Introduction

Taking place a week after the events of the original, Left 4 Dead 2 continues to paint a picture of the aftermath of an outbreak of a strain of infection that causes the majority of the population to turn feral or even to grotesquely mutate. Those that are immune to the pathogen are also carriers, so while they are able to spread the disease, it is important they are rescued so that a cure may be found. The Civil Emergency and Defense Agency has taken steps to evacuate the uninfected populace, but it would seem they didn’t do a very good job, which led to the military stepping in and adopting a “shoot first” policy of prevention.

Just a year after the huge success of L4D, Valve has come up with the sequel in the face of outcries, attempted boycotts, and other controversies. Some fans of the original believed it to be too soon, and that a second game in the series would cause a rift in the community or even detract from post-release support of the first. Others felt they shouldn’t have to pay for the new content and wanted to see it released as free DLC. Is it really a worthy sequel? Keep reading and find out!

The basics of gameplay are virtually unchanged from Left 4 Dead, but there is a whole ton of extra stuff thrown in to breathe new life into the formula. Fresh items, weapons, and infected add a lot of variety, while Valve took many steps to ensure the same old camp-in-the-corner strategy isn’t used all the time. For instance, the large majority of crescendo events now require you move from point A to point B while fighting the horde, rather than holding out until they stop coming. On top of that, you can only perform a melee-shove a few times in a row before a cool-down timer comes into effect, preventing you from pushing infected away indefinitely.