Left 4 Dead 2 review [Tinymouse2]

Hello and welcome to my Left 4 Dead 2 review!
Please give me feedback into how I could improve my reviews.





I've been a fan of every Valve game released and this is no exception. I'm David Windham (Tinymouse2) and I hope you enjoy this review.




The Gameplay

It's still Left 4 Dead so the control scheme hasn't changed much but the way you play the game has been dramatically changed.

The introduction of melle weapons is mostly to blame for this. I never wanted to get close to a massive horde of zombies in Left 4 Dead unless I had to but now, armed with a chainsaw, I can't help but running in and laughing like a kid while watching the gibs go flying. It's a very rewarding experience when you take down nearly a whole horde of zombies by yourself but it has its price. You'll take a lot of damage while running through them all and you can only really do this with a chainsaw. If you have any other melle weapon then you'll need to slow simply because you can't kill the zombies fast enough! Is it worth it if you have a chainsaw? Without a doubt yes!

Now a few bad things have happened in the "upgrade". What? Negatives against a valve game? It's not like me but there are a few things that I've noticed that they could have done so much better.

I would have loved it if they had bumped up the normal zombie health and held back on the special infected like the did in Left 4 Dead. In the original it always felt exciting whenever a special infected entered the scene. They were powerful and a force to be reckoned with. Now they shower you with them. A charger ever 10 seconds, 4 witches in 1 place, 2 smokers + 2 hunters and so on. They might have turned down their health to make sure it's more fair but it has become slightly boring as a consequence. When a tank steps on the scene it doesn't give me the "OH CRAP! What do we do? Aw man we're so screwed" followed by a large amount of profanity, I just think "Huh a tank, lets try and kill it and if we can't them that'll be quite annoying."

Another thing that lets it down is the fact that the sections are so bloody long! I think it took about 5-10 minutes for each section in Left 4 Dead. Now it takes me and friends around 15+ minutes per section. Is this a bad thing? It is when your trying to play it on expert to give yourself a challenge. After 2-3 tried your forced to lower the difficulty or even get fed up and quit simply because you can't face going through the whole section again (I usually fail right at the end when the safe room is in sight).

And more...
The characters aren't as lovable as in the original. Sure Ellis (The redneck American) is very lovable and really saves me from rage quiting after I've been pounced by half a million hunters but the rest of them just aren't funny or appealing. Coach (Black male) sometimes has his moments so he's let off the hook but Nick (White hustler) and Rochelle (the Black female) just suck... I mean really suck. I don't have any feelings towards them. I loved zoey, a slightly nerdy girl stuck into a zombie appocylipse just makes me want to protect her with my life. Bill? A lovable but hardcore grandpa. Louis? An average Joe stuck into it all. And Francis? Well, It's impossible to hate him even though he seems to hate everything around him! Then Ellis? Sweet guy who doesn't actually know anything even though he seems to have lots of facts inside him. Coach? Can be slightly amusing with him always wanting food but the novelty wears off pretty fast. Nick? No emotion, not funny and well... is terrible. Same for Rochelle.

There are quite a few bad things here. There are a lot of positives but if you've played Left 4 Dead 1 then you'll already know all of them (except the things they've changed.)

It's an excellent game but the negatives are the things that bring down the gameplay score.

So, onwards!




The Graphics

The graphics have been bumped up since l4d and one of the most interesting things in terms of graphics (I'll cover decapitating bodies later) is the fact that most of the levels are during the day! I found it ridiculus that you always had to go out in the dark every night when you could wait until day time. Also in the campaign "Hard Rain" the weather effects are lovely! It looks very realistic and does help to bring you onto the edge of your seat as you strain to see if it's a zombie or a witch your about to shoot.

Another thing to note is the new body effects. This includes chopping off a zombies arm, shooting out a zombies stomach only to have it keep coming at you and loads of gibs flying everywhere when a pipe bomb explodes. The physics of all this feels very smooth and believable which can produce some "WOAH! Did you see that?" moments.




Sound and presentation

I think the sound in this game is lovely! The dialogue is well written (even though I can't relate to the characters), the sound effects are top notch and everything feels just like it should.

The menus? Perfect as far as I'm concerned. Their not to cluttered and still looks like it gives you to many options. No problems here!




The Verdict!

This game is great! Compared to Left 4 Dead 1 it doesn't match up to it but the addition of melle weapons and the lovely physics effects make this a game to get. The gameplay doesn't get such a high rating but I'm comparing it to the other valve games. If I compared it to say Call of Duty it would be a 9/10 or even a 10/10.


Comparing to other Valve games:

Visuals: 10/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Sound: 10/10
Replayability: 9/10

Overall: 9/10




Comparing to non Valve games:

Visuals: 9/10
Gameplay: 9.5/10
Sound: 9/10
Replayability: 10/10

Overall: 9.5/10

They combining the old characters soon into L4D2, so it will be much better.

I actually liked this one slightly more than the first one. I agree that the characters in the first one do seem better, but I like in this one the campaigns in this one seem to string together better and the characters actually seem to notice their surroundings. And I thought I was the only one that enjoyed charging at a horde of zombies with a melee weapon

The original SI encounters wore off within a month. They became pushovers quick. And the commons were easily dealt with.

Now in this one, the common are in abundance and more often than not, more of a hassle than the SI. The game itself is more challenging with all the changes.

I'm not sure what's bad about the sections being a little longer. It means not as many rambo runs being so successful like it was in the original. Combine that with the fact that the game is still technically new...so of course it might take longer to get through a map.