There is anger brewing in Valve town, and all the fans are agitated. After playing Left 4 Dead 2 I’m not sure if this game could have been a patch or not. The character models are an improvement, the zombies look the same, but they have sever points in more areas than just the neck and head. There is also a bigger array of weapons, solid melee, and more interactive environments. I will concede that the colors, tone, and feel of the game hasn’t changed much, and the environment textures are still pretty bland. Yet, I keep playing. I think I’ve been playing for an hour, and I’ve really been grinding away for 3. I know that I wanna go back to playing Assassin’s Creed, but that game doesn’t have hordes of zombies and a fire-axe with their name on it. I can’t pull out my Louis-Ville Slugger and beat an Italian to death. But I can beat a zombie to death, and the primitive half of me loves the violence.

Left 4 Dead 2, much like the first title in the series, leans heavily on addictive game play and lets the graphics take a back seat, it gives you solid-looking characters and waves of zombies to battle, and really doesn’t stress too much over how neatly the zombies’ bodies connect. It’d rather let you knock their heads, arms, faces, and legs off while trying to survive the visceral special zombies that are constantly hunting you. In the second installment we see the return of the Hunter, Smoker, Boomer, Tank, and Witch (who now walks around while crying, and can now block hallways while doing so). These zombies, barring the mild changes to the Witch, can be viewed as cut and paste. The addition of the new zombies, however, adds a new mechanic to the game that I quite enjoyed, and the uncommon zombies thrown into the mix definitely changed the way I play.

• The Charger, which literally kicks the shit out of you if you don’t stop its rampage.
• The Jockey, which climbs onto your shoulders and you wrestle him for control.
• The Spitter (my favorite), an ugly kitchen wench who shoots acid spit and when killed, explodes with acid you cannot stand in.

Adding these to the mix makes the combat that much more chaotic, and then they also added Uncommon infected.

• The Clown – which runs at you with his squeaky nose, attracting more zombies.
• The Mudmen – Guk-covered monsters that hide out in the swampy areas, their muck has the same effect as boomer bile
• The Hazmat Zombie – immune to fire
• Bullet-proof zombies – decked out in riot gear these zombies are immune to bullets… guess that description is kinda repetitive

The melee weapons they added to the game are awesome. Being able to choose which weapon to battle the hordes with – axes, or guns – gives the game 2 different feels, and allows those that would rather hack away the option. I found myself running balls first into the zombie horde while my dedicated compadre Juke-Bot blasted away with an UZI. In my opinion, the melee weapons in most cases work better than the guns, and I wish they would have a mild balance to them. I found myself much happier using a samurai sword, chainsaw, or hatchet against the waves of monsters, and only turning to my shotgun when I had to pick off a boomer from a distance.

Is this game an improvement over Left For Dead 1? Yes, I will most definitely say it’s bigger, better and more thought-out. The environments have more detail (rooms on fire fill with smoke reducing visibility, zombies on fire last longer when running after you, etc..) The achievements are all completely different from L4D1, not just a recycled list, and the new special Infected force you to change your team tactics, and add a fun new element to the game. I loved the spitter, dodging acid and getting burned after killing it was a nice touch. Running around trying to defend against the Jocky taking control of your character, or praying that the Witch wouldn’t block the warehouse hallway when you’re low on life. I guess it could have been patched in, if you wanted to download a 4-6gb patch on your console (shudder at the thought).

Touching briefly on audio, I’m super impressed with the gutteral screams, roars, and moans of the zombie horde, and the great placement of your survivors voice overs. As an audio engineer, I’d love to sit down with Valve’s Sound Designer and hear and see what he does to deliver the great zombie effects he brings to each version of the game. There isn’t really much of a soundtrack, but I don’t feel the game needs it. There are few games that I love the audio from and this is one of them (if any of you sound kids haven’t played BIOSHOCK or Deadspace you’re missing Audio Masterpieces).

After playing this game I have to vote that Valve releasing a sequel was a good move. We could squabble about pricing, delivery, etc., but I don’t see a point to that angle. I like this game, and my wallet and I are both praying for a game to hate. Overall, this is a solid delivery to the Left 4 Dead series, and a good add-on to the Valve catalogue. Read more at my Examiner page.

Loved:

• Addition of melee weapons.
• The squishy turning adds a panicky feeling while the horde rushes you and that adrenaline keeps rushing
• More detail to environmental hazards, rooms on fire are filled with smoke, etc.

Hated:

• The squishy controls get semi-irritating after playing shooters with more accurate controls, it’s a love-hate relationship with those damned things (Modern Warfare 2)
• Still no 4 player split screen…

Score:

• Graphics – 7
• Sound – 9
• Replay – 10
• Controls – 8
• Overall – 8.5

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