- Joined
- Jul 23, 2008
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I'm also posting here in full, besides the link. Though, I do ask that you please vote in the poll I set up on my page, lets me know if people actually read this.
http://gryphonosiris.blogspot.com/2009/12/left-4-dead-2-good-bad-and-spitters.html
Left 4 Dead 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Spitters.
Sorry for the delay on this one, was slightly fixated on Assassin’s Creed 2, but more on that in my next posting. Left 4 Dead 2 has had its fair share on press in the gaming world, such as player boycotting it because they thought it should be an add-on of Left 4 Dead 1, Germany and Australia threatening to ban it unless the gore was toned down, and promises of bigger and better game play from Valve. So, the questions today are: is it worth a purchase; is it more than just an expansion; how gory is it? The answers might surprise you.
THE GOOD
First off, the game is so much more than just an expansion to the original game. Besides the new characters, locations, in game missions, enemies, weapons, and visuals the game also pushes the boundaries of the Source engine further than the first Left 4 Dead ever did. When you start off, just missing the last evacuation chopper, you have to escape a burning hotel with the lobby engulfed in flame and smoke. It’s more than just the “oh, look at the pretty flames” that other games have done, rather you can barely see with the thick smoke in the air, and the brightness of the fire obscures your vision even more. In a later mission you actually have to fight your way through a Hurricane that hits the area on your return trip through the area. Besides being only able to see about 30 something feet in front of you the wind also makes it impossible to hear what’s around you, and the ground beneath your feet has become a thick bog, slowing you down drastically. If there is anything that could be called hell, I’d say it’s a zombie attack in the middle of a storm like that; the atmosphere in it was so good that I swore that it was raining outside when I was playing it.
Besides the effects of the Hurricane, Valve decided that they really needed to break up the rather stagnant levels of the City, small town, and woods with much more visually interesting, and very southern locations. Places like a Carnival, a 3 story shopping mall (Finally!!!), New Orleans French Quarter, a bayou and southern plantation house, even a sugar mill and cane field. Each of these has their own unique mission styles to them, and end mission scenarios. The one to top them all, though, is at the end of the Carnival you have to set off a rock concert with pyrotechnics in order to get the attention of a helicopter in the area. For some reason listening to southern rock while slaughtering zombies by the cubic butt-load just seems to be as picture a perfect as possible, don’t ask me why, I can’t explain it.
Along with updating the visuals, the valve team went back and completely redesigned all the normal and special infected in the game, besides the new ones that added in this installment. Boomers now come in male and female variants, hunters and smokers were completely remodeled to up their freaky factor, and the witches now wander around during the daylight maps; as if they didn’t worry you enough when they were stationary. With the new infected types each map has their own unique semi-special infected who have their own strengths and weakness, along with the 3 new special infected types who up the ante for both campaign and multiplayer game types. Of the semi-special infected there are the Biohazard suits who are immune to fire damage, the riot cops who can only take damage from behind, the clowns whose squeaky shows draw mini hordes, and the mud men who obscure you vision with, you guessed it, mud. The new special infected characters are the Spitter who hurls acid at your location and erupts with acid when killed, the charger who will run at the players then body slam a player they catch, and the Jockey, who pounces like a Hunter, but will ride the player to run them into danger.
Valve also responded to the complaints about the limited weapon selection by adding in 3 more assault rifles (including the AK-47, choice weapon for any and all zombie invasions), 2 more shotguns, a magnum pistol, a silenced mini Uzi, a semi-automatic tactical sniper rifle, and a grenade gun (a.k.a. an M-79 “Bloop tube” or “Thumper”). Not to be sold short, they also include 8 different melee weapons, ranging from frying pans, police night sticks, to a Katana and a chainsaw (they must have read Max Brooks’ Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide.) Apparently even after that they weren’t satisfied because they added a vial of boomer bile as a new grenade type, a set of chest paddles to revive dead allies, a Adrenaline syringe to make the player temporarily faster and stronger, laser sights, and fragmentation or incendiary deployable ammunition upgrades. So, I say yes, this is more than just an expansion.
Of the new game types in campaign and multiplayer they’ve replaced many of the ‘defend this position‘ and the end of each chapter with things like fill the car with gas, shut the alarm off that is drawing the horde, and run for your life to the safe room while fending off waves of infected. All of these require you and the people you are playing with to work together in order to survive; otherwise you will all be picked off one by one. More than anything in this installment Valve seemed to want to focus on players working closely with one another by beefing up the enemy AI in game to act more like a real player might. Besides the enemies getting smarter, so did the AI Director; and he is slowly on his way to become the next true Skynet system of the Terminator Movie fame.
