If you’re wondering if Left 4 Dead 2 is enough of an upgrade in terms of content and gameplay to warrant a purchase, I will tell you this: hell, yes. The demo left me wondering if there would be enough of a change in gameplay and tactics to want this game, and having gone through it, I will say that if you enjoyed this game’s predecessor, then you will absolutely shit gerbils for this one. Put simply, Left 4 Dead 2 is what Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was to Dungeons and Dragons. Not feeling that one? I get you. It is what MMA is to Boxing. No? It’s what sex is to jerking off. What Hayao Miyazaki is to animation, what strawberry milk is to milk, what Transformers were to Go bots, what Coquille St. Jaques is to fettuccine alfredo, what Big League Chew is to Hubba Bubba, what big teddy bears are to small teddy bears. Maybe you’re just confused now. Well let’s just say that Left 4 Dead now seems a minimalist approach to the zombie apocalypse game and is but a basic training exercise to prepare you for Left 4 Dead 2. What struck me the most about this game, in the campaign mode, was the level design in terms of artistic approach and strategic approach. The levels are incredibly varied, quite long and often sublimely crafted, and I hate to sound like a total cheesefruit here, but gorgeous, in that horrific dismal zombie apocalypse sort of way. If you have been scouting through the internet, searching for details as to what exactly each level contains, stop right now, and rest assured that this playground will more than suit you. Other reviews you have read may have seemed reticent on the actual content of the levels, and that could possibly be because they don’t want to spoil things. The setting of this game, in the American South, suits itself well to the subject matter and the plethora of locales and zombie types that Valve wanted to include in this game. Trailer parks, swamps, metropolitan areas, an amusement park, a plantation, a hotel, mall and many others serve to keep the visual sense in high delight. And the addition of daylight areas and variable weather aid as well. Everything has been added to. Take for instance, the well known crescendo events and finales from the first game. At various points, including the end of each level, a switch is thrown and the players must defend a key position from hordes of zombies. In this game, most of these events require the players to complete some task in order to exit the situation. Usually it involves running some distance to flip a switch, but in an early campaign you are required to roam about as level, gathering gas tanks to fill your escape vehicle. While in theory, these seem like simple tasks, the level design makes them exciting. Case in point, in one level you must run a long a giant roller coaster track, beset by zombies, to get to the end event switch. And while the finales in the first one saw the same formula of wave of infected, this one mixes it up a bit. It’s not always horde surge, Tank, horde surge and then Tank. You will find yourself suitably surprised, most notably in the plantation finale of the Swamp Fever campaign, where you find yourself assaulted by two Tanks at once. Yes, Tanks are back, as are all special infected from the first game. The special infected are zombies that have undergone some extensive mutation that has resulted in supernatural powers, beyond what regular zombification confers. In addition, Left 4 Dead 2 adds four new special infected, and with that upgrade in types, comes a lot of interesting and dire situations in which the survivors (players) can find themselves. While tactics to defeating these new infected are similar to the old boss-type zombies while only one is present, few things can prepare you for, say, when a Jockey ambushes a player, steering him into a fresh pool of acid just laid down by a Spitter, while the survivor needing to aid you is being pulled by a smoker and someone else just got rammed by a Charger. For those unfamiliar with the boss type zombies from either game, I will list them here and for the old boss infected, I will include information about their aesthetic changes. Old special infected Boomer: An obese zombie who vomits bile on players, causing them to be rushed by a group of regular infected. Also, when shot, the Boomer bursts in an explosion of gore, which coats nearby players, causing them to be rushed by zombies. In Left 4 Dead 2, a female version of the boomer exists, complete with chubby boobies and a different voice track (Read: feminine belches!). Hunter: A hooded zombie, who skulks in the shadows until the right moment, when he leaps upon a player, then proceeds to claw him repeatedly, until the boss infected is either knocked off or shot off the player, killed or the survivor is killed. The hunter leaps greater distances in L4D2 and his bloodied and grotesque arms and legs are visible. Smoker: This zombie strikes from afar with a tongue that is hundreds of feet long, and ensnares his victims with it, causing them to be immobilized, taking damage from the Smoker’s claws when pulled in close. If the Smoker is unable to pull the victim all the way in, because of some obstacle, damage is still taken as the player dangles, being constricted. The tongue can be broken by another player or the smoker can be shot to free its victim. Once shot, the smoker expels a large clod of green gas that obscures vision and gives players the coughy sniffles. The smoker has quite a visual upgrade with more tumors and tongues sticking out all over its head. : RAAAAAAAAAAAH! The tank is a hulking mass of pure zombie muscles and in addition to punching people metres far, and having ridiculous amounts of health, can hurl huge chunks of earth. Also, if vehicles are around, he gets even deadlier as he can knock them the player’s way, which causes instant kills. Tanks are puffier looking in L4D2 and have lost their hair, have open sores on their arms, and to me, appear as if they have been soaked with water. Witch: The witch is a lithe, old woman, who sits on the ground and cries until someone disturbs her. The offender is promptly rushed, knocked to the ground, and clawed to shredded shit in moments. Avoiding her in the first game will spare you from her wrath. Also, skilled players can Cr0wn her, a technique which involves sneaking up on her and delivering a single shotgun blast to her head, killing her instantly. L4D2 adds a version of her that walks, I detailed her in the next section: New Special Infected Charger: The Charger is a large zombie, wearing overalls, who has a giant right arm. His other arm appears vestigial. Upon sighting a survivor, he rushes him/her with great speed, carries the victim some distance and then proceeds to bash his prey into the ground repeatedly. The only way to stop this is to kill the Charger. Jockey: A creepy little fella’ with an oddly proportioned body and limbs, the