Some say it’s L4D1 with melee weapons, others claim it should have been DLC. Announced a couple of months after the first instalment and released exactly a year later, Left 4 Dead 2 is here. The big question is how this sequel proves to be a purchase when the first one was released 12 months ago, still being supported by DLC. What does L4D2 bring to the table that L4D1 didn’t?
One of the biggest criticisms of the first one was the lack of campaigns and modes. In Left 4 Dead 2 there are five campaigns that are more
endurable and fascinating compared to what L4D1 offered. With more vibrant audio and voice acting the sound design is ace.
You choose to play as one of four survivors obliterating zombie hordes to the end of the level, which concludes with all your team mates reaching a safe house. You can either play with bot team mates or choose the more satisfying option of having human team mate
Each team member has one main weapon and a side arm or newly introduced melee weapons. Cricket bats, chainsaws and katana’s are a few of the quick and accessible melee weapons to beat zombies to a pulp with. By far the melee weapons prove to be the most effectively damaging weapons in the game; it’s so easy to chainsaw swarms of zombies than burst firing a rifle or shotgun.
Variety is not the word here; you’ve got all the weapons from L4D1 and so many newly introduced weapons such as a desert eagle, grenade launcher, AK-47, SCAR-L, sniper rifle, combat shotgun, chrome pump shotgun and a Mack 11 with a suppressor.
The most rewarding experience with these weapons is the upgrades. You’ve got laser sights, incendiary ammo which sets the infected on fire and explosive ammo which dismembers zombies with one shot using any weapon.
One of the best new additions to L4D2’s arsenal is the bile bomb. Once thrown at any common or special infected, hordes of common infected will attack the designated hit. This is great to use on special infected as it gives you a chance to bring all the infected to one location and burn them
with a Molotov Cocktail.
There’s also three new special infected that you wouldn’t want to come across. The Spitter is the first ever female special infected who spits out puddles of acid on survivors. Coming into contact with large amounts of it can seriously damage your health. Once killed an acid puddle surrounds her dead body.
The Jockey is a hunchbacked special infected who clings onto the shoulders of survivors, dragging them away from the rest of the group. Perhaps the most lethal special infected making an entry into L4D2 is the Charger. Once a Charger has a survivor in its sight it will spear the poor sucker right into a wall or hard surface and slam the survivor into next week until their rescued by an ally.
If you missed out on all the fun modes seen in L4D1, the sequel retains all of those modes and two new additions. Realism mode gets rid of any sort of assists relying purely on teamwork. The infected are a lot more aggressive
in this mode surpassing the hardest difficulty.
Scavenge mode takes it in turns for one team to be survivors and the other the special infected. The objective is to see which team of survivors can fill up the most gas tanks, before the time limit and designated number of rounds is finished.
By far this mode is the best out of all. I can guarantee this is where you’re going to be spending most of your time. It’s so much easier to play this rather than having to switch between versus mode and online campaign.
Many will be pleased to know that the inclusion of more gore and limb dismemberment is present in L4D2. While it’s not for the faint hearted, it definitely raises the intensity of the game play and rewards players with a distinct feel towards zombie shooters.
Whether or not you purchased the first Left 4 Dead or have never played a Valve game before, make Left 4 Dead 2 your first purchase. This is defiantly value for money, Valve has created an entirely new campaign, 2 new addictive modes, a cast of vibrant characters to go with some excellent sound design, an improvement to L4D1’s winning AI director, additional presentation improvements and all the weapons from L4D1 as well as a vast amount of new ones.
No comments:
Post a Comment