The zombie apocalypse has never been so much fun
Left 4 Dead 2 follows up on what the original did. Left 4 Dead 2 is a multiplayer game that focuses on cooperative play. Up to four players can play as one of four characters who are survivors left in the zombie apocalypse. The game is built for co-op, so you will have to work with your teammates to get through every mode. Like in the original Left 4 Dead 2 is all about working together to survive, so going solo in not an option. The AI in Left 4 Dead 2 is better than in the original, but it's still not perfect. They still can take some time to save you while you are being attacked, which is a problem. So this is still a game you'll want to this game with other human players.
Left 4 Dead 2 starts in the campaign called Dead Center, with the four survivors just missing an evacuation. The four survivors are now left without help, and have to escape to safety on their own. Unlike the first game, Left 4 Dead 2 has a narrative structure that connects all of the campaigns. A big part of how everything is tied together is through the survivor's dialog. The survivors from the original game have been dropped for a whole new cast. There's Coach, Rochelle, Nick, and Ellis. The new survivors have stronger personalities that bounce off each other well, and make the narrative that much better. After the first campaign, the dialog at the beginning of every campaign references what happened in-between the end of the last campaign and the beginning of the new campaign.
The other way Left 4 Dead 2 tells it's narrative is through the atmosphere. A lot of the campaigns take place in the day this time, but that doesn't make the atmosphere any less weak. Looking around on each campaign you will see hold-ups where other survivors have failed to make a final stand, writings on the wall that tell tales of hopelessness, cries for help, and bits of humor all spread throughout each level. All of this stuff adds a little more context to everything your doing. There still isn't a story that will keep you guessing, but the new narrative does a good job of telling you what's going on.
If Left 4 Dead had a problem, it was a lack of content. Left 4 Dead only came with 4 campaigns, that took about thirty minutes to beat each, and the versus mode that only worked with two of the campaigns. Well I can assure you that Left 4 Dead 2 is a full game. There are four modes this time around, all of which are playable in all five campaigns. To make things better, each campaign is longer than the campaigns in the first game. Playing on the normal difficulty mode on campaign mode each campaign lasted about an hour.
The campaign mode still plays in almost the same way that is did in the original. You play as a survivor, and move from safe room to safe room. The AI director still works really well. The AI director changes zombie, weapon, and item placement each time you play one of the campaigns. This makes each play through unpredictable, exciting, and adds plenty of replay-ability. This may seem like the same formula as the first game, but things seem to be able to get even crazier than the first game, for example the game now allows for more special infected to spawn at the same time.
Each campaign stands out better on it's own this time around. Each campaign level is extremely well designed. There are multiple routes in each level, and giving you plenty of things to hint you in the right direction, but it's a lot less obvious where to go this time around. The level design that stands out the most is in the campaign Hard Rain. Where you travel from one point to another, but then have to travel back to the beginning of the campaign. But as you may have guessed from the title, there are heavy rain storms that completely change the level design. Crescendo events are back, but this time most of the events don't have you holding up in one spot and waiting for the infected to stop coming. For example one event has you running on top of a rollercoaster while fighting hordes of the infected, and another one has you running to the escape helicopter through the bridge filled with non-stop waves of infected.
There are plenty of new weapons to battle the infected with. The selection of guns has more than doubled. But the biggest addition is melee weapons. Picking up a melee weapon will replace your infinite ammo pistol. But melee weapons add an important role, because it is a lot easier to clear a close up horde of infected with melee weapons. The melee weapons range from a crow bar, an axe, and a chainsaw. Yes, a chainsaw. All of the melee weapons are a blast, and add a whole new variety to the combat.
These new weapons won't make things that much easier, because there are new special infected. All the original special infected are back, along with the three new special infected. The new additions are the charger, who charges in one direction and slams whoever he grabs into the ground. Then there's the jockey, who jumps on a survivor and steers them away from the other survivors. And then there's the spitter, who spits burning acid at the survivors.
Are the regular campaign difficulties too easy for you? Left 4 Dead 2 has added a realism mode to make things a lot tougher. Realism mode is a mod that takes away a lot of the HUD, and in-game aids that are in the regular campaign mode. The outlines on the other survivors are also gone. It's these along with tougher infected that make realism mode a real challenge.
Versus mode returns, it still pits four players as the survivors, and four as the special infected. Versus mode is still one of the best things about Left 4 Dead. Playing as the infected is still a lot of fun. Playing as the survivors in versus mode is intense when the special infected can plan and coordinate their attacks. Versus mode is now even more fun, thanks to the new special infected. You can play as the jockey, spitter, and the charger. All of the new infected are a ton of fun, and add a whole new level of depth to versus mode.
Another new mode is survivor mode, which was added to the original Left 4 Dead as downloadable content. Survivor mode is Left 4 Dead's own intense take on the popular 'horde mode'. You and three other players hold up in an area while wave after wave of infected attack you. Survivor mode is probably one of the hardest takes on horde mode ever put in a game. You are awarded medals for reaching different time marks. For most of the maps it's hard to really hard to get the first medal. The reason survivor mode is so difficult is because in survivor mode both regular and special infected are spawned faster than any other mode. You will need to take the time to plan out how you and your team will hold up against these waves of infected, otherwise you won't stand a chance. Survivor mode is fast-paced and lots of fun. And leaderboards really give you an extra incentive to keep playing and improving your times.
The last mode is completely new to Left 4 Dead 2, and that is scavenge mode. Scavenge mode is basically versus in short burst. Four people play as the infected, while the other four players are survivors. Scavenge takes some of the maps from survivor mode, and creates an objective based game. While playing as the survivors, the goal is to fill up a power generator with sixteen gas canisters. While playing as the infected you try to stop them. This mode may sound really simple, but this is probably the best new mode in Left 4 Dead 2, and since it doesn't require you to play through a whole campaign like versus, it's easier to play in short burst.
Left 4 Dead 2 improves the awesome co-op formula created by the original in almost every way. It's too bad the gameplay hasn't changed much, but so much of the game is much better made than in the previous game. With plenty of modes you're likely to keep playing Left 4 Dead 2 for a long time. Left 4 Dead 2 is an awesome game that anyone who wants to jump back into the zombie apocalypse with some friends should defiantly check out.