Jockey scuttles up to a survivor, and upon nearing them, leaps upon the victim, where he proceeds to “ride” him/her all night lo- I mean, he steers them into various hazards, such as Spitter goo, infected swarms and even Witches. Another survivor can knock the Jockey loose with the always trust right button pistol whip or melee weapon, or by shooting the boss infected to death. Spitter: A wicked ugly female zombie, tall and skinny, but with beer gut and an elongated neck, from a great distance, she will spit acid from her maw, which lands on the ground, creating a large pool. For every second you are in this acid you will take increasingly greater amounts of damage. On higher difficulties, this pool’s fatality rate is horrifically high. Also, she forms a pool when destroyed. Wandering Witch: your basic witch, except she is up and wandering around. Getting too close will result in the same fate detailed above. The thing about the Walking Witch is that because she is up and about, she tends to blend in well with common infected swarms, where you will not notice her until she’s pissed, has you on the ground, and your guts are all over her talons. Cr0wning seems far easier, though. In addition to the boss infected, L4d2 also has introduced uncommon types, zombies who have some special property, but not enough to elevate them to the rank of boss infected. Such types include, vision obscuring Mud Men, fire immune Hazmat suit wearers, and squeaky-shoed clowns to name a few. Also, added variety comes to us in terms of a great number of added weapons, in particular, melee weapons. These one shot kills are extremely useful in situations where you have to cover ground fast while being swarmed by infected. Carving your way gorily through a crowd of infected is satisfying work, and this game gives you a myriad of tools to do this: katanas, baseball bats, cricket bats, crowbars, axes, electric guitars, frying pans, tonfas and of course, the chainsaw seen in the trailer. All of these have slightly different effects and properties, as do the new varied types of firearms. For instance, the AK 47 is more powerful but less accurate than the assault rifle. There is another type that is extremely accurate and does less damage per shot than both previously mentioned guns. There are six types of shotguns all varying in effective range, damage and pump speed (heh heh). Of course, you can still dual wield pistols or stick with just a magnum, a new pistol that packs an insane punch. Even first tier weapons have variants. Also, something I was hoping would be here is: a grenade launcher. This thing is a blast to wield, but if you think the auto shotty was dangerous for friendly fire, you haven’t seen jack yet. In addition to all these guns, you can find special ammo types to use with them. Incendiary rounds light everything you shoot on fire and explosive rounds add an extra punch. There are even a couple of extra items to add in your med kit and pain pills slots. Adrenaline shots give a boost of speed, handy for the many crescendo events where this attribute is in high demand. Defibrillators revive dead team members and adrenalin shots amp speed. Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs remain and another bomb is added: boomer bile. Boomer bile explodes in a cloud of green gas that causes zombies to swarm about it, leaving them vulnerable. In addition, zombies hit by it will feel the hungering wrath of their fellow undead. With all this firepower, you can have a team equipped for everything. And team work is what L4Dead has always been about, and you’ll need it more than ever in this game. L4D2 is, like its predecessor, a game where lone wolves will find themselves brutally punished. The varied types of zombies and smart level design will need the group working together at peak efficiency, especially at high difficulty levels. And though you can play this game’s campaign single player, because of the ineffectiveness and inability of the bots to coordinate advanced strategies, it is highly discouraged. This is where my sole complaint of this game lies. A rudimentary way to give orders to bots, similar to what is found in Brothers and Arms:Hell’s Highway, would add so much to the single player mode, which instead, is an exercise in frustration. Play Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer, as it is a gas to share such an exhilarating experience with others and it makes it feasible to coordinate attacks and to clear the campaign on higher difficulty settings. Of course, the campaign isn’t the only thing this game offers. Survival mode puts you and your three pals right into finale or crescendo event as increasingly potent waves of zombies rush you. The object: survive as long as you can. This mode makes it possible to enjoy the most intense parts of the game in short chunks of time. Scavenge mode is similar to versus, where teams switch back and forth between playing infected and survivors all while racing to gather items to fill an escape vehicle. Frantic and fun. Realism mode is for the best of the best. Fellow players are harder to identify as they are no longer surrounded by glowing color; zombies are difficult to kill with body shots and items and firearms are not indicated by icons. A real bloodbath. Accurate weapons play favorites here, as opposed to the heavy damage dealing weapons which from afar can’t guarantee the headshots needed to put the infected down. Realism can be played on any difficulty level. And last but not least is Versus mode, where 4 people act as the survivors fighting through the campaign, while another 4 play as the infected, an experienced not to be missed. The new infected types really shine here as do the level setups. Myriad ways to annihilate the living await you, and for many, this mode is what keeps people coming back to this game, though I believe even the campaign is enough to keep you occupied for some while due to the presence of the Director AI. The Director AI is the name of the in game system that controls when and where enemies are spawned as well as how they behave. This changes every play through, making for differing experiences every time. Also, different weapons are spawned at different locations and in L4D2 the Director AI can even mix up the weather. Also, increasing replayability even further, the Director can even change a level’s layout, so the familiar seems unfamiliar. PC Gamer’s Dan Stapleton said this about the first Left 4 Dead: “You could play this forever”. L4D2 has me taking that statement and upgrading it for my own use: “You will play this forever.” This game is a great achievement in a new subgenre of 1st person shooter team games that will, I believe, stand the test of time as a true classic. No other game can raise emotions such as desperation, fear and excitement to the levels Left 4 Dead 2 can. It is packed with content and is fun as hell. Score: 9.5

