E3 09: Left 4 Dead 2

One of the big surprises of E3 this year was the announcement of Left 4 Dead 2, coming November 17th from the folks at Valve. Not that anyone was terribly surprised to see a sequel, I just think we weren't expecting to see it so soon. I strolled in to the Valve meeting room and was greeted with an almost pitch black room lit with the glow of eight monitors, four for PC and four for Xbox 360. Being a bit of an idiot when it comes to controlling things on a PC I took a seat at one of the Xbox stations and settled in for a bit of zombie slaying.

Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of four characters: Ellis, Nick, Rochelle and Coach. Sadly, the everything hating Francis was no where in sight. While Francis and crew traversed the North East, this new crew of survivors begins in Savannah Georgia and travels through the South. The campaign I checked out was "The Parish" and took place in that jewel of the South, New Orleans. Having lived quite a few years in The Big Easy, it was cool too see the French Quarter and surrounding areas rendered in the game. Clearly they took some liberties with the layout of things for the purposes of the game, but the architecture and details of the buildings made it unmistakably New Orleans.

The big difference I noticed right away was that the zombies are no longer relegated to swarming at night. Several of the five new campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2 take place during the day, providing an entirely new atmosphere and way to play. Sticking to the shadows just doesn't suffice this time around and I even saw a Witch, usually sobbing in the corner in the original game, taking a stroll in search of victims. Something about horror themes taking place during the comfort of daylight always makes them seem a bit scarier to me, letting you know you aren't safe anywhere.

The core gameplay has remained the same, but there have been some changes as far as content. New enemies have been added including The Charger who rushes you from far away with a speed that is truly frightening. There are also a slew new weapons and ammo including the addition of melee weapons like axes and of course, chainsaws. Also new is the ability to inflict location damage on your enemies. Taking out their legs leaves you with a crawling corpse that you must take out on the ground. Taking down swarming enemies has also been made easier with the new incendiary ammo that sends the hordes of walking dead up in flames. The scenarios are all new and the five campaigns are more closely related to one another, providing a more cohesive storyline.

Is Left 4 Dead 2 just more of the same? Sure it is, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. For my part, the original left me wanting more and L4D2 provides it in spades with the new cast and new scenarios and weapons keeping it interesting. I do however mourn the loss of Francis. Somehow, looking down at those big tattooed arms always made me feel safe. I guess I'll have to move on and find another character to take his place, but a boy always remembers his first time with Francis.