For my secular gift giving annual occurrence day, I was lucky enough to be given a shiny new copy of Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to, surprise surprise, Left 4 Dead. There wasn’t a lot of love for this game seeing as Valve managed to release it approximately a year after the original, very quick turn around for a game. As such, people presumed that the new content could simple have been released as a patch or DLC, rather than a whole game. Even once people started playing it, they claimed that the changes made to the game weren’t deserving of a whole new disc, that it felt like a rushed expansion, not a whole game. To those people, I cry from the hills “BULLSHIT! BULLSHIT!” and this is why.
- The New Special Infected: In addition to the existing rosters of the hunter, smoker, boomer, tank and witch, three new special infected join the line up. There’s the incredible fast and very disruptive charger. As his name implies, he charges through the survivors, knocking them aside and grabbing one of them in the process, who he’ll proceed to to smash into the ground. Then you have the jockey, a rather infuriating spec-infec who jumps onto a survivor, then rides them about like a cheap whore on speed. This can often lead to you being corralled into either a hoard of infected or even worse, into a boomer or spitter. The spitter is either the sister, or worse, girlfriend, of the boomer. As her name implies, she spits (she defo doesn’t swallow). And her spit happens to be rather corrosive persistent acid that can be used as a denial of ground attack. In addition to these three newcomers, the witch now wanders around during the day (oh joy) and some of the classic spec-infec now have new skins more suitable of the deep south.
- Speaking of deep south, that brings me to the new levels and the new story, which you can actually call a story! Unlike L4D where each campaign was styled like a zombie B-movie, with only the vaguest of plot threads connecting them, L4D2 has an actual story with connection between campaigns and reoccurring characters. The levels are also very beautiful, featuring day and night cycles, weather and dynamic routes controlled by the improved AI.
- The biggest improvement is the portfolio of weapons. In the first game, there was a very limited selection of armaments, 9 in total (staring shotgun, machine gun and pistol, upgrade shotgun, machine gun, hunting rifle, second pistol, moltov and pipe bomb). In L4D2 I have actually not been able to count the weapons. There are multiple types of each class plus a new throw able, boomer bile, which makes infected turn on each other. There’s also the adrenaline (increases speed and ability to shake off infected), incendiary and explosive ammo (which you deploy so other survivors can upgrade their weapons with new ammo) a grenade launcher, and best of all, MELEE WEAPONS!!!!
- Melee weapons are the best new feature of the game! I cannot convey how much fun they are! I was cackling with joy as I decapitated zombies with a katana and making chainsaw noises as I sliced and diced (vading ding ding ding [chainsaw noise]) There are eight melee weapons in total; cricket bat, machete, guitar, chainsaw, katana, crowbar, fire axe and police baton. If you’re lucky enough to get the code from Game (in the UK) you’ll also have the limited edition baseball bat (but this doesn’t count to the use all melee weapon achievement). I love the fact each weapon has its own charm, The katana and machete both slice and dice, separating undead from undead body. The cricket bat is a nice little tip of the hat to Shaun of the Dead and the chainsaw is just too much fun to explain.
- Then you have the new survivors, new game mode and loads of immersive little features and ways of playing through the campaign. Gone is the method of run and gun, run and gun, stand and gun. You now have to collect items, turn off alarms, run gauntlets and basically play a much more realistic zombie apocalypse.
Well, that’s the end of my love for Left 4 Dead 2, all you people who trash talk it, you fucking phail! Peace! Lulz
