning you must take him with you through almost all of your adventures, and get him safely aboard the helicopter finale event.
Don't think you can just throw him into your inventory or on your back, like in a role-playing game or something, because you need to carry Gnome Chompski in your hands.
As you can imagine, carrying a gnome in your hands during a zombie apocalypse instead of a gun or a melee weapon isn't the safest thing to do.
Still, I prepared for the worst, and, in order to keep things from getting too hectic, started Dark Carnival on the easy difficulty setting, as well as used only AI-controlled companions, because they tend to stick to the player and kill zombies from a distance.
I was pretty lucky during the campaign, as I immediately set a high score on a carnival attraction, which unlocked the gnome, and started fighting through the horde of undead, my teammates with guns and me with my trusty gnome.
I had put him down every now and then to handle special encounters like witches or tanks, but most of the times I was just trying to stay alive, especially during the roller coaster portion.
After plenty of near deaths, I was finally in the concert finale of the campaign, and the rescue helicopter was touching down.
I immediately jumped in, and started waiting for the rest of the AI teammates to join in.
It was then that I saw that one of the characters was pinned down by a tank, right besides the helicopter.
Being my helpful self, I jumped out, and tried to finish off the tank.
That didn't turn out as I had hoped, as the tank threw me away and incapacitated me, while the two other AI-controlled teammates jumped in the helicopter and left me and the other one to die, alongside Gnome Chompski.
As such, an hour of hard work, thoughtful strategy and plenty of thrills were thrown down the drain, alongside the achievement.
The moral of the story is to just forget about AI-controlled teammates, and just look out for yourself and your achievements.