'Left 4 Dead 2' Review (8/10)

Well I got a copy of Left 4 Dead 2, again. Sure I had the game before it was out and sure I beat the snot out of the game then. Sure, we engaged in tank juggling and shove-killed tanks. I could have wrote up a review on the game then but there would always be the air of "it wasn't legit" and "what if Valve patched up this issue or that problem" or whatnot. Was it worth me getting a copy? I guess it depends a lot on your group of friends and whether or not you enjoyed the first game in the series. All the strengths of the original are carried through here and amplified -- as are all the failings. My impressions of this game vary from 7 to 9 out of 10 and so, it gets the middleground of 8/10.




L4D2 is, like it's predecessor, is set in post-apocalyptic America however this time it's down south in Louisiana. The underlying mechanics are vastly improved from the original in addition to the 'surface-level' changes like the addition of the numerous new creeps and weapons and such. There is also the addition of two game modes: scavage and realism. The former amounts to a simplified (and improved)  take on the 'control points' game play that populates (or plagues) the online FPS sector (i.e., Battlefield 2) while the later is a subtle but very refreshing take on the "how" of killing zombies.

Realism mode (RM) can be summarized as "headshots only" and "no stupid glow outlines" and it's a setting which you initially think is either brilliant or stupid (usually dependant on skill level) and after awhile playing it, you cant quite see how you played before (or you cant wait to go back, again, depending). Even though it sounds very daunting, it's actually almost no different than playing without it - provided you're not playing with a group of idiots.

This all said, the game is still functionally identical to it's predecessor: you move from point A to point B  via a predetermined path in the gameworld and at regular intervals, an almost preset number of infected attack you with special and uncommon infected sprinkled in for good measure. Everything is perfect with only a few fail-points:

1. AI is retarded. There have been countless times where I've been pounced by a Hunter or snared by a Smoker with the AI player(s) literally feet away from me and yet they stand there. Doing nothing. Absolutely nothing. They stand. Only after I die, do they move on (and subsequently also get pounced or snared). This usually happens when the game surface is 'different' (i.e. roof or involving obstacles that the pathing cant seem to navigate). Given that L4D2 is just L4D with some cosmetic changes, this is something that should have been worked out a long, long time ago. Another thing that we still see is the sticky-AI characters -- they insist on following you around. Sure it's great when you're leading them around and such but really aggravating when you just wanted to go back one room to pick up something and they follow you back. Oh and to aggravate this, they move so damn slow.
2. Players are retarded. Totally not Valve's fault but when the AI sucks, your first bet is to turn to human players. Yet so many of them insist on playing without mics, not understanding the mechanics of "don't cross in front of other players where possible" and "don't panic shoot when there are friendlies". Again, totally not Valve's fault, but it totally destroys the fun-rating of the game. It should be noted that while I complained about this very thing in Killing Floor, it doesn't have nearly as much of a bearing there as it does here because in KF has a innate scaling mechanism both for baseline difficulty (i.e., the difficulty levels) and for microlevels of difficulty (number of players and perks). This means that retarded players, while aggravating, have virtually zero chance of survival (unless they get with the program)
3. Consoleitis. There's a lot of consoleitis in L4D2 and it's not just that subtle feel where all your movement feels smoothed out, no that's not really a major problem. It's the lack of a proper aim model. For a game that should trace it's roots back to the venerable Source engine, this is really pathetic. I'm not talking about physics or lighting or any of that stuff that would be really bad if they screwed up on, but i'm talking about hit-boxes. When you fire a bullet past an infected's ear, it should result in the infected recieving a headshot! A headshot means you have to hit them in the head. Not close to their head. Of course, to make things exciting, special infected have their own unique hitboxes. I wont talk about achievements that dont trigger correctly.
4. Lack of customization. Again, problems from the first have just been dragged along: you can't put passwords on listen servers, you can't set realism mode for singleplayer, you can't do scavage or versus mode as solo. The latter ones sound silly but what if you don't give a rat's ass about the story (it's weak at best -- the game is about go-go-go, not ooh-story) and you just simply want to jump into the meat of it without having to deal with humans... you cant.

The last point of note: is L4D2 worth it? It depends. I can say for a fact, if you enjoyed the first one, you will definitely enjoy the second. Is it worth $40-50 bucks? If you already own the original then hells no. Otherwise, it's definitely worth it - so long as you expect it to be arcady. Now if you're looking at the L4D + L4D2 bundle... that's a tougher call because if you have the latter, there is no reason to play the former at all. For those that own the original, if this expansion - err, sequel was [regularly] priced at $25-30, it'd be an instant reccomend (and a 9/10). That being said, L4D2 scores 8/10.