Let’s be honest, while it may be a
little early to be talking sequel, all of us that played Left 4 Dead
could bet the house that a second incarnation was certain. On
November 17th, just 364 days after the first, Valve will release Left
4 Dead 2 for the Xbox 360 and PC.
Left 4 Dead 2 takes place during the
same zombie outbreak as the first game, but features a new pair of 4
survivors, Rochelle, Coach, Ellis, and Nick. While it wasn’t quite
clear what the new campaigns were apart from the fact that it will
take place in the South US (the game starts in Savannah and ends in
New Orleans), Scott Dalton, a level designer on the game, said that
more of the story will be explored, including the reason for the
outbreak.
Valve made sure to fix many complaints
of the original game, and tweaks are apparent during the demo. Many
players thought that the zombie enemies were not varied enough, as
many zombies behaved the same exact way (in Valve’s defense, these
are zombies we are talking about, and they aren’t generally known for
their intelligence). Enemies now vary as some zombies are immune to
certain types of attacks and will react differently to some
situations.
In the demo, there were two noticeable
new enemies. The walking witch, while not necessarily a new enemy,
now walks around the level until the players either disturb it or get
to the safehouse. The charger, a new special infected, is able to
move faster than the player can run, and is able to knock them down
with a single charge. Once the charger has knocked a player down, the
charger will continue to smash them against the ground until the
player dies, it will not take notice of any other players. The
charger is just one of many new infected the developers wish to have
in the 2nd game.
Another complaint was the fact that the
first game had little to no story (again, it was Valve’s decision to
do that) and there was no continuity between the campaigns other than
the fact that they seemed to escape and survive at the end (unless
everybody dies). This time Valve will have each campaign end where
the next campaign begins (until you reach New Orleans where I can
only assume you survive). The cause of the infection and the mass
spread will be fleshed out and more of a story will take place.
New additions such as the gauntlet, and
mid-level safe rooms made the game as well. Gauntlet moments are
moments in which a large noise (think the gas station in No Mercy, or
the crane in Dead Air) draws large numbers of zombies. Instead of
being able to repel the main mass and then moving on, however, the
zombies will keep coming until you reach a certain marker and turn
off the noise. Mid-level safe rooms are rooms in which all 4
survivors will reach, and no zombies can get in. New weapons and med
packs/pain pills as well as ammo may be there, and the next section
of the game will not start until you open the next door. This is
different from the first safe room in the fact that the chapter
doesn’t end when all survivors reach the room.
In the E3 demo that Valve had setup,
they had the mid-level safe room setup right before the gauntlet
moment. This let the team get ready to face the upcoming test. The
room was in a mobile medical center that was in the base of what was
once a survivor camp/military base. The moment the door was opened,
the alarm went off, noting the military that an infected person may
have made inside the base (the truth is that the base was over-run by
zombies long before the players arrived). The alarm draws zombies and
continues to do so until someone reaches the makeshift sniper tower
to turn it off. Doing so results in being able to pick up said sniper
rifle.
I played both the 360 version that
Microsoft had setup at their booth and the PC version Valve had setup
in the infamous 501C meeting room. The differences were the same as
Left 4 Dead 1, the graphics were much better on the PC and it was
easier to control the guns. It was worth noting that there were
multiple glitches in the 360 game (did anybody else that played have
the tank glitch?) that were not existent in the PC version. The 360
version did compensate for not having a mouse by having a button that
turned players around 180 degrees, as well as having the enemies
coming from less directions (note that these are the same
compensations from the first game).
Many players complained at the low
amount of levels for both the campaign and versus. Valve has stated
that the campaign will consist of more chapters, as well as having 5
major campaigns as compared to 4 in the first game. All 5 of the
campaigns will be available for versus mode right from the get go,
and a survivor mode was most likely going to be in the game.
While not necessarily noticeable, the
AI director was smarter, and did manage to balance out the gameplay
much better than the first one (keep in mind that if the director is
doing its job correctly, nobody will notice anything is being done at
all). Players of a higher skill level were challenged with more
zombies and special infected and players of a lower skill were given
breaks by taking less damage and having to face less enemies.
New weapons exist in the game, and
while none of the weapons from the previous game make it into the
2nd, they all act the same as the first (so much so that I
think the only thing that got changed was the models and sounds).
Valve did add a few more melee weapons such as a frying pan, baseball
bat, and the zombie killing staple chainsaw. The E3 demo included an
axe, which the player could pick up (they could not keep the weapon
on them and when they decided to use a firearm, the axe would drop
for another person to pickup). The axe could be aimed at certain body
parts of the zombie and could take them out with ease. What’s better
then chopping some zombie heads off?
All in all, Left 4 Dead 2, while may be
a little early for a sequel, builds upon the foundation that made the
first game so great, and adds on, with a larger, more in depth story,
with new infected and new weapons. It will come out 364 days after
the first game on November 17th of this year for the Xbox
360 and PC.