Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 is an upcoming cooperative first-person shooter game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation's award-winning Left 4 Dead. The game is currently set to launch on November 17, 2009, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360.^[1] It will build upon the cooperatively focused gameplay of the original and will be using Valve's proprietary Source engine, the same game engine used in Left 4 Dead. The game made its world premiere at E3 2009 with a trailer during the Microsoft press event.^[3]
Like the original, Left 4 Dead 2 is set during the aftermath of an apocalyptic pandemic, and focuses on four survivors fighting against hordes of the infected. The survivors must fight their way through levels, interspersed with safehouses that act as checkpoints, with the goal of reaching a rescue vehicle at the campaign's finale. The gameplay is procedurally altered by an artificial intelligence engine dubbed the "Director" that monitors the players' performance and alters the scenario to provide a dynamic challenge for the players as they progress. Several new features will be introduced, such as new types of infected, melee weapons, and a story-arc that connects each of the game's five campaigns together.^[4]
The game has attracted an unusually high volume of pre-release controversy. It has received a combination of positive, negative, critical, and community reactions. John Walker of UK-based gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun has theorized that this is due to higher expectations for Valve, due to the perception of its status as an industry leader.^[5] There also have been concerns about the game's graphic content, as seen from the alterations made to the cover art^[6] as well as the refusal of classification by the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification for the unmodified edition

Developer(s)	Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)	Valve Corporation
Distributor(s)	Steam (online) Electronic Arts (retail)
Designer(s)	Mike Booth
Writer(s)	Chet Faliszek
Composer(s)	Mike Morasky
Engine	Source
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	17 November 2009[1]
Genre(s)	First-person shooter Survival horror
Mode(s)	4-player Cooperative multiplayer, 4-vs-4 multiplayer, Single-player
Rating(s)	BBFC: 18+[2] CERO: Z ESRB: M OFLC: MA15+ PEGI: 18+ USK: 18+
Media	Digital download, DVD-R DL

Plot

Like Left 4 Dead, the sequel involves the aftermath of an apocalyptic pandemic. There has been an outbreak of a rabies-like pathogen that causes infected humans to behave like zombies. The four survivors have to fight their way through the hordes of infected, using safehouses along the way to rest and recover, in order to reach extraction points. Left 4 Dead 2 will be set in the Southern United States, starting in Savannah, Georgia and ending in New Orleans, Louisiana.^[3][4] The cast of Left 4 Dead has been replaced by 4 new survivors, whose backstory will again be provided through dialogue. Unlike the first game where there was no significant story development, Left 4 Dead 2 will feature a story arc.^[8] All the campaigns have been announced: "Dead Center" takes place in a shopping mall, "Dark Carnival" in a partially operating amusement park, "Swamp Fever" in a bayou, "Hard Rain" during a heavy downpour near a sugar mill, and "The Parish" in New Orleans.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2 is primarily a first-person shooter with a heavy emphasis on cooperative gameplay, with some cutscenes presented in the third-person or using pre-rendered movies. The game presents five new campaigns, larger in size than those of the first game. Each will be playable in the campaign, versus, survival and the new scavenge mode.^[9]
Left 4 Dead 2 retains the three game modes of the original game; campaign, versus, survival and adds a new game mode called scavenge. In campaign mode up to four human players fight against the computer controlled infected to make their way between safe houses and eventually to rescue. In versus mode up to four other human players take control of the various Special Infected who try to prevent the Survivors from reaching the next safe house. The two teams swap sides once per chapter and are scored based on their play through as Survivors, with the scoring based on factors such as health, distance traveled and the number of Survivors alive at the end. Survival mode is a timed challenge where the survivors are trapped in a section of the campaign maps, and try to survive as long as possible against an unending onslaught of infected. The fourth mode, new for Left 4 Dead 2, is called Scavenge. In the four-on-four mode, the survivor players are required to collect and use as many of the sixteen gas canisters scattered about a level to continue to power generators, extending the time in the round, while the infected players attempt to stop them, or at times, detonate the canisters themselves. New maps specific for this mode will be distributed with the game.^[10]
A "realism" mode was accidentally revealed during a media event, which Valve revealed in a later interview to be a difficulty modifier which removes the halos around teammates and items, making communication essential between players. Damage dealt to Infected is also changed, with headshots dealing more damage to enemies, rather than limb or body shots, making gameplay even more of a challenge.^[11] What level of damage is dealt to Survivors has yet to be revealed. Realism mode can be played on any difficulty.

