Reviews PC Game Reviews Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2

		4.9
		0.0 (0)

Written by alienstout December 10, 2009 Favorites

Game Reviews

Publisher	Valve
Studio	Valve
Genre	FPS
ESRB	Mature (17+)
Co-op	Yes
Multiplayer	Yes
Game Type Reviewed	Both

Left 4 Dead 2 is set at roughly the same time as the original – just after the outbreak that turned most of the population into various zombie mutants. Players assume the role of four new "Survivors," each with their own personality and new dialog. The game leads these "Survivors" through the southeastern region of the US - from Savannah, Georgia through the bayou country, and climaxing in New Orleans’ French Quarter.

Key Features

Quality Co-op Gameplay - Left 4 Dead 2 features quality next generation co-op action gaming from the makers of Half-life, Portal, Team Fortress and Counter-Strike.

AI Director 2.0 - Advanced technology dubbed "The AI Director" drives Left 4 Dead’s unique gameplay – customizing enemy population, effects, and music, based upon the players’ performance. Left 4 Dead 2 features "AI Director 2.0," which expands the Director’s ability to customize level layout, world objects, weather, and lighting to reflect different times of day.

New Melee Weapons – Put a whole slew of melee weapons including axes, chainsaws, frying pans and baseball bats to use which allow you to get up close with the zombies.

Meet "The Survivors" - The game features four different survivors, a new storyline and new dialogue.

More Game - On day one, Left 4 Dead 2 features more cooperative campaigns, more campaigns and maps for the versus game modes than the original Left 4 Dead did, plus support for Survival Mode right out of the box.

You can buy your copy of Left 4 Dead from Amazon by following this link

Editor review

Left 4 Dead 2 Will Infect You

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

Game Reviews

Leet-sauce

Teamwork focus, the infected, AI Director, 5 episodes, 4 game modes, a ton of weapons to choose from, survivor chatter, great game pacing

4-noobs

Some lag with lots of action on screen, AI close to perfect but still has some issues, lack of shown background storyline

Review

Left 4 Dead 2 is the sequel to Valve's 2008 breakout zombie game Left 4 Dead. Instead of the usual "couple of year" between their games, Valve turned this around in a single year.

This fast development cycle largely has the Source engine and L4D's AI Director to thank for that. Source is a proven engine for years now and powers games like Team Fortress 2 and Half Life 2; it's one of the more capable engines and thankfully offers a whole different look than, the now industry standard, Unreal engine from Epic. The AI Director from the original L4D is a complex back-end structure that dynamically adjusts the difficulty of the game by triggering events and weapon location spawns. Together, these two components make the backbone of L4D2 and provided a platform that let L4D2 be built at warp speed 9.

I played the PC version (supplied by Valve through Steam) and it was beautifully rendered at 2560 x 1600 with Windows 7, Intel C2D E6850 @ 3GHZ, 8GB RAM and a single nVidia GTX 280.

Now that I've covered some of the background, lets get to it:

What I liked:

All about teamwork - At it's heart, Left 4 Dead 2 is an FPS game that emphasizes teamwork, co-op teamwork. Whether your playing online or single-player, you'll need to rely on your fellow survivors. Coach, Ellis, Nick and Rochelle need to stick together if they are going to survive and it doesn't matter who you play, they will save your bacon more times that you'll want but you'll always be glad they've got your back. You can help out the team not only by busting caps in zombies; you can give them pills, patch them up and even revive them if they're down for the count.

