Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Footage of a new campaign and Crash Course tonight on GTTV.

GTTV loses brains to Left 4 Dead 2, Left 4 Dead DLC

GameTrailers TV will be packed to the brim with rotting zombie flesh this week, as the show will premiere new footage of both Left 4 Dead 2 and the upcoming "Crash Course" DLC for Left 4 Dead. Specifically, a brand new campaign for Left 4 Dead 2 will be revealed, which is apparently "quite literally a carnival of zombie action!" So, it's a carnival, we guess.

The episode is also set to contain more Valve goodies, including an interview with Gabe Newell discussing Portal 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 3 and PS3 development. Finally expect new footage of DiRT 2 and a new trailer for RAGE. For those of the zombie killing persuasion, the show airs tonight at 12:30am ET.

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

New Left 4 Dead 2 Screenshot Reveals 'Dark Carnival' Campaign

Valve has released the first screenshot of the "Dark Carnival" campaign of its upcoming zombie shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2.

The theme park-themed campaign is the third of five campaigns to be announced, joining the "The Parish"--set in New Orleans' French Quarter--and the murky "Swamp Fever."

Valve also announced that the Dark Carnival campaign will be playable at next week's Penny Arcade Expo, with different areas of the title being shown at the Microsoft and Valve booths. The company also promises to reveal more of the game's new items.

Left 4 Dead 2 is scheduled for a November 17 release on PC and Xbox 360.

Clown face zombie

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

New L4D2 Special Infected, The Jockey, is riding into PAX

We got word of a brand new Special Infected coming to Left 4 Dead 2 from reader Josh, which we promptly followed up with Valve to get official confirmation. Those attending PAX will be the first to witness the arrival of The Jockey, perhaps the most annoying-yet-awesome sounding Special Infected of them all.

The Jockey is a smaller zombie who jumps on the backs of Survivors and tears them apart from behind. Not only that, but he gets to control the movements of the Survivor while he's doing it, meaning that Versus Mode just got a whole lot crazier. Sounds like a helpful little guy who'll help guide the Survivors into ambushes and other desirable locations.

That's all we know so far. We'll get to see him in the flesh at PAX.

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Awesome!

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Left 4 Dead 2's Dark Carnival unveiled

Dark Carnival itself ("You must be this tall... TO DIE!") begins on a highway, as the survivors inch through and around abandoned cars in the direction of the Ferris wheel and candy stripes on the horizon.

Following a few close shaves and a descent down a slippery hillside (which the AI director saw fit to spice up with a tank - thanks for that), the survivors work through a two-storey motel complex, with roomed-up infected bashing chunks out of every door they pass to try and get at them, and then make their way into the carnival itself, full of infected-packed tents and stalls.

Valve said that some of the parlor games at the carnival will actually work in the final version, and drew our attention to quirky touches like the peanut man cutouts (he has a nutty nemesis - moustachio) before we hit the climactic point of the two-stage Dark Carnival demo: the merry-go-round crescendo moment.

Waving our katanas, axes and the new electric guitar melee weapons around happily, we set this off, and discovered the goal was to run around it to reach the off switch and stem the growing (and indeed infinite) tide of infected that attack you as you try to do so. Again, the director felt the need to help out by depositing a Witch in our path. Whacking her with the guitar was an error.

There's a lot more to talk about - like the way the Jockey works with other special infected including the other new boys, the Spitter and the Charger, and the simple, immeasurable brilliance of adding proper gibs and limb-loss to the game's existing technical base - but we'll save that for the full preview, coming soon.

There was one other touch to note right at the end though - the classic between-level music you get as you swing the saferoom door closed has been spiced up for Left 4 Dead 2, with a different twist on it for each new campaign.

New Screens

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

LOL the posters are great.

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

There was one other touch to note right at the end though - the classic between-level music you get as you swing the saferoom door closed has been spiced up for Left 4 Dead 2, with a different twist on it for each new campaign

I wonder what this is about?

[sportsdude]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

dookie, I agree man I love the posters.

and this quote had me laughing:

"Again, the director felt the need to help out by depositing a Witch in our path. Whacking her with the guitar was an error."

lol, witches always be throwing wrenches in your plans.

