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Left 4 Dead 2 Review

Thriller
When I held a six-pack of soda as an impromptu melee weapon, I knew Left 4 Dead 2 would treat me well. Clutching Cokes, my teammates and I were fleeing the Save 4 Less mini-mart we'd busted into moments before, and the damn alarm was acting as the dinner bell for dozens of lurching unpeople. This wasn't our idea of a good time, but we owed a parched gunshop owner a favour: he'd let us walk away with whatever shotguns, laser-sighted assault rifles and high-calibre pistols our 'Use' keys would let us carry. So I trotted on, gunless, wondering if too many melee attacks would over-carbonate the bottles, yelling at my teammates to cover my ass on the most insane, ill-advised escort mission ever.

As a team of cocky Left 4 Dead veterans (with me as Nick, the riverboat gambler), the first thing we did in the sequel to Valve's huge-selling zombie co-op shooter was crank up the difficulty to Advanced. That proved to be a tactical error: after two hours of trying to beat the inspired final battle of the first of five campaigns, Dead Centre, we gave in and toned it down a notch.

Regardless of success or failure, we were loving every minute of it. Everything is fresh. You don't always know which way to go. Panic takes hold. Waves of Infected come unpredictably, and mixed teams of several Special Infected arrive simultaneously. You think on your feet. You make mistakes.

Mistakes, and desperate attempts to recover from them, produce some of the best, most thrilling moments of Left 4 Dead. Valve understand and capitalise on the fun created by emergent play and the freedom to experiment. The new melee weapons encourage daredevil tactics, new Infected varieties drive survivors from their safe corners and closets, many of the new finales are more imaginative than any in L4D1, and a new mode will steal more hours from your evenings than Versus, the campaign, or Survival (and possibly all of them combined). Clean, predictable zombie-killing is out. Cooperative calamity is in.

L4D2's core philosophy is to drag you, kicking and screaming, out of your comfort zone, and that couldn't be more welcome: the original allows survivors to dig in, fending off huge numbers of Infected far too effectively, so the larger, potentially panic-inducing moments can be worked around. One of the biggest factors that will keep L4D2 unpredictable far longer than its predecessor is the arrival of three new Special Infected types. The Spitter, the Charger and the Jockey all contribute new harassment mechanics, and terrifying new combos in conjunction with the four familiar Specials. (Who return unchanged, except for alternate character models, like the disgusting female Boomer I call Helga.) The dizzying number of potential combinations means that even experienced players are more likely to be caught off-guard, and that uncertainty puts delicious fear into you every time you round a corner.

Melee weapons are the biggest mechanical change to combat, and definitely for the better. Clutching a katana blade, machete, chainsaw, police baton, cricket bat, frying pan, or the signature Valve crowbar is guaranteed to put a mischievous grin on your face, and swinging like a madman enables you to run headlong into hordes with confidence, defend doorways, mutilate climbers and generally act like a madman. Cleaving away withered appendages shows off the awesome variety of zombie death animations, complete with gore-geous ragdoll physics and a new dismemberment system that models loss of limbs to perfection.

Common infected become more than fodder - they're pińatas, existing to generously bleed, animate and fragment with mortal confetti. Picking up a melee weapon is well worth sacrificing your backup pistol. My only disappointment was the lack of distinction as to how the new zombie-carving utensils part zombies from their limbs. Other than subtle differences in their swinging arcs and attack speeds, a frying pan kills a lot like a katana.

There are nine or ten fantastic moments in the five singleplayer/co-op campaigns. A crescendo in the Dead Centre campaign has you making that soda run for the thirsty gunshop owner - essentially an escort mission with a six-pack of Coke. The finale of The Parish has you sprinting over a suspension bridge gridlocked with abandoned cars. In Hard Rain (my favourite) you navigate a kind of Witch minefield - an abandoned sugar factory with at least six of L4D2's worst-manicured undead ladies wandering around, ready to claw the health out of your eye sockets.

These are the best moments you'll experience, simply because they construct situations that aren't as easily managed or predicted as getting from point A to point B through a horde of common zombies. Of course, the majority of L4D2 is still made up of those types of moments - this is, after all, a game founded on the same fundamentals we saw a year ago in L4D. Campaigns are still mostly linear corridors, though the level design does take grand steps to broaden things with more wide-open spaces and alternate paths.

Hard Rain contains one of the best expressions of this: it starts as a battle through suburbia and rusty industrial areas, but when you reach the end of the stage, you have to haul gas back the way you came through a sudden drenching downpour (controlled dynamically by the AI director) that reduces your visibility to a few feet. Backtracking through the same streets you came in on would feel like lazy design, except that they are now flooded by the rain. Slogging through knee-deep water slows you to zombie-bait speeds, strongly encouraging your party to seek out higher ground.

