[Review] Left 4 Dead 2

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Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooting video game developed and published by Valve Corporation. The sequel to turtle Rock Studios' s Left 4 Dead, the game was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2009, and for OS X in October 2010, and for Linux in July 2013. [1] [2]

Left 4 Dead 2 is based on a gameplay focused on cooperation and Valve's patented Source engine, the same game engine used in the original Left 4 Dead. Set after an apocalyptic pandemic, Left 4 Dead 2 focuses on four new survivors, who fight hordes of zombies, known as those infected, who develop severe psychosis and act extremely aggressively. Survivors must make their way through five campaigns, interspersed with safe houses that act as control points, with the aim of escaping at the end of each campaign. "AI" disrupts the game process. Director 2.0 ", which monitors player performance and adjusts the stage to provide a dynamic challenge. Other new features include new types of special infected and an arsenal of melee weapons. [ 3]

The game premiered worldwide at E3 2009 with a preview during the Microsoft press event. [4] Prior to launch, he received a combination of positive and negative critical and community reactions. It attracted an unusually high volume of pre-launch controversy over the game's graphic content. In response, changes were made to the cover [5] and both Australia and Germany refused to rate the unmodified edition at the time of release. [6] After the release, however, the game received positive reviews from critics.

Playability
Like its predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2 is a first-person shooter with a strong emphasis on the cooperative game. The game features five new campaigns, each consisting of three to five smaller levels. As in the first game, each campaign is presented in menus and loading screens as a movie starring the four Survivors; and presents, when completing a campaign, a fake credits screen that acts as the final score for the players and recapitulates certain performance statistics for the group. In each campaign, most levels involve Survivors who try to reach a safe area and close the door once everyone is safe inside. However, the final level in each campaign requires the Survivors to ask for rescue and survive a prolonged onslaught until the rescue arrives, go through an especially challenging Infected Glove to reach an escape vehicle, or (in Dead Center and The Passing ) collect and use cans of fuel to allow their escape.

Each Survivor can carry one of five categories of equipment: primary weapons, secondary weapons, throwable weapons, major medical supplies (which also includes ammunition upgrades) and minor medical supplies. Primary weapons are divided into four levels according to their availability and attributes. [9] Level one weapons (such as SMG and Chrome Shotgun) deal relatively slow damage and serve as basic offensive weapons. Level two weapons (such as the assault rifle and combat shotgun) deal damage faster and often appear on subsequent maps of each chapter. The two level three weapons (Grenade launcher and M60) differ from level one and two weapons, both because of their rarity and because players cannot fill their ammunition from ammunition depots. They deal damage quickly at the expense of limited ammunition. Level four weapons are mounted weapon systems and carry unlimited ammunition. Mounted weapons deal damage faster, but at the cost of overheating after a period of continuous use. The mounted weapons are in established positions on the maps and have a fixed fire arc. They cannot be given ammo upgrades like other weapons and players cannot use the laser sight attachment with them. There are three types of secondary weapons available: melee weapons, small caliber guns (which can be double-handled) and large caliber guns. Although melee weapons cause additional damage to those infected when they are struck, Survivors can use any other weapon or object for weaker melee attacks that can push back those infected. The players also carry a flashlight with an infinite battery life, whose use allows players to see in the dark (with the disadvantage that the player catches the attention of the infected much faster). They may also carry a single first aid kit, special ammo pack or a defibrillator in their main medical supply slot; in addition to pain pills or an adrenaline shot in your slot for minor medical supplies. They can also carry a single throwing weapon: Molotov cocktails to burn an area; pipe pumps to attract any infected near the flashing light and the sound it makes until it explodes; [10] and bottles of bile Boomer, which attracts the common infected to what it strikes (for example, fires, special infected, each other). [eleven]

To allow situational awareness of other survivors, players are shown the health and condition of their fellow survivors. If a player has no direct view of another Survivor (for example, a wall is blocking his view of others), the highlighted silhouette of the Survivor will be shown. Survivors are also susceptible to friendly fire, forcing players to exercise caution when firing or balancing their weapons. [12] As survivors take damage, they move more slowly; If a Survivor's health falls to zero, they are disabled and allowed to fight the Infected with a gun until they are rescued by another Survivor. If a Survivor dies, he remains dead to the next level, unless revived by a defibrillator or, in Campaign or A player mode, reappears in a "Rescue Wardrobe" to be released by other Survivors. [13] If all Survivors die or become incapacitated, the game will end, at which time players can restart that chapter or leave the game.

