Coach, Rochelle, Nick, and Ellis…get used to those names, you’re going to hear them a lot soon. Left 4 Dead 2 will arrive about a year after is predecessor in (un)typical Valve fashion (but we’ll get to that later).
First the Good: If you’ve played the first game, you will feel right at home here. Safehouses, Molotovs, etc…it’s all here. You also get an assortment of new weaponry. The incendiary ammunition is a nice touch and adds a new flare to the regular weapon cache, which remains widely unchanged.
You do however get access to new melee weapons. The frying pan, axe, and chainsaw are all nice additions. Finally I can feel safe even when I don’t have a gun in my hand! These new melee weapons come with a new “blood splatter on screen” effect when you start dissecting zombies.
There was only one new scenario shown. Titled “The Parish,” you take on zombies in a New Orleans setting, complete with daylight. It felt weird playing a L4D scenario in the daytime, but it gave the game a “Dawn of the Dead/Dead Rising” feel. One thing that it didn’t do, however, was detract from my zombie blasting enjoyment.
No doubt you’ve probably heard that there is somewhat of a backlash over the game. Over 16,000 steam members are boycotting the game. The reasons are many, but they ultimately boil down to something that I completely agree with.
Even though I have had countless hours of fun with it, at $60, L4D was a hard sell in the value department. With only 4 scenarios and only 2 in versus mode, I couldn’t help but feel like I was getting less for more. Well, here we are less than a year later and it seems like valve is set to do the same thing again, which is totally unlike them.
Team Fortress II, a game that was released over 2 years ago, has received a steady stream of content updates. While it is certainly Valve’s decision to support (or not support) a game, it just seems a little inconsistent.
At any rate, you will be able to start blasting zombies again on November 17th, 2009.
