Left 4 Dead 2, the highly anticipated sequel to the award winning Left 4 Dead from Valve Corporation, has just arrived. Lets take a closer look at the exposed innards of this co-operative horror FPS title and see just how far the infection has spread since the franchise’s first installment.
The additions in this title are numerous, but the basics still remain: A team of four Survivors must seek refuge from an infected world that is literally dying to add them to the mix. At the start of each level, the Survivors are provided a health pack, a pistol, and a primary firearm. Each chapter of a campaign begins and ends with a safe room, while the final chapter ends with some form of escape.
Survivors that take to too much damage in their escape must rely only on their pistol and their friends until they can be revived from their incapacitation. Survivors that are repeatedly incapacitated will quickly exhaust their second chances, resulting in their inevitable death.
Game types
Left 4 Dead 2 returns with Left 4 Dead’s Campaign, Versus and Survival modes, while introducing two new game types named Realism and Scavenge. Let’s take a look at what each game type offers.
Campaign: The four Survivors complete campaign chapters leading up to a finale where they must fight to escape to safety.
Versus: The 4v4 slaughter fest returns, with one team of four playing as the Survivors, while the other team of four plays as the special Infected. Each chapter is engaged twice, and each team takes turns playing as Survivors and Infected.
Survival: The four Survivors vie to run up the clock against an endless surge of the zombie Horde.
Scavenge: A newcomer to the L4D franchise, Scavenge is a fast-paced 4v4 collection event where the Survivor team must gather gas cans to fuel stage objectives while battling the undead.
Like Versus, Scavenge turns the tables multiple times; each team switches between Survivors and Infected three times before a winner is determined. Each round lasts two minutes, and is extended for 20 seconds by each of the 16 gas cans strewn about the area.
Realism: The fifth and final game mode is said to provide a professional-level challenge above and beyond the difficulty of Expert.
Realism mode removes the colored halos that enable players to identify items, friendlies and special Infected map features. Realism mode also reduces the effectiveness of body shots, forcing players to rely on headshots to subdue the Infected. These changes make precise team communication a must, and will make this mode a no-go for all but the most seasoned veterans.
Cast and campaigns
Left 4 Dead 2 expands the cast to a new suite of characters each with their own motivations.
- Coach, the food-loving high school health teacher who’s determined to lead the last team in the land to survival;
- Rochelle, the motivated low-level news producer determined to make her own future one way or another;
- Ellis, the simple thrill-seeking mechanic who doesn’t know when to quit… Fighting;
- and Nick, the wandering gambler, dead-set on defying his own nature to beat the odds of survival.
The four new characters will be pitted against five new scenarios set deep in the sweltering heat of the South.
Dead Center
Dead Center picks up right where the trailer/intro movie leaves off: The Survivors have just reached the rooftop of a nine-story hotel. Chapter 1 begins as the Survivors make their way through the burning hotel in search of a way back down to the ground level. After winding in and out of areas affected by the raging fire, the Survivors take a smoke-filled elevator ride to their destination.
After forcing the elevator doors open, they find the lobby has been almost completely overtaken by flames, save for a precarious path swelling with the Infected. After besting the Horde, the Survivors take refuge in a lounge that has been converted into a safe room.
Chapter 2 follows the Survivors on their way out of the hotel towards the Liberty Mall, which several highway marquees indicate as a “Ceda Evac” point. After passing through a poorly barricaded medical examination area–complete with Hazmat Infected–the Survivors make their way through several underpasses towards a gun store where the owner has welded himself shut in a safe room.
He’s not unfriendly, however, and he offers the Survivors a deal: In return for some soda, which he forgot to pack before locking himself away, he will destroy a parked oil tanker which blocks the way to the Liberty Mall. One hasty run and a few Hordes later, the Survivors return the soda to the gun store owner who then makes good on his promise.
Chapter 3 takes the Survivors through the mall to the alleged evac point, only to find that not only is the evac point no longer there, but that they have tripped a security alarm that sends wave after wave of Infected until it is disabled via a security panel on the third floor of the mall. After navigating the maintenance stairwell back down into the mall, the Survivors finish out the chapter by taking refuge in a safe room crafted from an unfinished storefront.
Entering the finale, the heroes realize that no rescue is coming, so the Survivors craft their own from a display of local racing hero Jimmy Gibbs Jr., and his conveniently placed stock car. Once the area has been secured, the finale event begins by calling for the Survivors to gas up the vehicle using gas cans scattered about the three floors of the mall.
The Infected waves become increasingly difficult as the Survivors work their way closer and closer to the goal, and make good their escape by plowing through the front of the mall with the stock car upon completion.
Dark Carnival
Dark Carnival picks up sometime shortly after Dead Center, opening Chapter 1 on a highway completely blocked by abandoned vehicles. After taking the exit leading to Whispering Oaks, a local amusement park, the Survivors make their way through a mostly abandoned motel, and down the hill behind it.
At the bottom of the hill is a river overflowing with Infected, but provides the Survivors with a perfect avenue to the safe room, which stands in a building just outside of Whispering Oaks’ gates.
Chapter 2 takes the Survivors into Whispering Oaks itself–a twisted mockery of a children’s play land complete with Infected clowns. Making their way through several buildings, the Survivors finally come upon the Tunnel of Love, whose queue room has been converted into a safe room.
Chapter 3 follows the Survivors as they make their way deeper into the amusement park. Following the twisted and aimless passages of the Tunnel of Love, the Survivors finally come upon their route into the heart of Whispering Oaks: The Screaming Oak roller coaster. The ride can quickly become their last hurrah as activating the ride to open the way readily draws the attention of all nearby Infected.
After climbing several roofs and fighting through more Infected, the Survivors make their way to the final safe room at the foot of Midnight Ride’s auditorium. The finale ends the campaign with a bang as the Survivors plot to draw the attention of a rescue vehicle with the pyrotechnics and lighting built into the stage for the Midnight Ride. Many Infected and about 15 minutes later, the Survivors make their escape set to the dulcet tones of hair metal.
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