Review: Left 4 Dead 2
Hello Escapists, I am John, and you are reading the first review I have ever made. Lets hope its a good one.
http://l4d.com/img/Media/Screenshots/Screenshot02.jpg
The Graphics
Despite having taken a bold step into lighter areas, Left 4 Dead 2 seems to remain the same graphic-wise as the first one, with one exception.
Gore
Yes my friends, during your time in the Southern part of America, you will slice, dice, chop, beat, shoot, and severely mutilate many zombies. And gosh, it is simply brutal. You will see split backs, opened stomaches, limbs that are blown off, deep gashes in any part of the body, flying heads, organs spilling out, etc. etc. etc.
Blood will stain your weapons and screen, and here we have a little .gif, that will gladfully illustrate for us.
http://www.timdenee.com/files/images/machete.gif
Side Note: No wonder the Aussies censored it. (Thankfully, I hear there are ways to get around it on the PC version.)
Otherwise, not much else you'd expect from a Source engine game.
The Gameplay
The gun Gameplay element of the game feels more or less alike with the first game, with the secondary melee still playing a somewhat essential role, however Left 4 Dead 2 has only one true star in this game.
The Melee weapons.
Crowbars, cricket bats, katanas, machetes, frying pans, chainsaws... They all kill normal infected in one hit, with gruesome results (I feel I must keep stating the gore, as it is AWESOME) yet are weak against the main special infected. Oh, I forgot to mention. There are a few new specials this time around, serving even more dastardly roles, and the olds ones seem to have changed their appearences, except for the Tank.
The game also seems to be more longer, probably because of the amounts of zombies you will have to fight on an average basis, or just the simply amount of ground you might have to cover. Either way, it can be pretty frustrating when you die and have to go through it all again.
There is also two new modes, Scavenge and Realism modes. Realism mode has the zombies die from only head shots or bludgeoning, and the Witches instantly killing you in one hit (Since you can't get downed, you'll just die. Thus, you must use the Defibrillator to revive teammates.
Scavenge, is a rather hectic gameplay mode in which you play as Survivors against each other, and are trying to get gasoline... while the Infected are after you. Needless to say, it does get chaotic at times.
The (New) Infected
http://l4d.com/img/Game/InfectedLineup.jpg
The new infected that you will come to know and hate, are (from left to right, excluding the Boomer) the Charger who will simply charge you, then pick you up thus making you as helpless as a child in a melon factory, and will get rid of your health as fast (if not faster) then the Tank.
The Spitter is a *****, and you will come to hate her. Simply, imagine if an infected could throw a molotov. That is what a Spitter basically does, only the molotov is her acidic spit, and it will rack up the damage as soon as you step into it.
The Jockey is basically like the Hunter, only instead of just stationary ripping you to shreds, he also takes control of your movements. This can lead to some... really bad instances.
Oh, and for anyone who doesn't know yet, the Witch will wander around on the daylight maps.
Story
The game has an inter-connected storyline between all five of its campaigns, except there are no cut scenes in between the campaigns, just references from the characters audio as to how they got into this particular mess this time. So, it more or less follows the same path as the original Left 4 Dead, with you still not knowing how the zombies came to be, and yes, the graffiti is thankfully still there, though not as hilarious as it was in the first game.
Overall: Mildly Cautious Buy
Hello Escapists, I am John, and you are reading the first review I have ever made. Lets hope its a good one.
http://l4d.com/img/Media/Screenshots/Screenshot02.jpg
The Graphics
Despite having taken a bold step into lighter areas, Left 4 Dead 2 seems to remain the same graphic-wise as the first one, with one exception.
Gore
Yes my friends, during your time in the Southern part of America, you will slice, dice, chop, beat, shoot, and severely mutilate many zombies. And gosh, it is simply brutal. You will see split backs, opened stomaches, limbs that are blown off, deep gashes in any part of the body, flying heads, organs spilling out, etc. etc. etc.
Blood will stain your weapons and screen, and here we have a little .gif, that will gladfully illustrate for us.
http://www.timdenee.com/files/images/machete.gif
Side Note: No wonder the Aussies censored it. (Thankfully, I hear there are ways to get around it on the PC version.)
Otherwise, not much else you'd expect from a Source engine game.
The Gameplay
The gun Gameplay element of the game feels more or less alike with the first game, with the secondary melee still playing a somewhat essential role, however Left 4 Dead 2 has only one true star in this game.
The Melee weapons.
Crowbars, cricket bats, katanas, machetes, frying pans, chainsaws... They all kill normal infected in one hit, with gruesome results (I feel I must keep stating the gore, as it is AWESOME) yet are weak against the main special infected. Oh, I forgot to mention. There are a few new specials this time around, serving even more dastardly roles, and the olds ones seem to have changed their appearences, except for the Tank.
The game also seems to be more longer, probably because of the amounts of zombies you will have to fight on an average basis, or just the simply amount of ground you might have to cover. Either way, it can be pretty frustrating when you die and have to go through it all again.
There is also two new modes, Scavenge and Realism modes. Realism mode has the zombies die from only head shots or bludgeoning, and the Witches instantly killing you in one hit (Since you can't get downed, you'll just die. Thus, you must use the Defibrillator to revive teammates.
Scavenge, is a rather hectic gameplay mode in which you play as Survivors against each other, and are trying to get gasoline... while the Infected are after you. Needless to say, it does get chaotic at times.
The (New) Infected
http://l4d.com/img/Game/InfectedLineup.jpg
The new infected that you will come to know and hate, are (from left to right, excluding the Boomer) the Charger who will simply charge you, then pick you up thus making you as helpless as a child in a melon factory, and will get rid of your health as fast (if not faster) then the Tank.
The Spitter is a *****, and you will come to hate her. Simply, imagine if an infected could throw a molotov. That is what a Spitter basically does, only the molotov is her acidic spit, and it will rack up the damage as soon as you step into it.
The Jockey is basically like the Hunter, only instead of just stationary ripping you to shreds, he also takes control of your movements. This can lead to some... really bad instances.
Oh, and for anyone who doesn't know yet, the Witch will wander around on the daylight maps.
Story
The game has an inter-connected storyline between all five of its campaigns, except there are no cut scenes in between the campaigns, just references from the characters audio as to how they got into this particular mess this time. So, it more or less follows the same path as the original Left 4 Dead, with you still not knowing how the zombies came to be, and yes, the graffiti is thankfully still there, though not as hilarious as it was in the first game.
Overall: Mildly Cautious Buy