PC Game Review: Left 4 Dead 2

If you’re wondering if Left 4 Dead 2 is enough of an upgrade in terms of content and gameplay to warrant a purchase, I will tell you this: hell, yes. The demo left me wondering if there would be enough of a change in gameplay and tactics to want this game, and having gone through it, I will say that if you enjoyed this game’s predecessor, then you will absolutely shit gerbils for this one.

Put simply, Left 4 Dead 2 is what Advanced Dungeons and Dragons was to Dungeons and Dragons. Not feeling that one? I get you. It is what MMA is to Boxing. No? It’s what sex is to jerking off. What Hayao Miyazaki is to animation, what strawberry milk is to milk, what Transformers were to Go bots, what Coquille St. Jaques is to fettuccine alfredo, what Big League Chew is to Hubba Bubba, what big teddy bears are to small teddy bears. Maybe you’re just confused now. Well let’s just say that Left 4 Dead now seems a minimalist approach to the zombie apocalypse game and is but a basic training exercise to prepare you for Left 4 Dead 2.

What struck me the most about this game, in the campaign mode, was the level design in terms of artistic approach and strategic approach. The levels are incredibly varied, quite long and often sublimely crafted, and I hate to sound like a total cheesefruit here, but gorgeous, in that horrific dismal zombie apocalypse sort of way. If you have been scouting through the internet, searching for details as to what exactly each level contains, stop right now, and rest assured that this playground will more than suit you. Other reviews you have read may have seemed reticent on the actual content of the levels, and that could possibly be because they don’t want to spoil things.

The setting of this game, in the American South, suits itself well to the subject matter and the plethora of locales and zombie types that Valve wanted to include in this game. Trailer parks, swamps, metropolitan areas, an amusement park, a plantation, a hotel, mall and many others serve to keep the visual sense in high delight. And the addition of daylight areas and variable weather aid as well. Everything has been added to. Take for instance, the well known crescendo events and finales from the first game. At various points, including the end of each level, a switch is thrown and the players must defend a key position from hordes of zombies. In this game, most of these events require the players to complete some task in order to exit the situation. Usually it involves running some distance to flip a switch, but in an early campaign you are required to roam about as level, gathering gas tanks to fill your escape vehicle. While in theory, these seem like simple tasks, the level design makes them exciting. Case in point, in one level you must run a long a giant roller coaster track, beset by zombies, to get to the end event switch. And while the finales in the first one saw the same formula of wave of infected, this one mixes it up a bit. It’s not always horde surge, Tank, horde surge and then Tank. You will find yourself suitably surprised, most notably in the plantation finale of the Swamp Fever campaign, where you find yourself assaulted by two Tanks at once.