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Left 4 Dead 2 Impressions: Jockeys And Swords

The new Japanese blade dismembers L4D2's new, bloodier zombies with swift ease. Fans of digital gore will enjoy making heads roll.

I encountered some of the sequel's newness when the Jockey pounced on my character's back. This new special zombie announces its presence with a tell-tale snicker before it leaps on a victim's back. It rode Rochelle away from allies, thwacking her with a free hand as it went. The player can try to steer in a better direction, but can't outright resist where the Jockey drives them. Later, a Jockey would pounce on Coach, Faliszek's character for the session, driving him across distant rooftops until one of us shot the zombie down.

Also new — newest of all, perhaps — was the Charger, revised since E3 2009 when this whole sequel debuted. This special zombie no longer barrels through the players' group before grabbing one of them. It now rushes in and grabs a human player immediately, smashing them all the way toward whatever wall or other vertical heap is the terminus of their headlong rush.

Some of the novelty in the sequel is subtler. Faliszek described the enhanced teamwork tactics of the special zombies. The sequel-debuting Spitter, for example, won't just spray part of the ground with toxic, damaging goo. It'll spit into safe rooms and other places where players might camp out. Worse — or better — a Jockey may intentionally steer a player's character into the spot where a Spitter just spat. They team up so that you're more likely to lose.

Even the sun and its effects are novel for Left 4 Dead 2. In the game's pre-set daytime sequences, Faliszek said, standard zombies will be more agitated and aggressive than they were in the night sequences of the first game.

The sequel-debuting "uncommon common" zombies will provide another new challenge. Some might be bulletproof in the front... or fireproof... or short with more health... or in clown get-up and wearing squeaky shoes that attract more zombies.

Some of the sequel's new enemies and level designs are a response to how Valve saw gamers play the first Left 4 Dead. The Charger, for example, was designed to counter players that excel by staying together in a tight pack. The new game's designers also noticed how people who played the first would stand their ground during "crescendo events," digging in while dealing with a sudden rush of zombies. To counter that, they incorporated moments that cause an endless stream of zombies to flow into battle, ceasing only when players move to another part of the map. In Dark Carnival, for example, one of us needed to activate the power on the merry-go-round, which allowed a gate to open and zombies to pour in for the attack. Only racing around that merry-go-round and reaching a power switch on the other side of it brought us toward safety and began to wind down the attack.

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

The new game's designers also noticed how people who played the first would stand their ground during "crescendo events," digging in while dealing with a sudden rush of zombies. To counter that, they incorporated moments that cause an endless stream of zombies to flow into battle, ceasing only when players move to another part of the map. In Dark Carnival, for example, one of us needed to activate the power on the merry-go-round, which allowed a gate to open and zombies to pour in for the attack. Only racing around that merry-go-round and reaching a power switch on the other side of it brought us toward safety and began to wind down the attack.

Nice!

So what special zombies are gone from the first one, any?

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

The Jockey

[Sandman42]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Nice!

So what special zombies are gone from the first one, any?

They're all back.

I wonder how they'll do the Vs. aspect for all the new special infected. In L4D you pretty much always had 2 Hunters, 1 Smoker, and 1 Boomer when you played as the infected. Now with Spitter's and Jockey's added (I'm assuming the Charger will be like the Tank and will only be played at certain times), I wonder how the setup will be. Maybe they can let you choose which infected you want to be, but there only can be 1 of each at a time?

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

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[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

I figured the jockey would be smaller.

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Title of the video is a bit misleading, but you do get to see the Jockey jump on the back of a survivor torwards the end.

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I love how much the gore has been upped.

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IGN Impressions

The bat is a nice addition, but I still prefer the guitar, which also smashes noggins effectively but does so with a pleasing twang that sounds like The Who tuning up at Wembley. I also have to mention an unwelcome addition to Dark Carnival: the new "uncommon common" zombie clown. I hate clowns that are alive, and now I can confirm that I hate dead ones even more. As this creep moves around the map, he squeaks his oversized clown shoe, drawing the horde. He'll always show up at the most inopportune times (just like a real-life clown), making your life even more of a living hell than it already is. I highly recommend hitting him in the face with a melee weapon.