Survivor characters

The survivors of Left 4 Dead 2, shown on the poster for the "Dead Center" chapter. Left to right: Coach, Ellis, Nick, Rochelle

 

Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of human survivors, which include Coach, a high-school football coach with a bad knee; Rochelle, a news reporter for a local television station; Ellis, a mechanic; and Nick, a gambler and conman.^[4] While the game is intended as a continuation of the original, occurring a week after the first game begins, Valve decided to create a new group of survivors because of the change in location.^[12] In addition to the four playable characters, Left 4 Dead 2 also features a support character in the form of Virgil, a Cajun boat captain, who appears in the game's later three chapters. This differs from the original game, where NPCs made little more than a single appearance.
Players will have access to more weapons, including new melee weapons such as frying pans and chainsaws,^[4] as well as new ranged weapons such as scoped assault rifles and silenced submachine guns. Furthermore, new ammunition types will be introduced, such as explosive or incendiary rounds.^[13] There are also new support items, including a defibrillator that can revive downed survivors, and an adrenaline shot that increases movement. The game also includes numerous new common infected.

Infected characters

Coach fighting an infected in a

Hazmat suit

The infected in Left 4 Dead 2 are largely unchanged from Left 4 Dead. While referred to as zombies, the infected are humans mutated by a virus of unknown origin. The most numerous infected encountered by the survivors are the "common infected", individually weak, but can swarm and overwhelm the survivors with large numbers. In Left 4 Dead 2, damage dealt to the infected will be portrayed more realistically, with bullets tearing off bits of flesh and in some cases, limbs.^[14] A new addition to Left 4 Dead 2 are the "uncommon infected" unique to each campaign. By virtue of equipment worn before infection or mutation, they possess an ability that separates them from the common infected. For example, in the Parish campaign the player will encounter infected wearing Hazmat suits and riot gear, making them almost impervious to fire and gunfire from the front, respectively.^[15] Also, in the campaign "Dark Carnival", there is a clown uncommon infected that summons a horde of zombies, similar to the boomer bile. However these hordes appear to be greatly reduced in size compared to the boomer bile hordes.
As in the first game, there are "special" or "boss" infected in addition to the common infected whose mutations grant them special attacks that make them much more dangerous. The presence of such infected nearby is hinted at by sound effects unique to each type, or with certain musical cues. The five special infected from the first game return in Left 4 Dead 2, some with modified behavior. They are: the Boomer, a bloated infected whose vomit and bile (which may be released at will and upon death) blinds the player briefly and attracts a horde of common infected; the Hunter, an agile infected that can pounce on survivors from great distances; the Smoker, an infected that can ensnare survivors with its long tongue from a distance and, upon death, releases a cloud of smoke that obscures vision; the Tank, a gigantic, muscular infected that is powerful and difficult to kill. It can knock players backwards, dealing massive damage, or attack from afar by throwing a lump of debris - it also has the ability to bash certain objects, such as cars and dumpsters, towards survivors, that will cause incapacitation on contact; the Witch, a passive female infected, who, when provoked by loud sounds, lights, or proximity of survivors, will attack her provoker - she is able to incapacitate or kill the provoker (depending on the difficulty setting) in one hit. If her victims survive, she will attempt to kill them if not killed herself.^[16] In Left 4 Dead 2, the Witch will wander around in daytime levels.
Several new Special Infected are being introduced in Left 4 Dead 2, all of which are playable in versus and the new Scavenger game mode. The Charger is an infected with a mutated, oversized arm, able to move quickly and knock players in its path off their feet. It can also grab players and smash them against the ground to deal major damage. The Spitter can project balls of mutated, acidic phlegm that splatter across an area, eroding the survivors' health as long as they remain within it. The Jockey can jump onto the back of a survivor and steer them towards other infected or terrain traps set by the Director.




CONTINUED PART II   OF left 4 dead 2