Left 4 Dead 2 Video Game Review (About In Description)
0A bloodier, more entertaining, and more complete version of Valve's brutal co-operative shooter.
Here we are roughly one year after the release of Left 4 Dead, and its sequel is already out. For Valve, Left 4 Dead 2 represents an unusually speedy turnaround time considering the delays and release date fuzziness generally associated with its games, notably in the years leading up to Team Fortress 2 and the still mysterious status of Half-Life 2: Episode 3. Despite that history and the potential concerns associated with how soon this game is showing up after the first, Left 4 Dead 2 is very much a complete game, much more so than the original, and is without a doubt the better product. If you're still in the mood to group up with friends and slay packs of ravenous undead, then it doesn't get any better than this. However, if you're tired of Left 4 Dead's gameplay formula, the sequel, as good as it is, may not be enough to warrant a purchase. It's a game that's more about refinement and augmentation of existing features instead of offering something dramatically new.
As a result, after you've played Left 4 Dead 2, it's difficult to go back to the original without a mild sense of disappointment. Remember, of Left 4 Dead's four original campaigns, only two were set up for Versus play right out of the gate. It wasn't until Valve released the Survival Pack months later that players got the full Versus experience as well as the now-standard timed Survival mode. Left 4 Dead 2 has five full and more interesting campaigns, a more fleshed out and distinctive setting with some fantastic action set pieces, more personality, more modes, and in general gives you more to do. In many ways, I wish this would have been the product that was released first since it feels much more full-featured than the original, and the fiercely team-oriented style of gameplay wouldn't have been as familiar then as it is now.
It's entirely possible you're someone who never played the first and have no idea what I'm talking about, so I'll take a step back for a moment. It's the zombie apocalypse, and you play as one of four human Survivors who attempt to shoot their way through hordes of fast-moving "infected" (which I'll refer to as zombies) to get to the end of a map. The sequel is set in the American southeast and the new cast of characters is more memorable this time around, as they seem more aware of their situation, chattering away and commenting on specific parts of the environment as they battle through. Ellis' inane stories while huddled in safe houses are a particular highlight as he waxes on about accident-prone acquaintances while mobs of bloodthirsty zombies converge on his position, at which point the others understandably tell him to shut his mouth.
That's not what you should be doing while playing, however. More effectively than most other titles out there, Left 4 Dead 2 forces you to work as a team if you want to win. You need to talk, and you need to participate. Every member of your four person squad of Survivors needs to be communicating about what they're doing, calling out locations for ammunition, weapon, and health pickups, and asking for help when in trouble. The catch is that no stage ever plays out the same way, because there's an artificial intelligence called the Director governing the action. Packs of common zombies can attack at any time, and if what the Director throws at you proves too challenging, your path of progression through a stage may even get swapped around to make things easier. It makes every experience different, and encourages repeat play as it adapts to challenge players of any skill level.
Like before, there are multiple difficulty settings, with Normal serving as a good entry-level challenge while on Expert only those with the best communication, decision-making, and reaction skills will survive. Left 4 Dead 2's Realism mode makes the challenge even more daunting, removing helpful glows around items and weapons amongst other things, meaning it's all up to your communication skills to call out ammunition and item pickups or to let people know you're in trouble. If you're the type of player who generally shies away from a conversation and prefers to remain silent, then you're not going to like Left 4 Dead, mostly because your team isn't going to do very well if everyone's only interacting on a minimal level. Because of how much teamwork is required in Left 4 Dead, it's also one of the best games out there for triggering an emotional response in players, which works both ways. If you manage to pull through, you feel a much greater sense of accomplishment, and if you're losing, it can be singularly frustrating since your success is just as reliant on the behavior of those around you as it is on your own personal skill.
Bots are still included, though, so if you do want to run through the five campaigns by yourself that's entirely possible, and should a person have to drop out midway through