Left 4 Dead 2, much like its predecessor, is a multiplayer game first and foremost. It encourages co-operation and any team (on higher difficulties) will fall apart and die repeatedly if they don't keep organized and coordinated. Left 4 Dead 2 felt a lot like Assassins Creed 2, and by that I mean both games are fantastic sequels and improve in so many ways. L4D2's improvements are less significant, because the original was already really good. All of the improvements are so small but altogether so effective. You should buy this game. It provides dozens of hours of fast-paced frenzied multiplayer fun. Not that you can't have fun by yourself with this game - it's just that having other people, online or offline, helps a lot. Returning in this game are the basic game modes: Campaign, Versus, and Survival. The basic campaign gameplay involves the survivors as they attempt to travel from point A to point B through several levels. Each campaign have five or four levels, and there is a safe room which is the goal to reach for each level. The goal of each campaign is to reach rescue in the form of transportation, at the end of the chapter's final level. The team of four survivors in L4D2 aren't extremely well-developed (in fact, the game's manual itself develops the characters better than the game), but they are by no means unlikable. You can play as Nick, a smooth con-man type, Ellis, the funny southern idiot, Coach, the other funny character, and Rochelle, who doesn't really have much character. The five campaigns in L4D2 (except for Swamp Fever) are all fantastic. The first one is Dead Centre, where the survivors travel from a hotel to a shopping mall. The second one is Dark Carnival, which takes place at Whispering Oaks, a carnival, if it wasn't obvious enough. The third is Swamp Fever, the obvious weakest of the bunch, as it is less memorable and the only campaign with only four chapters. The fourth campaign is Hard Rain, which is my personal favourite, which turns a trip into a town for gasoline into a fight against the weather as a storm with the intensity of a hurricane rolls in. The final campaign is The Parish, which is memorable only for a very intense race across a bridge. A large problem from L4D which is solved in L4D2 (I didn't realize this was a problem until I played L4D2), is the campaigns weren't particularly memorable. ALL of the campaigns here are memorable (other than Swamp Fever). They are all terrifically well-designed and a blast to play. There are a few different difficulties to play the campaign on. The hardest is Expert, and you will be punished if you and your team are not coordinated. In Versus mode, two teams of four alternate playing levels of a campaign while the other team takes on the role of the Special Infected, trying to prevent the Survivors from making progress through the level. The old Special Infected return (the Boomer, Smoker, Hunter, Tank, and Witch), and a few great new SI are added to the mix. These are: the Jockey, which can jump on the backs of survivors and steer them into danger; the Spitter, which has the ability to spit a puddle of burning goo; and the Charger, which can charge multiple survivors at once and carry them until they reach a certain distance or hit a wall. The Survival game mode has the Survivors attempt to last as long as possible against an infinite onslaught of zombies in different scenarios from the campaigns. Survival mode can be fun as you may place certain useful objects or traps strategically around the area to kill Infected. There are a couple new game modes in L4D2, but, by far, the best one is Scavenge. Much like Survival, it takes certain scenarios from the campaigns, and has the survivors try to collect as many scattered gas cans as they can (up to 16 maximum) and deposit them into a generator or car while an opposing team of players as the Special Infected try to halt them. The other mode is Realism mode, which is the campaign, but more difficult as it gets rid of helpful glowing outlines on teammates or objects of interest. Combined with Expert difficulty, it provides one of the most punishingly difficult co-op experiences I've ever played. General destruction of the Infected is great fun; their bodies tear apart very nicely and brutally depending on what weapon they're hit with. The new melee weapons do a number on the Infected as well, mostly in the form of quick decapitations. The banter exchanged between the survivors can be quite amusing at times and is what allows the player to discover each survivor's characteristics. This game is so great in every way, my only question is "How is Valve going to make Left 4 Dead 3 even better?"
To start, i would like to say what i did not like about this game. I kinda wish it had a more involving story. Thats all i didnt like about that game, everything else was amazing! Turning the corner, your flashlight lig... Read Full Review
Without a doubt, Left 4 Dead was a great success. It introduced gamers all over the world into dangerous scenarios, glorious set pieces and waves of flesh eating zombies. Nit unusual, as many game developers before hand ... Read Full Review