The weapons - In L4D2 you'll have your usual assortment of rifles, shotguns and pistols but you'll also get cricket bats, chainsaws, crowbars, pipe bombs, axes, swords, frying pan, gas cans, propane tanks and Molotov cocktails. With this array of weaponry and the ability to carry a primary weapon along with secondary pistols (that never run out of ammo in the pistols case) and one throwable item there will be no shortage of ways to kill the zombie hordes. Melee weapons usually kill normal infected with one shot but you'll have swing like mad or bulk up a bit more to take down the big-bads in the game with shotguns and automatic weapons.
A.I. Director - Once again the adaptive difficulty, on top of the standard difficulty levels offered by the game, adds dramatically to the gameplay. In theory, the game should feel hard to you even if you get better because it's adapting by adding more zombie spawns or rushes and less ammo and gun spawns. In practice this actually works pretty well and you'll find yourself always on the move and never relaxing because the game is too easy. The AI in general is strong in L4D2, even if you're playing single-player you can count on the AI survivors to heal you up, get you out of danger and kick some infected butt. It's not perfect but it's as close as I've seen yet.
The survivors - You won't know much about them as people or how they wound up together, but the four survivors will give you a good sense of who they are by of the things they say, and they talk a lot. According to some sources, a thousand or more tracks were recorded for the survivors. Coach is the older big guy, less prone to running. Ellis is the loudmouth trailer-living swamp mechanic that seems to talk the most, usually when you're in a safehouse. Rochelle is the tough-as-nails chick of the group. Nick is the classic conman, like Sawyer from Lost. All of them work well together and play off of each other nicely. This is one of the few games you'll actually lol while playing.
Zombies - There are a couple of types of infected that range from the ordinary brainless zombie to the more unusual and deadly variants like the Smoker, Witch, Boomer, Hazmat, Hunter, Jockey, Spitter and the Tank. Each of these is more than capable of killing you unless you get the jump on it or your teammates help you out. In particular, the Charger can be a real PITA and you'll get to see him plenty in the game. The Witch was the most annoying because if one wrong shot grabs her attention she's going to come at you and there's very little you can do to stop her. Also of note with the infected is how they move, some will just meander along but others will come at you sideways and with surprising movements that make them seem more natural (for a zombie...) and harder to hit.
Five separate episodes - L4D2 comes packed with five separate episodes for you to play through, all in the deep south which is a nice change from the first game's setting of the north-eastern U.S. There's Dead Center, Dark Carnival (...a carnival), Swamp Fever, The Parish and Hard Rain. Each has it's own unique setting and assortment of differently-enabled infected (the clowns are just downright creepy) and goals. The different settings are a nice change in the game because it opens it up from darkened interiors to musty open swamps. Different sounds and lighting add to the feeling that this is a bit more realistic that you'd like.
Game pacing - While this game is essentially on rails, you'll be going through it at a fast clip with very few moment that you're not shooting into a pack of zombies. Everything is fast in this game, once spotted you better get ready to fight because you're not going to be able to outrun the infected. The good news is you can't get infected; the bad news is you can still die. The pacing in the game is good because it keeps you glued to your chair; you know, this is one of those games you stay seated playing even though you REALLY have to use the bathroom.
Game modes - You'll get your L4D1 modes Campaign, Versus, and Survival, plus the new Scavenge mode in Left 4 Dead 2. Versus still stands out because you'll get to play as, or against, infected. Who doesn't want to be an uber-zombie chasing after the survivors? Survival is still fun this time around because it's essentially a race against the clock, a zombie killing time-trial. In Scavenge mode, the survivors have to collect and use gas canisters (like in Dead Center for the car) scattered around to keep the generators running and extending the time in the round. Infected players are out to stop you by coming after you or the gas cans. It's a new twist that offers a lot of fun if you're playing with a good group.

What I didn't like:

Some lag - While the Source engine is mature and runs great most of the time, when you start throwing large numbers of infected, objects and bullets around, the engine might sputter on you lowering the frames-per-second. Sure I was running it at 2560 x 1600 but I didn't think it would be a problem. I was wrong, on several occasions noticeable lag was introduced into the game. Even though it was only for a couple of seconds here and there, I'd rather not see this in a game that's otherwise so polished.
AI doesn't like throwables - Again, this is more a nitpick than anything but in single player the AI controlled survivors don't seem to like the throwable weapons. They won't pick them up and can't use them. Just like the lag this is noticeable because the AI is otherwise so strong.
Lack of the big picture - This is perhaps the biggest problem I have with the game. Just like Team Fortress 2 this game just jumps right into it with gameplay. Unlike TF2 this game actually has some sort of background plot, or at the very least some events that happened that need some explaining. Yes, we know it's not a flu from the graffiti on the walls. Yes we know CEDA left us hanging. I would have loved to see a couple of minutes more spent on an intro sequence that builds the background of the story before showing us the survivors. I just didn't feel connected to the story beyond what I had to piece together in my head based on other zombie stories. I'd rather just have this told to me. I realize this isn't Valve's thing, just look at Half Life where the whole game is seen through Gordon's eyes, but I refuse to believe they can't do it. They should.

Overall, Left 4 Dead 2 is an excellent example of a modern-day team-based FPS. You'll get what you've been missing in games like MW2 where it seems as if everyone is playing free-for-all no matter what game mode is really active. This is what makes online gaming work for me, the connection to other players, the ability to talk to them and strategize for common goals. That's where this game really shines, even more so than Valve's excellent Team Fortress 2. There were some bumps encountered in the game but they were minor and do not detract from the game's strengths at all. While I would love to see a better fleshed-out background storyline, that really isn't what the game is about. It's about you as a survivor getting thrown into the swamp because of some unknown disease that for some reason you're immune to. Here's a med kit, a gun an axe and three people to help you get through it. It works well as-is.