The announcement made by Valve regarding the release of a true sequel to Left 4 Dead within a year from the launch of the first game upset (to put it mildly) a lot gamers. Valve had initially promised a lot of downloadable content in terms of maps, weapons, enemy-types and continued support for the game over the next couple of years at least. Now, DLC for L4D is still a “priority” according to dozens of press releases given by Valve, but seriously, who are they trying to fool here? L4D2 still remains the second most boycotted game on the PC this year (after Infinity Ward’s mother of all cash-ins). So this “cashing-in” by Valve has been poorly received by a lot of folks who shelled out $50 for the first game. In India, however, we’ve got a pretty interesting paradox. L4D continues to retail for Rs 1299, but you can pick up the sequel for a mere Rs 699 (a shocking $15). While L4D2 is not a particularly spectacular game, it will surely satiate the urge to gun down thousands of fast-moving zombies.
I played the first L4D for about 4 weeks with interest, and one additional week of the versus mode only because I had some friends who bought the game later than I did, but predictably enough, even they lost interest after a while. The complete absence of storytelling was kind of a put-off, but the co-operative play was (and is) some of the best you’ll experience on any platform, and the versus mode was pretty unique even if it felt a little imbalanced at times. I personally would not have been motivated to pay for, and download more content for the first game even if it was made available at India-specific prices. So for someone like me, the idea of a full-blown sequel in the form of L4D2 was a far more enticing prospect. I was looking forward to experiencing the newly added mêlée weapons, including guitars, cricket bats, katana swords and the made-famous-by-doom chainsaw, new zombie types, weapon mods, maps and I did pray that there would be more of a storytelling element. Let’s just say that I wasn’t entirely disappointed.
The new content has absolutely no shock-value. There’s not much innovation here, and honestly, it’s almost as if the development team just poked around forums and incorporated user feedback and suggestions after hitting the “sort by popularity” button. After playing some 8-odd hours of the game, I’m just amazed at how Valve sold the L4D purely on concept! Everything that is in L4D2 could so easily have been in the first game. Having said that, Left 4 Dead 2 is the definitive version of Left 4 Dead. So if you’ve not played the first game, you can simply bypass it altogether and jump right into Left 4 Dead 2. L4D2 is everything L4D was, and then some. For starters, the level design in L4D2 is way better than its predecessor’s. There are a lot more opportunities to flank and get flanked by zombie hordes, a lot more strategically placed chokepoints, wide-open spaces and level-specific objectives that you might need to
accomplish (like shutting off an alarm in the ‘Mall’ level of the game’s first campaign). There’s a sort of open-world feel to it as well — like when you see a gun store, you can actually just walk in and take whatever you want — speaking of which, some of the new weapon attachments like the laser sight are pretty cool. The game no longer utilises darkness to scare the crap out of you. With the addition of day levels, the game feels a lot less monotonous, and the fact that you can actually see hundreds of zombies charging at you in broad daylight can freak you out. New items include adrenalin shots, portable crash carts (defibrillators) and boomer bile. The last of which has a similar effect to the pipe bomb minus the explosive ending, but also causes zombies to turn on each other. The AI director is back with some improvements, but none of these are really noticeable during gameplay. The game retains three of the first game’s modes (campaign, versus and survival), while adding ‘Scavenge’ and a ‘Realism’ mode. In Scavenge, two teams of four take turns playing as the survivors and the infected. The survivors have to collect gas canisters and maintain fuel in power generators, while the infected try to stop them or destroy the canisters themselves — Counter-Strike with zombies, if you like. The ‘Realism’ mode on the other hand can be enabled for any difficulty level. Essentially, head-shots do a lot more damage, while shooting zombies anywhere other than the head doesn’t deal as much damage as it would normally.
There are four new characters, each with their own personalities. There’s a lot more chatter between characters now than there was in the first game — this is a welcome addition. Now, if only there was something
resembling a story. Maybe Valve are saving some stuff up for L4D3, or never, considering Valve doesn’t release third episodes. The source engine was beginning to show its age when the first L4D was released, and this obviously hasn’t changed. L4D2 is the best looking source engine game, but that’s not saying much — it pales in comparison to other next-gen shooters.
Verdict
More zombies, better apocalypse – but not much else.
—videep@gmail.com