Now that I have had some time to sit down and beat up some zombies on my trusty old PC, I will say to you right now, buy the game. Even if you want to wait a little while until price comes down or it goes on sale, whatever just buy the game. The play through is much better than the first as two feels more like a story, and you get to watch the characters progress right on through it.
I did not want to play the game for an hour and then rush out a review on it just to try to beat the other sites. No, that would be foolish. I’ve decided to give Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2) some time to get a feel for the game.
I know there are a very large number of gamers out there who like the Modern Warfare 2 boycott; decided that L4D2 needed one as well. The claim was, Left 4 Dead was barely a year old before they released the new one. Well, to some extent I can agree with you but on the other hand EA releases a new Madden every year. Why not just release team roster updates as well, the reason is because they add new features, just like we’re getting from L4D2.
The graphics received a decent update, there is a lot more blood and gore, and to top it off survivors’ comments in this one make me laugh. The first thing I noticed in this installment of the L4D series is you should really start from the first act, Dead Center. The reason I say this is L4D2 really feels like you are actually following a story, you start with the four survivors who seemingly have no idea what has happened, and they go on referring to the “special” zombies as different names. For instance, the Spitter, obviously spits green acid on the ground. Your character complains about the green goop, the Charger, looks like a redneck wearing overalls and has a long arm, so they refer to him as “long arm” or “redneck.” As you go through the game, the survivors learn the names of zombies and start properly referring to them. These of course a minor game play details but really stands out and lets you feel for the characters.
I’ll be honest and say, I have not played through the entire campaign yet. I beat the first chapter with some friends and ended up in the middle of the last chapter with some morons who decided upon every man for themselves so after dying and me getting pissed off I killed the bastard who left me behind and was thrown off the server. That’ll teach him.
Multiplayer Modes
L4D2 has added some exciting new multiplayer modes along with the old ones. Of course there is versus, where you take turns going through the campaign competing against the other team. As well as more recent survival mode. And let us not forget campaign mode. Now they have added, realism mode, where team work is key. I haven’t tried this out yet, but I assume there will be no more running off from your group. Scavenge mode, which is similar to versus mode, but you are collecting gas cans to fill up a vehicle. One team plays the Survivors, the other team plays the zombies. If both teams collect the same number of gas cans, the team with the best time wins. Otherwise it’s the team that collects the most cans wins.
Graphics
The zombies look fantastic, the environments look awesome, and the overall detail that has gone into this game is spectacular.
Controls
Your controls are very basic W, A, S, D click to shoot, mouse to look around and aim etc. The basic PC game controls.
Gameplay
As you can see, I am a huge fan of the game, the new multiplayer modes, the old multiplayer modes, the campaign all of it is awesome. I enjoy playing the new “specials” just as much as I did the old ones. The Charger is a little difficult to get the control of, but once you get it down, you can do so much damage with him its insane.
They have added a new grenade to the game called the Bio Grenade, and its pretty much the vomit from the boomer. When you play a survivor and get your hands on one of these, its like having a good guy boomer. I personally like throwing the puke on the Tank and having the zombies attack him. It makes life a little easier when you don’t have to worry about the tank being up your ass the entire time.
The added weapons make the game feel more diverse. I hated the sniper rifles in the original but love them now. Other friends, who only used the shotguns, are now finding themselves using automatic rifles. Oh and can I say that I applaud Valve for adding the magnum. I would love to see some 6 shooters in future updates though. The added melee weapons make the game more interesting. Chainsaw FTW!!!
Final Thoughts
Left 4 Dead 2 is an excellent game; I recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the first one, even if you didn’t enjoy the first one I suggest at the least giving the demo a try. And finally, there are already rumors floating around that a certain band could be part of a DLC for L4D2. Now get out there and buy it!