Yes, Tanks are back, as are all special infected from the first game. The special infected are zombies that have undergone some extensive mutation that has resulted in supernatural powers, beyond what regular zombification confers. In addition, Left 4 Dead 2 adds four new special infected, and with that upgrade in types, comes a lot of interesting and dire situations in which the survivors (players) can find themselves. While tactics to defeating these new infected are similar to the old boss-type zombies while only one is present, few things can prepare you for, say, when a Jockey ambushes a player, steering him into a fresh pool of acid just laid down by a Spitter, while the survivor needing to aid you is being pulled by a smoker and someone else just got rammed by a Charger. For those unfamiliar with the boss type zombies from either game, I will list them here and for the old boss infected, I will include information about their aesthetic changes.

Old special infected

Boomer: An obese zombie who vomits bile on players, causing them to be rushed by a group of regular infected. Also, when shot, the Boomer bursts in an explosion of gore, which coats nearby players, causing them to be rushed by zombies. In Left 4 Dead 2, a female version of the boomer exists, complete with chubby boobies and a different voice track (Read: feminine belches!).

Hunter: A hooded zombie, who skulks in the shadows until the right moment, when he leaps upon a player, then proceeds to claw him repeatedly, until the boss infected is either knocked off or shot off the player, killed or the survivor is killed. The hunter leaps greater distances in L4D2 and his bloodied and grotesque arms and legs are visible.

Smoker: This zombie strikes from afar with a tongue that is hundreds of feet long, and ensnares his victims with it, causing them to be immobilized, taking damage from the Smoker’s claws when pulled in close. If the Smoker is unable to pull the victim all the way in, because of some obstacle, damage is still taken as the player dangles, being constricted. The tongue can be broken by another player or the smoker can be shot to free its victim. Once shot, the smoker expels a large clod of green gas that obscures vision and gives players the coughy sniffles. The smoker has quite a visual upgrade with more tumors and tongues sticking out all over its head.

: RAAAAAAAAAAAH! The tank is a hulking mass of pure zombie muscles and in addition to punching people metres far, and having ridiculous amounts of health, can hurl huge chunks of earth. Also, if vehicles are around, he gets even deadlier as he can knock them the player’s way, which causes instant kills. Tanks are puffier looking in L4D2 and have lost their hair, have open sores on their arms, and to me, appear as if they have been soaked with water.

Witch: The witch is a lithe, old woman, who sits on the ground and cries until someone disturbs her. The offender is promptly rushed, knocked to the ground, and clawed to shredded shit in moments. Avoiding her in the first game will spare you from her wrath. Also, skilled players can Cr0wn her, a technique which involves sneaking up on her and delivering a single shotgun blast to her head, killing her instantly. L4D2 adds a version of her that walks, I detailed her in the next section:

New Special Infected

Charger: The Charger is a large zombie, wearing overalls, who has a giant right arm. His other arm appears vestigial. Upon sighting a survivor, he rushes him/her with great speed, carries the victim some distance and then proceeds to bash his prey into the ground repeatedly. The only way to stop this is to kill the Charger.

Jockey: A creepy little fella’ with an oddly proportioned body and limbs, the Jockey scuttles up to a survivor, and upon nearing them, leaps upon the victim, where he proceeds to “ride” him/her all night lo- I mean, he steers them into various hazards, such as Spitter goo, infected swarms and even Witches. Another survivor can knock the Jockey loose with the always trust right button pistol whip or melee weapon, or by shooting the boss infected to death.

Spitter: A wicked ugly female zombie, tall and skinny, but with beer gut and an elongated neck, from a great distance, she will spit acid from her maw, which lands on the ground, creating a large pool. For every second you are in this acid you will take increasingly greater amounts of damage. On higher difficulties, this pool’s fatality rate is horrifically high. Also, she forms a pool when destroyed.

Wandering Witch: your basic witch, except she is up and wandering around. Getting too close will result in the same fate detailed above. The thing about the Walking Witch is that because she is up and about, she tends to blend in well with common infected swarms, where you will not notice her until she’s pissed, has you on the ground, and your guts are all over her talons. Cr0wning seems far easier, though.

