- 5 New Campaigns
- 4 New Survivors
- New Setting: New Orleans, Louisiana
- One campaign takes place in daylight.
- New Special Infected (one mentioned was The Charger)
- Melee Weapons (Axe, Chainsaw, Frying Pan, Baseball Bat, + more)
- AI Director 2.0 (weather effects, minor map changes based on your current status, + more)
- Anti-Corner camping methods (will explain below)
- New Weapons
- Incendiary Ammo (fire ammo; when shot at zombies it bursts them into flames; only 50 shots allotted per pickup)
- New Finale method (involves moving around more)
- New game mode (Valve will not say what it is)
- If limbs are shot off zombies, they can still function but will die faster.
- Witches now wander around (only in the daytime) and can be very dangerous if shot.
- + More
First of all, I was completely taken by surprise when I heard this news today. It was rumored about a week ago, but I didn't believe it at all. Turns out, the rumor was true. I think that it is great that they are releasing a lot of new content, but why does there have to be a new game so fast? The first Left 4 Dead hasn't even been out for a year yet. I'm not complaining, I just think Valve should've waited longer to announce this. But, It's coming out in November, so I'll pay the 50 bucks because it looks pretty awesome.
Let me go through the list and explain and give my thoughts. First, this game has 5 campaigns instead of 4, which is awesome, especially since one starts in the day time which is a change. No negative thoughts there. This game has 4 completely new survivors: Coach, a chubbyish Black man; Rochelle, a thin black woman; Ellis, a young mechanic; and Nick, a gambler and conman. Of course, when I talk about them, I'm sure you want to see what they look like so you should see the trailer they also released today: Trailer. The trailer is automatically stopped on a still frame of the characters. so that's convenient. This game takes place in New Orleans, Louisiana, and is after the events of Left 4 Dead 1, so the Infected are more mutated.
They also have shown a new special infected called "The Charger" (as you have may have seen in the trailer). What he does is he charges at teammates knocking them over. He will often take advantage of a teammate and keep slamming him on the ground until something is done about it. Melee weapons have also been introduced into this game. These weapons include a chainsaw, which is awesome; an axe, which is cool; baseball bat, which is okay; and a frying pan, which is kind of dumb in my opinion, but still okay.
The AI Director 2.0 is much better than before. If your team is doing bad, the AI Director will partly change the map layout to make it easier. On the contrary, if you are doing good, the AI Director will make things much harder. He will also add weather effects which are supposed to make gameplay much more exciting and challenging. In the podcast featuring Chet Faliszek, he mentions it's supposed to be like the corn field in Blood Harvest, where you can't really see around you because of the fog or rain. If you have played Left 4 Dead 1, you know that for Panic Events, traditionally everyone will call the event and then go camp in a corner somewhere and fight off the zombies. In this game, Valve wants to make it more action packed by having it where you have to call the panic a event by hitting something like usual, and then you have to hit another switch farther away to stop the flow of zombies. So it's pretty much when you hit the first switch, zombies keep coming forever until you hit the second switch, which is presumably farther away.
If you have watched the gameplay videos from IGN, you will see some new weapons. The one you primarily see in the videos is some kind of mini-uzi with a silencer on it. Other guns you see are the pistols. From the look of the video, it looks like you can hold two different pistols at once. One looked like a glock and the other was was kind of like the old pistol. This game also introduces Incendiary ammo, which is basically fire ammo. You can pick it up just like regular ammo, but you only get 50 fire shots before it's gone. In my opinion, it's kind of weird how when you shoot the bullets it automatically sets the zombies on fire, but it's still cool. If I were them I would make the fire ammo burn a part of their body to make it more realistic and cool.
Just like the Panic Events, the Finales will make you move around more. There is talk of a finale where you have to travel across a bridge to get to the escape vehicle, but the bridge is falling apart and there are zombies everywhere. I'm assuming that you have to hold out on parts of the bridge at times, and then start moving when things aren't so intense, which should be really fun. Valve also has talk of a new game mode they are adding to Left 4 Dead 2, but they aren't mentioning what it is just yet. In the day time campaign, the Witches wander around so they pose much more of a threat if you accidentally shoot her. Also, zombies can still survive without limbs but will die faster.
Finally, there is talk of adding the 4 campaigns from Left 4 Dead 1 to Left 4 Dead 2. They are also making any maps made for Left 4 Dead 1 compatible with Left 4 Dead 2. They will still continue to update Left 4 Dead 1, and are planning to release the new matchmaking system after E3.
Yeah, that was long, but that's all I have to say about Left 4 Dead 2 for now. Thanks for reading.
Sources:
- IGN: Left 4 Dead 2 Article
- IGN: Left 4 Dead 2 Gameplay Videos
- Left 4 Dead 2 HD Trailer
- Left 4 Dead 2 Podcast
Screenshots:
