Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Got it, didn't realize it was $54.99 for pre-orders. Got the baseball bat DLC as well.

Really? But aren't all $59.99 games $5 bucks cheaper when you preorder? nice to know I'll get a baseball bat DLC

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

I want this game. I really wish I could leave work early today...lol

[ExtremeGamer]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Really? But aren't all $59.99 games $5 bucks cheaper when you preorder? nice to know I'll get a baseball bat DLC

No, I mean it rang out at $54.99, then my $5 preorder off of that.

They have a deal now for Army of Two coming out in January, preorder it and get $10 off plus your $5. So it'll ring up $49.99.

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Nice!

[Flawless]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

EDGE Review - 9

As back-of-the-box promises go, Left 4 Dead 2’s offers a pretty good précis: ‘New friends. More zombies. Better apocalypse’. It’s certainly a bigger apocalypse – and a more varied, deeper experience too, as you and three chums guide a new band of wisecracking survivors to safety through the zombie-ravaged Deep South. Though Valve’s preceding co-op horror shooter was crafted for extensive replay, and has since been visited with free expansions, Left 4 Dead emerged with little meat on the bone. Its sequel is a fleshier thing altogether. There are more campaigns, there are more modes, there are more guns, tools and types of zombie. Perhaps none of this would immediately merit sequel status were there not something more fundamental going on as well. But such is the additional variety and increased sense of purpose in L4D2 that it manages to make the earlier game feel a little mechanical and inorganic, revealing its almost exclusive reliance on the AI director to orchestrate drama from the ebbs and flows of the zombie horde.

That drama is still evident here, of course, with the director allowing split-second rescues when all looks lost, or ruthlessly cutting down would-be survivors just when safety seems moments away. But whereas the first game relied on the director alone to create interest in its environments, punctuating a point-to-point slog with a smattering of special events, the sequel introduces more frequent and richer setpieces. Players of L4D will be familiar with those moments when you would battle against an increasingly aggressive horde during the tortuous wait for an elevator door to open, or a gangway to descend. Now, such adrenaline-boosting beats are so common that they blur into the game at large rather than feeling like diversions from it. The player nearly always has a purpose, a new challenge that adds to the difficulty of surviving the director’s sadistic machinations, stumbling straight from one trick into another. There are mazes of graves and public gardens that reconfigure themselves on every playthrough, alarms which must be deactivated with distant controls, gauntlets to be run and vital resources to be scavenged which prove the key to your escape.

Many of L4D2’s additions are riffs on the neater paradigms in the previous game; the variety created by laser-sights, incendiary ammo and cans of Boomer bile inevitably means the function of items is less easy to instantly intuit. Defined roles become murkier – no longer do you choose between range and heft, but range, heft, rate of fire and accuracy in many combinations. Who’s got the defibrillator? Who has the adrenaline syringe? With fewer items it was far easier to organise a collective inventory among the entire party. None of this will faze experienced players, but those less attuned to the game’s traditions will struggle to work out which pick-up fits in which slot. But if L4D2 is sometimes over-complicated by its glut of small innovations, then it also substantially rewards the player with its few large ideas: confusion gives way to depth and dynamism, grander thrills and starker dramas. We’re still interested in the fate of the original game’s heroes, but this sequel affirms that the way ahead is due south.

[ChubbyBanana]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Any feedback from those who picked it up last night?

Well I was kind of tired so I only played through the Dead Center Campaign. It took me 1 hr. 15 minutes on Normal and I died 3 times

Don't know if this is usual time. I think I took longer because I wasn't sure of the route to take.

Initial Report, This Game is Freakin' sweet! And that's only after playing one of the campaigns. The Melee Weapons are a Welcomed addition. Decapitating a zombie with one never gets old

I'll be on tonight. Just Look me up.

[MachoMyers]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Had to redownload so I was already pisssed. Got to 55% and accidentally clicked something. Next thing I know Steam is loading LOOM. It loads, I quit. Steam is now downloading Left 4 Dead 2...1% Complete

[mgoblue]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Picked it up at lunch for 360...tonight's a gaming night, but with this, AC2, and MW2 we'll see what I end up playing more...

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

I picked this up. Peer pressure.

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Did you play the first one, SoMiss?

[sportsdude]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

EG, CB, dookie and anybody else on the 360 version I'll be online tonight to take care of the whole zombie apocalypse thing. Also I believe my friend, who you guys know as trucky, will be picking this up today as well.

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

I'm leaving work, if you can send me a friends request. Not sure if you're on my list or not.

[SoMiss2000]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Did you play the first one, SoMiss?

nope

[Brandwin]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

I'll be on in about 30 minutes. Is there anyway to have 8 friends in same room to play 4 on 4?

[goh]

Re: Left 4 Dead 2 (360/PC)

Is the teammate AI better or worse than the first? I heard worse. I was thinking of giving it a rent for the Carnival level though I hated the first game. It does still have level select right?