Around the end of 2008, my friend introduced me to Left 4 Dead. It was the best zombie video game I have ever played in my entire life. There were four solemn characters who I could pick between, beautiful maps to play on, sweet guns, and best of all, an abundance of zombies. A year later, Left 4 Dead 2 was released, and I picked it up on the first day. I started off with campaign, learning the new maps and characters and even seeing some new super zombies who were scary as hell. Then I moved on to the multiplayer stage, which was absolutely perfect.
I have to admit that even though playing by myself is fun, playing with other people is even better. This experience had so much more to offer than the first time. I don’t know why anybody in their right mind wouldn’t pick this up without any hesitation. To all the people who love zombies, if you had to choose between Left 4 Dead 1 or Left 4 Dead 2, I would highly recommend Left 4 Dead 2 because of the depth of the characters, the variety of weapons, and a better and more fun competitive multiplayer mode.
To start off, these characters in Left 4 Dead 2 are a lot more relatable and each have a story that you, the gamer, can understand. The game introduces four survivors, three men and one woman, in Savannah, Georgia, where they meet on top of a hotel which was on fire and about to collapse. At first, these characters started bagging on one another and calling each other ridiculous nicknames, since they’re strangers. Later on, as you keep progressing through, you start to know and understand these characters as they grow and how they relate to each other.
Most people I showed this to personally connected with at least one of the characters, and that made Left 4 Dead 2 so much more intense because of the determination to keep that survivor alive. If you played the first game, every character in it was way too serious and they hardly ever cracked any jokes during their time in the zombie apocalypse. At least in second one you’ll get a laugh every time you play a different chapter. In the second, one of the three characters is a young southern mechanic who personally loves being in the zombie apocalypse.
Just seeing and hearing the dialogue between the new survivors makes the second game that much more amusing and willing to purchase. On top of that, if you thought the weapons in the first were great, just wait until you get your hands on these new and improved weapons. You go from your old boring pump action shotgun to a badass semi automatic that shreds anything that stands in its way. In Left 4 Dead 2, the developers added 2 heavy weapons which you pick up randomly throughout the game to use against the infected.
One is a light machine gun and another is a grenade launcher. These are kind of rare sightings but once you find one, grab those bad boys up. Left 4 Dead 2 also introduces something new, and that is the melee weapons. Instead of using those two weak pistols you get, picking up a melee weapon is a lot more satisfying. Just hearing the sound between a sharp axe and a zombie’s head will be like music to your ears, and not bad to witness either. There are many melee weapons to find and use throughout the game like baseball bats, machetes, swords, hell even a frying pan!
This game has so much to offer you just can’t get enough of it. You wanted more, this game gives you more. Last but not least, the most important factor in the Left 4 Dead series is the multiplayer mode. This is by far the main reason why you should go to your local gamestop and purchase it. It’s even more fun when you play with your buddies in a four versus four, survivors versus the infected showdown. What makes this different from story mode is that you can actually play as the special zombies you encounter in the game.
What’s different from this versus mode and the first game’s versus mode is that it introduces three new special infected. There’s a spitter who spits acid and prevents you from moving anywhere, a jockey who rides you, drawing you away from the group, and my personal favorite, the charger who as in the name itself, charges at you and your team and smashes you into the ground. This makes the multiplayer system a lot more challenging and will require more serious teamwork from both the survivors and infected.
There’s not only versus, but there’s also a survival mode where the game tests you on how long you can last against a horde of zombies. You can play with your buddies or play with random people and maybe make new friends online. Though Left 4 Dead 2 is basically the same concept as Left 4 Dead 1, there is so much more to offer and experience in this than you could ever do in the other. If you play both the first and the second Left 4 Dead, you would agree that the characters, the weapons and the advanced multiplayer system are far superior in the second game than in the first.
Any entertainment media company will tell you to buy Left 4 Dead 2. All the reviews are between the ratings of 8 and 10. It even got the “Game of the Year” award. That should tell you something. You know what’s even better about it? You can actually purchase the content from the first game and play it in the the second. Who dosen’t like two games in one? It’s absolutely amazing. So what are you waiting for? Get off your butt and go purchase Left 4 Dead 2; it’s the best zombie survival game on the planet today, no question.