THE BAD
That makes a nice intro into one of the bigger complaints I’ve heard so far. The AI in the game can be unforgiving, even on Normal mode. Where in Left 4 Dead 1, Normal was for when you wanted to casually play through just for fun. In Left 4 Dead 2 Normal mode feels like Advanced with the AI Director no longer being George Romero with masochistic tendencies, but Jeffery Dalmer with the hand of god control over the hordes, the placement of supplies, and even control over the weather in one chapter. It’s so sadistic it makes a spoiled rotten 10 year old with a magnifying glass and a trail of ants look nice in comparison. Every chance it can get it will pummel the players with special infected, hordes, and as mentioned before, a full on Hurricane. This also is part of the areas where you need to turn off the alarms that is drawing the infected towards you. If you and your team aren’t working all that well together you quickly get overwhelmed or picked off one by one by the special infected types.
Even though they changed up the possible scenarios in the levels they still seem like doing the same thing slightly differently. As mentioned before, surviving a rock concert while killing infected is awesome, or running along the tracks of a roller coaster is almost as fun as riding it, there just seems to be something missing in the variety section. Mind you, I haven’t a clue what that might be, but there is just the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that there are other things that could have been done. Strangely enough, the inclusion of more weapons has actually be detrimental sometimes, as I’ve seen players sitting there, debating whether they want to swap the shotgun for a SCAR, or use a melee weapons over a pistol. Choice is good, don’t get me wrong, but some people can’t decide because they’ve grown attached to a certain weapon (won’t even go there) and it slows everyone else down.
THE UGLY
Much of the same things from the first game, although in this one not only do infected get dismembered when shot, some will still come at you with a limb blown off, or will be disemboweled when shot in the torso. The fact that there are riot cop infected in it must be noted as in some countries (cough, Germany, cough) you aren’t allowed to be able to shot riot cops in the game. I will also say that the Hurricane part really does get the player on edge as you can’t see, you can’t hear, controls are sluggish, and I swear you will feel like you are being rained on.
CONCLUSION
Definitely more than just an expansion pack, Left 4 Dead 2 stands quite well on its own merits. Game play is fun though challenging, visuals push the Source Engine to their limits, and the new locations give a much needed real world grounding to the series. If you liked the first game, it’s worth a rental at the least to you console players (i.e. uncommitted, casual gamers), and a purchase to you PC gamers (i.e. true gamers).
High Recommendation
http://gryphonosiris.blogspot.com/2009/12/left-4-dead-2-good-bad-and-spitters.html
Left 4 Dead 2: The Good, the Bad, and the Spitters.
Sorry for the delay on this one, was slightly fixated on Assassin’s Creed 2, but more on that in my next posting. Left 4 Dead 2 has had its fair share on press in the gaming world, such as player boycotting it because they thought it should be an add-on of Left 4 Dead 1, Germany and Australia threatening to ban it unless the gore was toned down, and promises of bigger and better game play from Valve. So, the questions today are: is it worth a purchase; is it more than just an expansion; how gory is it? The answers might surprise you.
THE GOOD
First off, the game is so much more than just an expansion to the original game. Besides the new characters, locations, in game missions, enemies, weapons, and visuals the game also pushes the boundaries of the Source engine further than the first Left 4 Dead ever did. When you start off, just missing the last evacuation chopper, you have to escape a burning hotel with the lobby engulfed in flame and smoke. It’s more than just the “oh, look at the pretty flames” that other games have done, rather you can barely see with the thick smoke in the air, and the brightness of the fire obscures your vision even more. In a later mission you actually have to fight your way through a Hurricane that hits the area on your return trip through the area. Besides being only able to see about 30 something feet in front of you the wind also makes it impossible to hear what’s around you, and the ground beneath your feet has become a thick bog, slowing you down drastically. If there is anything that could be called hell, I’d say it’s a zombie attack in the middle of a storm like that; the atmosphere in it was so good that I swore that it was raining outside when I was playing it.
Besides the effects of the Hurricane, Valve decided that they really needed to break up the rather stagnant levels of the City, small town, and woods with much more visually interesting, and very southern locations. Places like a Carnival, a 3 story shopping mall (Finally!!!), New Orleans French Quarter, a bayou and southern plantation house, even a sugar mill and cane field. Each of these has their own unique mission styles to them, and end mission scenarios. The one to top them all, though, is at the end of the Carnival you have to set off a rock concert with pyrotechnics in order to get the attention of a helicopter in the area. For some reason listening to southern rock while slaughtering zombies by the cubic butt-load just seems to be as picture a perfect as possible, don’t ask me why, I can’t explain it.