Move your feet! That's L4D2's first commandment. That killer final battle of Dead Centre I mentioned earlier sells it in a big way. Ellis, Coach, Nick and Rochelle stumble out of a saferoom into a zombie-infested shopping mall's three-story promenade area, still draped with big blue banners pitching the mall's final promotion: GET A PHOTO WITH JIMMY GIBBS JR! "You don't know Jimmy? He's a famous raceman," group chatterbox Ellis informs the survivors in his southern drawl. Jimmy's ad-plastered stock car is enshrined on the ground floor, and it's your ticket out of here. The only catch: the tank is as empty as a zombie's eye socket.

This finale delivers the most dramatic fill-up you'll ever have. Cans of gasoline are scattered around the walkways that ring the plaza: you must reach them and carry them down to the car. You have a 15-second ride down a glass elevator to the ground floor in which to figure out how.

On our first go, we scramble through a list of strategies. Could we spread out and grab the fuel as fast as we can (and take sniper rifles to cover each other from across the level)? Should we give the buddy system a shot, and divide into groups of two? What if we searched the mall slowly as a pack of four, and tossed the gas over the edge? Or if we tried leaving one or two of us on the ground floor while two more make a dash for the diesel? Getting players moving, searching and retrieving these items does something fantastic: it kicks all of the game's mechanics into full motion.

At one point, my team was split up. I was up on the second floor, melee-swinging with a fuel can when Coach called for help from the ground floor, where he lay incapacitated. But making sure everybody stayed alive to the end wasn't the objective. Gassing up the car was, and there were three more gas cans near me. I compromised: I chucked the fuel I had in-hand as close as I could, then yelled at him to ignite the can by shooting it with his pistol. Sacrificing one of our cans created a fire that would hold off the Infected crowded around Coach long enough for me to grab another can and get downstairs to save him.

L4D's mid-level crescendo events and chapter-capping finales are straightforward compared to these. But alongside these brilliant moments there sit two sadly missed opportunities for creative design. Other than a stand-out crescendo event on a rollercoaster track and a tame target-shooting minigame, the Dark Carnival campaign only sparsely displays the playful circus theme I expected, while Swamp Fever reverts to the familiar finale template of 'defend this area with a machinegun turret while we wait for a rescue vehicle.'

The gas-gathering of the Dead Centre finale is so tense and satisfying that L4D2 makes an entirely new competitive multiplayer mode out of it, and it's my single favourite addition. In Scavenge mode, two teams of four compete in short alternating rounds to retrieve gas cans scattered around the map and pour them into a generator in the centre to score points and add time, while the other team plays Infected trying to stop them. Giving the survivors an objective that supersedes survival changes the dynamic and mass-produces thrilling moments.

It's not about knowing when to expect a Tank or in what closet you're most likely to find a pipe bomb, so committing map layouts to memory isn't nearly as important as it is in Versus (and by the way, all five campaigns fully support Versus). It's about on-the-fly gunwork and communication. Best of all, it puts the survivor team into difficult situations that demand split-second responses - such as whether to pour a gas can into the generator to score more points, or save a teammate in the hopes that you'll be able to get more gas with their help.

For the Infected team, Scavenge isn't necessarily about killing survivors, but rather delaying them and denying them gas cans until time runs out. The Infected can pull evil tricks to prevent survivors from scoring - for example, the Spitter's acid goo can ignite any gas canisters that have been dropped by survivors, so if the human team fails to protect can carriers or piles gas cans close together, a well-placed loogie will set them back to square one.

I can't overstate how much these enhancements will extend the life of L4D2, but gun-wise, there's nothing that gives players a genuinely new tactical option. New flavours of every gun class, such as a three-shot-burst assault rifle and a powerful magnum handgun, let you pick up a version that suits your fighting style, but there are no remote mines, no body armour or defensive items. The grenade launcher is the most novel - you can't reload it from ammo stacks, so you get a finite number of shots from a slow-reloading, powerful tube of ranged splash damage that, in the wrong hands, is a friendly fire disaster waiting to happen.

The new consumable items - explosive and incendiary ammo that lets you kill tough zombies a little faster, and an adrenaline shot that speeds you up a little - are in a similar boat: they don't profoundly alter the game, but serve more as fun condiments to what's already there. The new throwable item, Boomer bile, is a cousin to the pipe bomb that can be used to lure hordes away from your group, so it doesn't introduce many new tactics (except in Versus mode, where it can blind a player-controlled Tank). A defibrillator can now be carried in place of a health kit to revive dead comrades, which beats the heck out of fighting your way to a respawn closet short-handed.

Oddly, the new survivors didn't recreate the charm and sense of familiarity of Louis, Francis, Zoey and Bill. There's no running "I hate..." Francis gag or Zoeyisms to break the tension - I noticed fewer allusions to 'Nam or other events to give us a sense of these characters' histories. And as before the closest you'll get to exposition are the forum-style scrawls inside safe rooms, vague rants about the government, or a scripted helicopter flying overhead. But in that respect Valve didn't fix what wasn't broken.

Left 4 Dead 2 refines the game in interesting ways, but does not reinvent the Left 4 Dead experience. As before, the appeal of the kill-advance-kill mechanic will likely erode over time, but measured in moments you're left talking about, Left 4 Dead 2 is off the scale.

