Post E3: Left 4 Dead 2 Hands-on

It’s no secret that I am a HUGE fan of ‘Left 4 Dead‘ and I was absolutely thrilled when the announcement of ‘Left 4 Dead 2‘ was made during Microsoft’s E3 Press Briefing. Sadly, there are a couple thousand people who don’t feel the same way and have vowed not to buy the sequel only a year after the original came out. For the record, I’m starting to think the original’s Francis is responsible for this “I hate the sequel” movement.

But that isn’t why you are here, you want to know if this title will be worth your hard earned money when it hits retail shelves on November 17th. In the simplest form, yes it is. While the sequel does not venture too far from the original in that you are still a group of four fighting your way through the seemingly endless zombie horde on a path from safe-house to safe-house.  It does offer new challenges as well as new tools to help get you safely to your escape.  One of the first things people noticed was that the campaign shown (The Parish) takes place during the daylight hours. The person from Valve we spoke was hesitant to mention exactly how many of the five stories would take place during the day but we venture to guess that it is more than one. While fighting during the day the zombies are able to see you easier and the Witch doesn’t just sit there awaiting your shotgun shells, this time she roams around blindly while her hands cover her face.  In addition to the regular and special infected we all have grown to love we will be seeing some “uncommon” infected and the brand new Charger which is sure to be the thorn in our sides during versus play.

These uncommon infected are donning protective gear allowing them to pass through fire unharmed which means the days of tossing a molotov or igniting a gas can and just sitting back waiting for the horde waves to stop are gone. The Charger on the other hand, as the name implies, is a very strong and fast moving special infected that can knock down the survivors making it easier for the horde or other specials to make their move and attack. On top of the charging move the Charger can also pick up a fallen survivor, by the head, and slam them repeatedly into the ground until the Charger or survivor is dead. As previously noted the Charger is playable during versus and when asked, the Valve employee said they are deciding whether to make the Witch a versus option during the daylight maps.  Another interesting change that we experienced was an almost reverse crescendo event. Rather than triggering something that then alerts the horde you must progress and deactivate something that keeps getting their attention. On the part we played the zombies kept coming until we were able to make our way to a switch to stop the alarm that was sounding. There was no word on whether that’s how they all the stages are but a nice combination of the two is sure to keep the games interesting.

You will also have some new options when it comes to taking on all the zombies in the form of melee weapons. You’ll be able to pick up an axe, chainsaw or even a frying pan if you so desire. Of course all the weapons we have gotten used to are still there even though they have been completely redesigned. Just like in the original you start with a pistol and a choice between a pump shotgun and a sub-machine gun with the chance to find the “good” weapons while progressing through the story. We’re all used to the ammo refills found throughout the levels but now there are similar looking ones that give you a select amount of incendiary ammo (for the shotgun it was ten) allowing you to cause additional damage while lighting your enemies on fire.

The game, at its core, is the same thing everybody loves so don’t go expecting too much of a difference when/if you pick it up in November. If you feel cheated by them already releasing a sequel or just aren’t ready to say goodbye to Louis, Francis, Zoey and Bill there is good news for you as well. Valve has stated they are dedicated to bringing more content to the original ‘Left 4 Dead’ like they have for so many of their other games.

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What do you all think of the sequel coming this soon? Excited, upset or still unsure? Also, feel free to ask any questions in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer them the best that I can. I’m sure there’s something I forgot to mention from the long discussion we had with Valve on the showfloor.