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Left 4 Dead 2 Review

Game Review | November 23, 2009 4:52 pm
It's Here


More of the same or something new. That was the question I asked myself as I glared at this game in Best Buy's aisles. Left 4 Dead took the zombie killing theme in a fresh direction with zombies that mobbed and kicked your ass like a gang beat down. "Infected" as they're called didn't slumber along draggin' their feet as they slowly inched toward you with hands raised in front of them like the classic zombies of yesteryear. Instead you have zombies climbing fences and swarming you like killer ants until they're in your face and literally stomping you into the ground. Adding Smokers, Hunters, Boomers and Tanks, Left 4 Dead re-invented zombie killing and many gamers agreed by purchasing and putting many hours into this game...myself included.

Now with Left 4 Dead 2 I was a little reserved. What could developer Valve do to get my attention and my 60 bucks? I'll tell you what they did. They kept the game play the same with a few tweaks. Now when a teammate is killed you can actually bring them back to life with the Defibrillator unit. Similar to Pain Pills, Adrenaline Shots give you a temporary boost in health and allows you to run faster, use items in half the time (reviving & rescuing teammates and healing). You can also run through zombies and not be slowed by their attacks. You can also give Adrenaline Shots to your friends just like Pain Pills.

New "Special Infected" have also been added to the game and really add more depth. One of my favorite additions is The Jockey. This little bugger lunges onto the shoulders and head of its victim, by doing this, he takes control of you and can lead you away from the team and off a cliff or into fire or other hazards. Then there's The Charger. This beast has one very large arm and one extremely small arm. He kinda looks like a smaller version of the Tank. Like his name, he charges at you, carrying you for 80 feet then he continuously slams you into the ground until you're dead or saved by a teammate. Remember The Boomer, well appears he has a female version of himself called The Spitter. While not as fat as he is, The Spitter spits acid at you that causes continuous damage until it fades. If she spits onto the ground and you walk through it, damage is taken until you're out of the green acid.

Online play is still as fun as you remembered in the first game and I clocked in many hours fighting these creatures of the not so living. Survival, Versus & Campaign have returned with the addition of Scavenge and Realism modes. Scavenge has you and 3 others (3 friends or 3 bots) finding fuel to put in your get away vehicle while 4 others play as infected trying to stop you. Realism is pretty much versus but infected must be shot in the head to be stopped. This is harder than you think.

Besides the weapons from before, a few new ones are adding along with melee weapons. Baseball bats, Katanas, Crow Bars and even a Guitar among others are among your arsenal. This gives the game a lot more variety and more ways to deal with the dead.

A new cast of selectable characters is the final touch and like it's predecessor voice acting is top notch. I'm sure you'll find a character that fits your infected killing desires.

Graphics in the game, although new, seem the same. They're all new locations and everything, but they seem like they came straight from part 1. Not bad though, but could have been better. Just a small gripe. Left 4 Dead 2 is pretty much an extension of part 1 instead of a true sequel. Not a bad game by any means but not the blockbuster I was looking for. This game will sell well and get good reviews, but for $60, more could have been done. I feel because it's so similar to part 1 this should have been priced at $49.99 or maybe even $39.99.

I give this game a solid 8. Everything from graphics, sound and gameplay are all well done. If you haven't already, check this out..you won't be disappointed.





Additional uploaded picture from IGN.com
Reviewed: Left 4 Dead 2
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Re: Left 4 Dead 2 Review
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Nice review! How are the achievements on this game?
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Nice review man but as Mini asked, you might want to add a paragraph describing the achievements. 9 outta 10 members of XBA will be interested in that more than anything. :p
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I havent even played the game, but as far as i can tell the only troubling achievements are the expert with realism mode ones.

I think i might pick this one up for 35$ or wait for a trade down the road

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Bahhh, mp cheeves FTL.
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Good review, but I think the price was fair it isn't that similar the the first IMO (even if it is what game isn't). Any the cheevos are pretty similar to the first completing chapter and get ready for the GNOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Re: Re: Left 4 Dead 2 Review
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Quote by Golden138:


That freakin gnome achievement drove me nuts!!!



I just kept throwing it at my friend telling him to carry it then made an epic stand at the chopper.
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Quote by UnerringBiscuit:



Quote by Golden138:


That freakin gnome achievement drove me nuts!!!



I just kept throwing it at my friend telling him to carry it then made an epic stand at the chopper.



Oh just like half life?
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I promise guys that my next review will include achievement descriptions. I don't know how I missed that. Most of the achievements are pretty easy and can be boosted with a friend online or by yourself at home with a 2nd controller. there are a couple of achievements like defeating the Tank with a melee weapon or defeating the Charger while he's charging with a Melee weapon...i still haven't gotten those yet..kind hard...if anyone knows of an easy way to do these I'm all ears. I will tell you the more i play the more this game grows on me..

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I asked my ex about whether I should get this game for me or not, since I decided not to get it for my son... What he said was a decent mini-review, and I thought I'd post it here because it offers up a bit of an opposing viewpoint, and a I've found his opinions very reliable. I've edited it for grammar but the words are not mine.


Quote by XXXholic Waltz:



L4D2 is much harder than the first one- a lot harder, even on easy. The 360 servers are plagued by such horrid unplayable lag that I won't be touching the game online until Valve fixes them. They made the AI really idiotic in this one, so playing with them is worse than counting on a random person to not suck at the game. Still, the game IS very different. Adds a lot of new stuff, and if lag wasn't an issue, I'd say go for it. Just don't plan on ever beating it on expert with the bots, it's not going to happen. Especially since the finales are much more than simply waiting it out in a corner for the rescue.

I think too much has changed. People whining that the game should have been DLC forced them to revamp it to the point where it's only barely the fun survival co-op game the first one was. It's heavily dependent on you playing it with people you know that don't suck at the game. Their new AI is so bad, it's like they're punishing you for not playing their game online (with teleporting zombies and special infected that spawn almost rapid fire).

I liked L4D. I don't like rushed games. This is a rushed game that needs to be patched day one. PC already has a patch. So where is ours? Like I said. You're not missing much, and you can wait. I'd rent AC2 or something. Easy 1k, if you have a guide, and some time. I'm only missing 2 achieves.






While everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, I didn't have the problems with lag during my zombie killing frenzy with LFD2 nor do I agree that the game is a rental. I do agree somewhat that the game is harder than part 1 but still managable. The game doesn't feel rushed at all to me, though I agree that the bots are extreme idiots! As far as the game being very different than part 1, I disagree with that also..it feels like the same game with a few tweaks here and there but still very worth the purchase (At $49.99 or something) and I do reccommend it. I love playing online, but only with people that know how to actually play.

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