The zombie apocalypse has made its way to the South.
Starting in Savannah, Ga., and ending in New Orleans, “Left 4 Dead 2” gives us a chance to fight the horde in our own backyard. Valve offers players new melee weapons, new and improved guns and new ammo to combat the common, uncommon and special infected.
The game introduces a new cast of survivors. Among them is Coach, a Savannah high school football coach; Nick, a Southbound gambler looking to strike it rich on a riverboat casino; Ellis, a storytelling Southern mechanic and Rochelle, a newscaster looking to use the infection as a career boost. The horde is composed of common infected with the addition of campaign specific uncommon infected.
The first campaign, the Dead Center, features infected are CEDA agents in hazmat gear (which makes them immune to fire) and the rare sighting of Jimmy Gibbs Jr. infected appears in the final stage.
During the Dark Carnival campaign, the player will encounter clowns — infected carnival folk whose squeaky shoes attract the horde en masse.
The Swamp Fever campaign introduces Mud Men – hard-to-spot enemies who hide in the water before they attack.
The Hard Rain campaign takes place in Mississippi. It introduces Workers – enemies harder to destroy because of their resistance to damage.
The Parish is set in New Orleans and is the final campaign. This campaign introduces the riot infected, which the player can only destroy from behind.
Boomers, Witches, Smokers, Tanks and Hunters all return but are joined by new special infected: Chargers, Jockeys, Spitters, Wandering Witches and female Boomers.
Many of the weapons from “Left 4 Dead” return; you can still have pistols with unlimited ammo with the addition of a Magnum and P220. The guns of “Left 4 Dead 2” include pump shotgun, submachine gun, chrome shotgun, silenced submachine gun, assault rifle, auto shotgun, hunting rifle, combat shotgun, combat rifle, sniper rifle, AK-47 and grenade launcher. Guns can be upgraded with laser sights and incendiary or explosive ammo.
The pipe bomb and Molotov cocktail are joined by boomer bile, which, when thrown on an infected, summons the others to attack them. You can still throw a gas can, propane tank or other explosive item into the thick of the Horde, shoot it and watch the body parts fly.
The melee weapon selection has been increased, and you can now have the option of carrying an axe, baseball bat, cricket bat, chainsaw, crowbar, guitar, frying pan, katana, nightstick or machete.
Your healing items have also been increased. Adrenaline shots to give you a burst of speed and a defibrillator to resurrect dead comrades now compete for your health pack slot.
As far as the game play goes, everything is much smoother and improved from the first installment. The horde is faster and behaves more intelligently. The Director AI has also been tweaked; it now has the ability to change time of day and weather.
The rockabilly soundtrack is great, and the audio tracks are clearer. Each special infected has a unique sound alerts you to their impending arrival.
The addition of a realism feature was added for players who didn’t think expert mode was enough of a challenge. Scavenge mode is also a new addition where teams race to find items before the other.
“Left 4 Dead 2” is primarily intended to be a group game. Now that the horde is just as intelligent as the AI for the survivors, playing alone is much harder but still fun. Multiplayer servers have some lag issues but it just released. Overall this game will still be the multiplayer game of the year and a must buy. If wholesale slaughter is your idea of a good time, pick this one up and play it with a buddy or three.