Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 is the sequel to Valve's cooperative first-person shooter blockbuster. Although almost unanimously well-received at the outset, critics were later underwhelmed by the lack of promised downloadable content made available later on. Valve, the essential saviours of PC gaming, had not kept their promise of using L4D as a 'platform' on which to 'release' further campaigns and content upon.

The criticism is of course warranted given the similarities of the sequel and the full-price of a new release, however the overhaul of the Steam engine and the legitimate differences in gameplay that it allows justifies a second-look.

Left 4 Dead 2 Review : from a famousblueraincoat
Played 15+ hours on PC
Available for PC & XBox360 - ESRB: M
"L4D + Melee + New Campaigns = Worth Every Penny"

Valve, the creators of the sprawling Half Life series, Team Fortress, Counterstrike and their subsequent sequels brought us Left 4 Dead in 2008. Most notably, L4D made a huge impact with its AI-director adjusting the experience to the user's style of play.

If the player had an abundance of ammo or health the AI-director would adjust the intensity of zombie hordes to be more frequent. The original even claimed to track mouse movements to calculate how jittery a player was feeling. The idea being that the player's intensity can be maintained consistently, but can have a variety of experiences. Each map, although the physical objects are all in the same places, can essentially be different every time.

In the second iteration, all of this is still the case and is made even more enjoyable by the ambiance of America's South. Swamps, Plantations, Bourbon Street and Industrial factories are all extraordinary settings for each episode. The level design is ramped up to such a point that each ending takes place in an outrageous kind of area for a final standoff. In the carnival episode, the last stand takes place in an outdoor arena meant to house a heavy metal group. You use fireworks and guitars to fend off an ocean of zombies while you await a chopper rescue.

This game not only relies on teamwork, the ingenuity of the Valve team forces it and it truly feels cooperative. The difficulty seems to be ramped up even higher. Whereas in the first release, you were almost guaranteed to survive as long as you were doing well, in the sequel the last stand set-pieces are so extreme you have to essentially claw your way out of them.

The only gripe coming from playing a game like Modern Warfare 2 is that there is no direct attachment to your character. The Role-Playing element of gaining experience or tools is something that as a whole is lacking. Although I would have loved to have a depth of skill development and weapon experience, but this is just not that kind of game.

This is obviously an intentionally made decision. As a rag-tag bunch of survivors, it makes much more sense to be almost faceless trusting your own instincts and scavenging ability. Valve here makes a statement about a human dependence on skill over natural ability. In a zombie apocalypse, there is not much reliance on a person's history or developed experience, only their immediately available skill.

It is unclear about Valve's intention with this game, but whether or not they've now abandoned the idea of a zombie-mauling 'platform' altogether is irrelevant. You will get an exceptional experience out of L4D2 that will keep giving long after you move on to other games. In small chunks, an hour here, or twenty minutes there, it is at its absolute best.