For another verdict read Edge's Left 4 Dead 2 review.

PC Gamer Magazine
// Overview
Verdict
Gorier, chainsawier, co-opier, and more infectious. A refreshed stack of content for the best zombie game ever.
// Interactive
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Read all 15 commentsPost a Comment
Why Cant We Just Have Video Reviews?
shiwayb on 17 Nov '09
If you played the first Game with friends it was full of water cooler moments, and the beauty was you get a different epxperience everytime you played it.

Im expecting better from the sequel and by all accounts it looks like Valve have succeeded (and to think they still have doubters Laughing ) in making the 2nd Game even better.

Only problem is, this or AC2? Think I might be trading in MW2 and picking them both up Very Happy !
StonecoldMC on 17 Nov '09
[quote="StonecoldMC"

Only problem is, this or AC2?

Buy both!

This will be the first time ever that I'll be buying two games on 1 release day

L4D2 will be amazing...unfortunately all my friends are waiting till christmas; Cheap B*****ds
lotusexcelsa on 17 Nov '09
[quote="StonecoldMC"

Only problem is, this or AC2?

Buy both!

This will be the first time ever that I'll be buying two games on 1 release day

L4D2 will be amazing...unfortunately all my friends are waiting till christmas; Cheap B*****ds

I think i will be joining you in buying in both lotusexcelsa, completed MW2 and most of Spec Opps, but dont last 2 minutes online Crying or Very sad so will trading that in on Friday and using it towards L4D2 and AC2.

Expensive hobby is Gaming and next year could break the bank Laughing !!
StonecoldMC on 17 Nov '09
I suppose the beauty of L4D is the fact that you don't have to worry about the usual online annoyances, such as snipers and campers because you are all just working together against the hordes of undead.

I'm not a massive fan of online, but I can see the attraction of a game like this, especially if you have loads of mates on LIVE.

Enjoy.
Mark240473 on 17 Nov '09
Why Cant We Just Have Video Reviews?

Because this is from PCGamer, a print magazine? And the finest PC Game print magazine there is, I wouldn't have it any other way.
DancingOmelette on 17 Nov '09
If you played the first Game with friends it was full of water cooler moments, and the beauty was you get a different epxperience everytime you played it.

Im expecting better from the sequel and by all accounts it looks like Valve have succeeded (and to think they still have doubters Laughing ) in making the 2nd Game even better.

Only problem is, this or AC2? Think I might be trading in MW2 and picking them both up Very Happy !

I'm probably trading in MW2 - started playing the campaign again on harder difficulty and it's just the bloody same except you die quicker. Just phoned game and they'll give me Ł30 trade in, so I'm actually making money! Don't know about Gamestation, Blockbuster etc though.

Getting Muramasa instead of AC2 though! I can't wait for L4D2 (although Ł45 at Game seems steep), although I haven't played Crash Course as much as I thought I would.
ricflair on 17 Nov '09
something tells me this one will havbe inferior settings to the original.

the deep south??

i'd imagine it would be shopping malls and rooftops? Confused
svd_grasshopper on 17 Nov '09
Played the demo and I absolutely loved it. I didn't buy the previous game but I've played the demo and Left 4 Dead 2 just feels so much better. So, I'll definitely be getting this.

Good review.
Little Moth on 17 Nov '09
Played the demo, and was very impressed - much better graphics and the special zombies are awesome. I didn't really play the first one online much, it's better to play when you're sat next to your mates. It annoys me slightly that for the sake of a new weapon type, some new levels and 4 new characters they couldn't have patched it into the original L4D. I'd much rather be able to mix and match the new levels, characters and weapons with the old ones on one game than have two separate ones, no matter how good they both are... meh, who cares, I'll probably still end up buying this!
Chris W on 17 Nov '09
Totally agree with top poster:

Why can't we just have video reviews.

Their words + the seeing the game in motion, give you a much much better and true impression of the game.

And that's the idea of a good review, right cvg?

Until then we always have Gamespot, thank god.

But nice review anyway.
anakin22 on 17 Nov '09
I played the 1st one to death and after trying the demo this just seems way to similar. I will buy it but during one of steams half price deals. Im in no hurry
runadumb on 17 Nov '09
I have only just got my mates to buy the first one as it's cheap. So I'll be badgering them to get this one too. Double the fun with 4 player co-op campaigns.
kimoak on 17 Nov '09
Totally agree with top poster:

Why can't we just have video reviews.

Their words + the seeing the game in motion, give you a much much better and true impression of the game.

And that's the idea of a good review, right cvg?

Until then we always have Gamespot, thank god.

But nice review anyway.

no, cvg is for reading at work.

video reviews are lame.
svd_grasshopper on 18 Nov '09
Tried the demo. God it is crap!

Kill, watch your back, kill, watch your back........
wildhook2 on 18 Nov '09
Read all 15 commentsPost a Comment
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