Along with updating the visuals, the valve team went back and completely redesigned all the normal and special infected in the game, besides the new ones that added in this installment. Boomers now come in male and female variants, hunters and smokers were completely remodeled to up their freaky factor, and the witches now wander around during the daylight maps; as if they didn’t worry you enough when they were stationary. With the new infected types each map has their own unique semi-special infected who have their own strengths and weakness, along with the 3 new special infected types who up the ante for both campaign and multiplayer game types. Of the semi-special infected there are the Biohazard suits who are immune to fire damage, the riot cops who can only take damage from behind, the clowns whose squeaky shows draw mini hordes, and the mud men who obscure you vision with, you guessed it, mud. The new special infected characters are the Spitter who hurls acid at your location and erupts with acid when killed, the charger who will run at the players then body slam a player they catch, and the Jockey, who pounces like a Hunter, but will ride the player to run them into danger.
Valve also responded to the complaints about the limited weapon selection by adding in 3 more assault rifles (including the AK-47, choice weapon for any and all zombie invasions), 2 more shotguns, a magnum pistol, a silenced mini Uzi, a semi-automatic tactical sniper rifle, and a grenade gun (a.k.a. an M-79 “Bloop tube” or “Thumper”). Not to be sold short, they also include 8 different melee weapons, ranging from frying pans, police night sticks, to a Katana and a chainsaw (they must have read Max Brooks’ Zombie Apocalypse Survival Guide.) Apparently even after that they weren’t satisfied because they added a vial of boomer bile as a new grenade type, a set of chest paddles to revive dead allies, a Adrenaline syringe to make the player temporarily faster and stronger, laser sights, and fragmentation or incendiary deployable ammunition upgrades. So, I say yes, this is more than just an expansion.
Of the new game types in campaign and multiplayer they’ve replaced many of the ‘defend this position‘ and the end of each chapter with things like fill the car with gas, shut the alarm off that is drawing the horde, and run for your life to the safe room while fending off waves of infected. All of these require you and the people you are playing with to work together in order to survive; otherwise you will all be picked off one by one. More than anything in this installment Valve seemed to want to focus on players working closely with one another by beefing up the enemy AI in game to act more like a real player might. Besides the enemies getting smarter, so did the AI Director; and he is slowly on his way to become the next true Skynet system of the Terminator Movie fame.
THE BAD
That makes a nice intro into one of the bigger complaints I’ve heard so far. The AI in the game can be unforgiving, even on Normal mode. Where in Left 4 Dead 1, Normal was for when you wanted to casually play through just for fun. In Left 4 Dead 2 Normal mode feels like Advanced with the AI Director no longer being George Romero with masochistic tendencies, but Jeffery Dalmer with the hand of god control over the hordes, the placement of supplies, and even control over the weather in one chapter. It’s so sadistic it makes a spoiled rotten 10 year old with a magnifying glass and a trail of ants look nice in comparison. Every chance it can get it will pummel the players with special infected, hordes, and as mentioned before, a full on Hurricane. This also is part of the areas where you need to turn off the alarms that is drawing the infected towards you. If you and your team aren’t working all that well together you quickly get overwhelmed or picked off one by one by the special infected types.
Even though they changed up the possible scenarios in the levels they still seem like doing the same thing slightly differently. As mentioned before, surviving a rock concert while killing infected is awesome, or running along the tracks of a roller coaster is almost as fun as riding it, there just seems to be something missing in the variety section. Mind you, I haven’t a clue what that might be, but there is just the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that there are other things that could have been done. Strangely enough, the inclusion of more weapons has actually be detrimental sometimes, as I’ve seen players sitting there, debating whether they want to swap the shotgun for a SCAR, or use a melee weapons over a pistol. Choice is good, don’t get me wrong, but some people can’t decide because they’ve grown attached to a certain weapon (won’t even go there) and it slows everyone else down.
THE UGLY
Much of the same things from the first game, although in this one not only do infected get dismembered when shot, some will still come at you with a limb blown off, or will be disemboweled when shot in the torso. The fact that there are riot cop infected in it must be noted as in some countries (cough, Germany, cough) you aren’t allowed to be able to shot riot cops in the game. I will also say that the Hurricane part really does get the player on edge as you can’t see, you can’t hear, controls are sluggish, and I swear you will feel like you are being rained on.
CONCLUSION
Definitely more than just an expansion pack, Left 4 Dead 2 stands quite well on its own merits. Game play is fun though challenging, visuals push the Source Engine to their limits, and the new locations give a much needed real world grounding to the series. If you liked the first game, it’s worth a rental at the least to you console players (i.e. uncommitted, casual gamers), and a purchase to you PC gamers (i.e. true gamers).
High Recommendation
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