Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Masterpiece"

Game: Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: First Person Shooter Horror
Developer: Valve
System: PC
Total Score: 88/100
Value Score:8.8 /10

• Story: 7/10
o Pretty much the same as Left 4 Dead 1 where you play as 4 survivors who are trying to survive in a world inhabited by zombies, along the way they meet several characters who help and betray them.

• Characters: 8/10
o You have an option of playing one of four characters: Nick a escaped Con Artist, Coach who is a sports coach from either a university/college, Ellis who is a mechanic, and Rochelle who was a low level associate of a news station. Other than that, there arent that many characters in L4D2 unless you count the endless number of zombies and the special infected such as Tanks, Spitters, hunters, etc. Although in what they lack of quantity, the game more than likely replaces in the aspect of quality as each character even the zombies/special infected are well detailed and have a deep storyline behind each of their own origins and how they came to be. Players will enjoy the constant bickering between the characters and against their enemies. Along with that returning players from Left 4 Dead 1 will be happy to see cameo appearances of their favorite characters.

• GamePlay: 10/10
o You can choose to play up to 4 different characters, Nick, Coach, Ellis and Rochelle. The characters are pretty similar as the developer wanted everyone to play in a equal level at the same time. Pretty much all you are doing in campaign mode is you have to survive until you get to one safe house to another whether it is in the streets, swamps, forest, etc. Along the way you will encounter all sorts of zombies, special infected and obstructions which will usually call for the latter to appear. Throughout the stages you will come across several weapons, ammo, and health kits. The regular infected will usually mob upon you and beat up the characters in a brawl , while the special infected have various ways to take you out. There are other several modes in the game as well such as Survival where the game will put you in a challenge for 10 minutes to survive in a small area, you also have versus mode where you can play as the zombies against the human players. Along with that, due to a recent patch/update, you can now play L4D1 characters and stages as well.

• Graphics: 8/10
o If you played a Valve game such as Counter Strike or Team Fortress 2, than you will be familiar with the design of this game. It looks a bit more cleaner than what you would see in those earlier games and bit more realistic, but its pretty much the same. Nothing so special about it and you probably wont notice much unless you got a really good CPU and graphics card. Although even with a weak CPU/GPU, you will still be amazed at the effects and animation of the characters, enemies and the objects that usually move around.

• Sound: 10/10
o Some of the sound effects in this game were recycled from older Valve games, but that shouldnt bother anyone especially with the voice over content that is available for the characters, different situations and different areas usually make characters interact with each other in different ways and different moods, its pretty entertaining by itself to hear characters bickering over each other, and its funny as well when you hear some of the enemies as well. Voices for both enemies and characters alike make this perfect despite the existence of recycled sound effects.

• Music: 5/10
o Just like Resident Evil and pretty much any FPS game, the music is something you probably wont even notice however there are moments where there are some eerie tunes you will hear, usually around quiet areas, but when a special infect is nearby, however there is usually a unique tune and sometimes music such as when a Tank or a Witch is around, the hordes also have their own theme song.

• Length: 10/10
o Decent campaign, you have more than 5 campaigns with about 3-4 areas in between them, you might have to do a few tries especially in harder modes to get through the game, it'll take a few hours to get through especially if you are playing with a random team or with AI controlled characters. No more than 10 hours should be spent on finishing the campaign mode though. In Left 4 Dead 2's recent update and patch you will have access to L4D1 maps and campaigns along with that a special beta map.

• Replay Value: 10/10
o Alot of replay value in this game, you can not only go back older levels and play as any character, but you also have a array of options to play, play campaign mode in more difficult modes, play survival mode, play versus mode, play scavenger mode, you can even play online against random players or with people you usually play with as well. Along with that you have access to several mods for the PC version

• Player Value: 10/10
o Overall one of the best games ever made, and pretty much evolved the zombie genre to a point towards even making Resident Evil run for its money when it comes down to zombie genre games. Left 4 Dead 2 will leave you with excitement and suspense which you will more than likely be talking about for a long time, along with that the fact its a Steam game and from valve, expect it to have alot of PC content exclusives such as Achievements, constant upgrades and unofficial mods. To make it better, Left 4 Dead 1 comes packed with this game as well when you purchase it!