'Left 4 Dead 2' an exciting zombie sequel
by James Hanyo, Staff Writer
March 1, 2010
The second game in the highly popular “Left 4 Dead” series, Valve’s “Left 4 Dead 2” is a continuation of nonstop human-on-zombie violence. “Left 4 Dead 2” picks up a week after the first left off in the South. The campaigns play linearly, with elements of one transcending into the next by means of the Survivors dialogue in the beginning of a campaign. There are five campaigns, each with four to five chapters. Playing solo on normal difficulty, I made it through all five in fewer than five hours. Again, playing solo on advanced difficulty, I made it through all five in about seven and a half to eight hours.
In chronological order, the five campaigns are Dead Center, primarily in a mall; Dark Carnival, in an abandoned carnival; Swamp Fever, in the bogs of Mississippi; Hard Rain, in a run-down sugar mill; and The Parish, in the streets of New Orleans. Essentially, four survivors – Ellis, Nick, Coach and Rochelle – find themselves trapped in the supposed last safe zone of the United States and must fight their way to rescue.
“Left 4 Dead 2” quickly introduces aspects of the game to those new to the series and some changes for veterans. There are three new Special Infected: the Charger, the Spitter and the Jockey. The returning five infected are the Hunter, the Boomer, the Smoker, the Witch and the Tank. The Charger is essentially the Tank’s younger sibling with one hulking arm instead of two. The Charger will grab a Survivor, run far away from the other humans and begin bashing the unlucky Survivor into the ground.
The Spitter can do the most damage in the shortest amount of time. She’ll spit an acidic puddle at a Survivor’s feet, and the acid will dole out large amounts of damage as time wears on. Thankfully, the acid patch will dissipate after a short amount of time. The Spitter is clad in a shimmering cutoff top and very low riding Capris. The Jockey is my least favorite infected, because all it does is run around, laugh like a maniac, jump on Survivors’ heads and steer them around. Jockeys are pretty useless, in my opinion. Sure, they can steer Survivors into Witches and Spitter puddles, but I find them more annoying than anything. A quick search on your favorite search engine will tell you more about the original Special Infected.
A unique feature almost exclusive to Left 4 Dead is the infamous Director. The Director is a non-infected AI who controls the game. The Director can spawn almost anything anywhere at anytime. Mostly, the Director is influenced by player performance. If a group of layers are doing poorly, the Director will spawn many health items and few Special Infected. If a team is doing very well, the Director will spawn little to no health items and as many Special Infected, Tanks, Witches and multiple hordes of zombies as it can – sometimes all at once! I’ve encountered Witches in front of safe room doors and Tanks hiding in sewers. The Director not only decides what to spawn and when, but he will decide what path the Survivors can take. Some areas can be walled or fenced off one play, though, only to be opened in another.
My favorite part of “Left 4 Dead 2” is the online cooperative play. I’ll normally play versus, a four versus four game type where players take time playing as Survivors and Special Infected. Any and all strategies are applicable here, and players change the game constantly. The Survivors are always on the move to avoid being charged or “boomed” out windows or off ledges. Infected players are kept on their toes, coming up with on-the-spot plans on how to harm the Survivors.
Other game play modes include Scavenge where Survivors scramble to fuel a boat or similar objective before time runs out, Survival where Survivors logically try to stay alive as long as they can, and online co-op where many players can team up and tackle a campaign. The final and most difficult mode of game play is Realism mode. In realism, all “halos” around objects like Medical Kits, Pipe Bombs and the Survivor glow are taken away. In this mode, a Witch or a Tank can kill a Survivor in one hit, so be careful! This mode is a great idea if one would have an amazing back-up team of players. I don’t recommend trying Realism on your own; the AI has annoying tendencies to look at the ground and shoot it instead of the Hunter mauling you…
All in all, “Left 4 Dead 2” is fantastic. I’ve played it so much that I know all the campaigns front and back. It’s a great way to spend some time. In all honesty, I give “Left 4 Dead 2” four stars. It’s new, exciting and scary, and the Director can come up with infinite ways to recreate the campaigns to make them feel fresh every run-through.
(From left to right, the Charger, the Hunter, the Spitter, the Jockey, the Tank, the Witch, the Boomer and the Smoker Image)
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