In addition to the boss infected, L4d2 also has introduced uncommon types, zombies who have some special property, but not enough to elevate them to the rank of boss infected. Such types include, vision obscuring Mud Men, fire immune Hazmat suit wearers, and squeaky-shoed clowns to name a few.

Also, added variety comes to us in terms of a great number of added weapons, in particular, melee weapons. These one shot kills are extremely useful in situations where you have to cover ground fast while being swarmed by infected. Carving your way gorily through a crowd of infected is satisfying work, and this game gives you a myriad of tools to do this: katanas, baseball bats, cricket bats, crowbars, axes, electric guitars, frying pans, tonfas and of course, the chainsaw seen in the trailer. All of these have slightly different effects and properties, as do the new varied types of firearms. For instance, the AK 47 is more powerful but less accurate than the assault rifle. There is another type that is extremely accurate and does less damage per shot than both previously mentioned guns. There are six types of shotguns all varying in effective range, damage and pump speed (heh heh). Of course, you can still dual wield pistols or stick with just a magnum, a new pistol that packs an insane punch. Even first tier weapons have variants. Also, something I was hoping would be here is: a grenade launcher. This thing is a blast to wield, but if you think the auto shotty was dangerous for friendly fire, you haven’t seen jack yet. In addition to all these guns, you can find special ammo types to use with them. Incendiary rounds light everything you shoot on fire and explosive rounds add an extra punch. There are even a couple of extra items to add in your med kit and pain pills slots. Adrenaline shots give a boost of speed, handy for the many crescendo events where this attribute is in high demand. Defibrillators revive dead team members and adrenalin shots amp speed. Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs remain and another bomb is added: boomer bile. Boomer bile explodes in a cloud of green gas that causes zombies to swarm about it, leaving them vulnerable. In addition, zombies hit by it will feel the hungering wrath of their fellow undead.

With all this firepower, you can have a team equipped for everything. And team work is what L4Dead has always been about, and you’ll need it more than ever in this game. L4D2 is, like its predecessor, a game where lone wolves will find themselves brutally punished. The varied types of zombies and smart level design will need the group working together at peak efficiency, especially at high difficulty levels. And though you can play this game’s campaign single player, because of the ineffectiveness and inability of the bots to coordinate advanced strategies, it is highly discouraged. This is where my sole complaint of this game lies. A rudimentary way to give orders to bots, similar to what is found in Brothers and Arms:Hell’s Highway, would add so much to the single player mode, which instead, is an exercise in frustration. Play Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer, as it is a gas to share such an exhilarating experience with others and it makes it feasible to coordinate attacks and to clear the campaign on higher difficulty settings. Of course, the campaign isn’t the only thing this game offers.

Survival mode puts you and your three pals right into finale or crescendo event as increasingly potent waves of zombies rush you. The object: survive as long as you can. This mode makes it possible to enjoy the most intense parts of the game in short chunks of time.

Scavenge mode is similar to versus, where teams switch back and forth between playing infected and survivors all while racing to gather items to fill an escape vehicle. Frantic and fun.

Realism mode is for the best of the best. Fellow players are harder to identify as they are no longer surrounded by glowing color; zombies are difficult to kill with body shots and items and firearms are not indicated by icons. A real bloodbath. Accurate weapons play favorites here, as opposed to the heavy damage dealing weapons which from afar can’t guarantee the headshots needed to put the infected down. Realism can be played on any difficulty level.

And last but not least is Versus mode, where 4 people act as the survivors fighting through the campaign, while another 4 play as the infected, an experienced not to be missed. The new infected types really shine here as do the level setups. Myriad ways to annihilate the living await you, and for many, this mode is what keeps people coming back to this game, though I believe even the campaign is enough to keep you occupied for some while due to the presence of the Director AI.

The Director AI is the name of the in game system that controls when and where enemies are spawned as well as how they behave. This changes every play through, making for differing experiences every time. Also, different weapons are spawned at different locations and in L4D2 the Director AI can even mix up the weather. Also, increasing replayability even further, the Director can even change a level’s layout, so the familiar seems unfamiliar.

PC Gamer’s Dan Stapleton said this about the first Left 4 Dead: “You could play this forever”. L4D2 has me taking that statement and upgrading it for my own use: “You will play this forever.” This game is a great achievement in a new subgenre of 1st person shooter team games that will, I believe, stand the test of time as a true classic. No other game can raise emotions such as desperation, fear and excitement to the levels Left 4 Dead 2 can. It is packed with content and is fun as hell.

Score: 9.5