Rating: M for Mature
Players: 1 – 4
Genre: First Person, Horror
Publisher: Valve
Release Date: November 17th, 2009

BUY

**This review may contain some spoilers**

As the Left 4 Dead series hits its first birthday, Left 4 Dead 2 shows that it has answered the cries of “this could’ve been an expansion!” with a resounding “YOU’RE WRONG!”

I think Valve may be staffed entirely by wizards. There is some kind of sorcery going on at that company, because every product they release is an improvement on something great that’s come before it. That being said, Left 4 Dead 2 is a really great game. Some of you may remember the drama that followed the annoucement of a sequel so soon after the original’s release; there was a silly petition circling the internet claiming Valve was abandoning fans of the first game in order to make a quick buck, and that anything planned for the sequel should be released as DLC instead. I have yet to see any follow-up apology letters.

If you melee him, his nose will honk.

Granted, if Valve had released the exact same game with different characters for $60 a year later, there would be cause for complaint. However, this is a company owned an operated by magical genius pixies who give you something great… PLUS 18 more things you didn’t even know you wanted but end up really liking. Seriously, they crammed as much as they could into this game, and for once it feels like you’re getting $60 worth of product. I realize that I may be coming across sounding more like Billy Mays selling you a game than an editor reviewing one, but golly do you get a lot for what you paid for.

Left 4 Dead 2 features  5 gameplay modes — Campaign, Versus, Survival, Scavenge, and Realism — as well as 5 Campaign chapters (up from 4), and several new Special Infected (Lady Boomer, Spitter, Jockey, Charger, walkin’ around Witch). On top of all that you can count Left 4 Dead 2 as a game that FINALLY uses the Avatar Awards system. It’s gratifying to get Achievements, sure, but showing off your new Depeche Mode shirt is kind of a lot better. Also, if you get every Achievement you are rewarded with a Tank icon. Cool, cool, cool.

Coach is great.

All bonus goodies aside, the core game is engaging enough to lock you to your controller for days. The settings are interesting and different, and they’re exploited for maximum creepiness. For example, the last campaign involves getting to the end of an area for two chapters, and then backtracking for two more. What makes that not at all as lame as it sounds, is that on the way back you’re caught in a tropical storm. At night. And this is Witch country. Ack.

Overall, the characters are pretty fantastic, considering how endearing the first crew was. While I miss hearing Bill’s “PILLS HERE!”, one of the new characters, Ellis, has the greatest stories ever told as dialogue in a videogame. He rambles on about the dumbest stuff that he thinks is cool, but in an adorable way. Considering I generally avoid people in real life who like to talk about nothing (for a long time), I’m surprised that I found Ellis so lovable. Though a little levity and nonsense in a game about a population of people trying to maul you never hurt anyone.

The Jockey is the Head Crab of Left 4 Dead 2.

I suppose I’m obligated to list the things that were unfortunate about the game, but I’m kind of struggling to think of any at the moment. Hopefully they made 2 significantly harder than 1, and that I’m not just bad at killing things now, but it seems as though they’ve ramped up the difficulty. First of all, the Spitter is just so crappy — when you’re stuck in her acid puke, your health drains FAST. I should clarify that adding her into the game isn’t the crappy part, it’s how damaging she is that is frustrating. I’m also still not sure how I feel about melee weapons. I would prefer being able to choose which two weapons I want to be carrying around, instead of one obligatory main weapon, and then the choice of melee or pistols. The machete and katana are pretty great, though.

Side note : Girls in games only ever wear pink, apparently.