Review: Left4Dead 2
Valve is one of the best developers out there. Having brought us the genre defining Half Life series, Counter Strike and arguably saving PC gaming with Steam, they hope to add the Left 4 Dead series to their list of successes with this sequel.
The new survivors are far more developed than the last lot.
Left4Dead 2 follows an all new group of survivors on 5 campaigns through the south of the US, starting in Georgia and ending in New Orleans. There’s still a different theme to each campaign (mall, fairground, swamp, heavy storm and urban finale) but the southern feel permeates the entire game, a nice improvement upon the mish-mash of ideas in the first. This consistent setting is achieved through everything from the character’s banter and the detail in the environments to the deep yellow, Gone With The Wind sunsets. The campaigns are also strung together by a loose plot and the single objective of reaching New Orleans. Overall, the game feels like a story told subtly through hints (read those safe-house walls) rather than a random mix of scenarios. This consistent atmosphere and read between the lines plot is one of L4D2′s biggest triumphs.
Blood, it gets everywhere
L4D2′s other triumph comes from its refinement of every single aspect of last year’s game. You can see the improvements simply by the numbers: 5 new campaigns all playable in versus, 3 new special infected, 2 new modes and an armoury of new weapons and equipment. There are also additions that can’t be measured numerical. The new gore and dismemberment system is one of these. The zombies in the first game had pre-set death animations and it would take you out of the experience a bit when 5 zombies died in the same way right in front of you. With the new system you can take chunks, slices and limbs off of the zombie horde and they will react accordingly. While a sniper-shot to the head might take it clean off, a machete might chop it in half, a shotgun to it might take the shoulders off too. Combine this with thick blood splatter, ragdoll physics and a chainsaw and you are at serious risk of feeling psychopath. Speaking of chainsaws, another massive addition this time around is melee weapons. The melee weapon replaces your pistol slot but when you’re surrounded by zombie’s you rarely want pistol (even the new magnum) over a Katana. It’s basically a trade off between short range and long range which brings some tactics to your choice, let’s be honest though, nobody says no to a chainsaw.
Valve are constantly introducing mini objectives to test your mettle.
The gameplay change introduced by melee weapons is an idea that Valve has used a lot in L4D2. In the case of melee weapons it simply encourages close range, aggressive play but there are a lot of other additions that change up play. The new special infected for example, are designed specifically to split up groups. The Spitter can create acid pool barriers, separating the survivors and leaving them more vulnerable while the Charger and Jockey pick off one member of the group and try to take them away from the rest of the group. These infected really split up the pace of play, with players having to desperately regroup or be overwhelmed. The new infected are incredibly fun in Versus in-case you were wondering. Another example of play changers is the laser sight attachments for the guns. Firstly they make your gun more accurate, meaning players tend to hold onto guns even when they are running out of ammo or are unsuitable for the current challenge, the special ammo types also tends to have this effect on players. Secondly the lasers allow you to see where the rest of your team are aiming, pointing out threats and making you a more efficient zombie killer. Yet another example of Valve mixing up your play style is the new finale events; they now involve rushing through environment to turn off zombie attracting alarms and scouting for fuel to fill up escape vehicles (an idea explored further in the excellent Scavenge mode). Valve knew that you camped and Valve stopped you camping, you cheap bastards. L4D2 is a harder game than the original, not cheaper just harder, because the AI director has become more adept and ruining you, not only with enemies but also with gifts.
It’s the fact that Valve made Left 4 Dead 2 with you in mind, tapping into your psychology and using it against you, that makes it such a great game. Valve have given you an absolute shit tonne of content here and every bit of it is miles ahead of the original. Expansion pack my arse.
Rating: 
Nice review dude! very professional sounding. Great game
Scavenge mode is by far the best thing about the game. I play dead center on scavenge about 85% of the time.
yes man
i total understand xD and very well done for putting 4 stars not 5 cos it isn’t as good as the first one still :p