Game modes
Left 4 Dead 2 includes 5 normal game modes:

Campaign: Up to four human players fight against the infected to go through the stages of the campaign; Any Survivor not controlled by a human player is controlled by the computer.
A single player mode allows players to play without the intrusion of human players, through the stages of the campaign with three computer-controlled surviving allies.
Versus: Up to four other human players take control of several Special Infected to try to prevent Survivors from completing a stage. Specially infected are randomly assigned to infected players; They cannot control the witch or any common infected. Occasionally, as determined by the AI Director, certain players will become the Tank. The two teams exchange sides once per stage and are scored based on their progress on the stage as Survivors. If both teams arrive in the safest room with the four Survivors, a tiebreak of 25 points is awarded to the team that caused the most combined damage as Special Infected.
Survival: a timed challenge in which the Survivors get caught in a section of the campaign maps and try to survive as long as possible against an endless attack of Infected.
Scavenge: a new 4 vs. 4 mode that requires Surviving players to collect and use as many fuel cans scattered across a level to fill a power generator, while infected players try to stop them. [14]
Left 4 Dead 2 also has a Realism mode, which can be enabled on any difficulty for Campaign or Versus. This mode removes some aspects of the game from the game: survivors cannot see the silhouettes of others, and dead teammates can only be revived with defibrillators and will not reappear later in the level. [15] Weapons and other items will only shine when the player is a few feet away, which will force players to search for more in-depth levels. Head shots at enemies deal more damage, while limbs or body shots require more shots. [citation needed] In addition, the enemy Witch can kill any Survivor who would normally have disabled (in difficulties that are not Easy). Designed to force players to work together and rely on voice communication, Valve created Realism mode to give players a way to "be challenged as a team" without increasing the difficulty level of the game. [fifteen]

Finally, in later versions of the game, there is a Mutation option, in which players can select from a menu of 30 variations, some individual players, some multiple players (and some of the latter cooperatives, some versus or both). Each variation changes one or more main dynamics of the game, such as: constantly running out of health, individual mode without Survivor allies, death due to disability, only one type of weapon available, cooperative that then changes to restrictions of confrontation, shooting or aiming, a type of enemy with greater power, greater number of special infected, etc. One of these modes, called GunBrain, is a weapon statistics analyzer.

The infected
Although they are also known as zombies, those infected are humans who have contracted a mutated strain of an infection, although neither the source nor the nature of this "green flu" is clarified in the games. The most numerous infected found by survivors are the common infected. Although individually weak, they can swarm and overwhelm the Survivors, especially when they are separated from their teammates. The damage to those infected in Left 4 Dead 2 is portrayed more realistically, with bullets and melee weapons that tear pieces of meat and, in some cases, limbs. [16] A new addition to Left 4 Dead 2 is the infrequent infected exclusive to each campaign. Because of the location and equipment used before infection, they possess abilities that separate them from the common infected. For example, the Dead Center campaign introduces infected CEDA agents in hazardous material suits, making them fireproof; [17] Dark Carnival includes clowns, whose squeaky shoes attract small hordes of common infected; [18] and La Parroquia includes infected private security contractors in riot gear, making them bulletproof from the front. [19] [20]

As in the first game, there are special Infected whose mutations give them special abilities that make them highly dangerous, acting as bosses. The presence of such Infected by is implied by sound effects or exclusive musical signals of each type. The five Special Infected from the first game return in Left 4 Dead 2, some with modified behavior and mask models:

The Boomer: an extremely swollen infected who vomits bile. Bile attracts a horde of common infected in contact with survivors and also momentarily blinds them. [21] When they die, they explode and can also spray bile on nearby survivors.
The hunter: an agile infected man who can attack and incapacitate survivors from great distances, tearing them apart until the survivor dies or another survivor pushes him and kills him.
The smoker: an infected man with a long tongue that he uses to catch survivors from a distance, choking them continuously. When he dies, he releases a cloud of smoke that can obscure the vision of the survivors and cause them to cough, in case they come into direct contact with the smoke. [2. 3]
The Tank: a gigantic and extremely muscular infected man with the strength to hit the Survivors at a distance, as well as to throw cars and concrete slabs. [24] Unless the Survivors work as a team, they will be quickly incapacitated or even killed by the inhuman force of the Tank. [25]
The witch: an infected woman who cries and who, when caused by damage, loud sounds, light or proximity to the survivors, will attack the provocateur and any other survivors after their provocateur has died. She can incapacitate or even kill a Survivor in one fell swoop. [26] Left 4 Dead 2 presents a variant of the Witch that wanders aimlessly. [3] [26]
Left 4 Dead 2 also presents three new special infected:

The loader: an infected man with a huge right arm, [27] and can charge against the survivors, capturing and carrying a survivor away from the others, sending anyone else on their way to the side after a capture and stunning The survivors hit them. An obstacle in a load. He can then hit his Survivor captured on the ground, causing the Survivor to be helpless until one of his teammates helps them by killing the loader or stunning him with fragmentary rounds. [28] [29]
The Spitter: an infected woman who spits stomach acid balls that dot an area, quickly eroding the health of the survivors while remaining inside her. She also leaves a puddle of goo when she dies. The longer a player wanders in the goo, the faster his health falls. [30] [31]
The Jockey: An infected man who jumps on the back of a survivor and directs him to other infected or environmental hazards (for example, Spitter goo), while scratching the player's head until the player is incapacitated, killed or expelled.