Left 4 Dead 2

[DaFox]

Obviously it looks like no one has been able to stop playing long enough to make a topic about it.

Its fraking awesome.

[The_cranky_hermit]

I wasn't impressed by the demo. I doubt I'll buy it any time soon, even if it has one of those crazy 40% off sales like the first one did.

[Soduka]

Meh. I thought L4D was unremarkable and rather bland, will not buy the second.

[GeneralAdmission]

I've had a lot of fun with L4D over the past year. The L4D2 demo has been fun and I'll be picking up the game when the price dips below $30.

That said, I will admit to a little disappointment about a full-priced sequel. So far L4D2 speaks to me loud as a should-be standalone expansion. Several 'new' weapons aren't new at all--just new models. New characters...aside from new, witty one-liners these mean nothing to gameplay/story as they have no unique traits and there is no overall story. New infected actually seem a little easier in combat than the originals. New campaigns/settings are nice, but the community has been cranking out quality, full-fledged campaigns for some time now so my mind automatically measures cost vs. content. Melee is a nice addition to combat, but it's about as simple an implementation as you can get. How about a riot shield with a riot stick? Defensive blockade, anyone?

In the end I'll buy it (for the right price) and enjoy it, but I think Valve saw a cash-cow opportunity and jumped on it.

[packerfan]

I sorta echo GA's thoughts, L4D was fun, L4D2 seemed like what 1 should have been and more enjoyable on a overall experience if i factored in more maps like the original

Will likewise probably buy at 25ish area.

[g00seberry]

I got bored with L4D, and L4D2 is no different at all. I only played the demo for about half an hour, yet felt that was more than enough.

New skins - adds nothing to gameplay
New weapons - great, but very moddy and i found myself using the original weapons in the demo.
Melee weapons - awful, hitting them with a frying pan is just dismal.
New campaigns/maps - again, no better than the hundreds flying around for L4D
New infected - I pretty much hate every single new special infected.

It's the same game again, which isn't enough for me.

If there are some actual new gameplay mechanics that the demo didn't show, then I'd like to hear about them.

[DaFox]

I wasn't impressed by the demo. I doubt I'll buy it any time soon, even if it has one of those crazy 40% off sales like the first one did.

Yeah the demo is probably the worst possible level that they could have shown off. I fully agree.

I've had a lot of fun with L4D over the past year. The L4D2 demo has been fun and I'll be picking up the game when the price dips below $30.

That said, I will admit to a little disappointment about a full-priced sequel. So far L4D2 speaks to me loud as a should-be standalone expansion. Several 'new' weapons aren't new at all--just new models. New characters...aside from new, witty one-liners these mean nothing to gameplay/story as they have no unique traits and there is no overall story. New infected actually seem a little easier in combat than the originals. New campaigns/settings are nice, but the community has been cranking out quality, full-fledged campaigns for some time now so my mind automatically measures cost vs. content. Melee is a nice addition to combat, but it's about as simple an implementation as you can get. How about a riot shield with a riot stick? Defensive blockade, anyone?

In the end I'll buy it (for the right price) and enjoy it, but I think Valve saw a cash-cow opportunity and jumped on it.

There is a MUCH bigger story to this game, It's starting to get real good story wise. Every campaign in L4D2 directly connects to the next one I.E. at the end of the first campaign you escape in a race car, the start of the second campaign you have to abandon the race car on the highway because of all the abandon cars in the way. And just over all we are really starting to get a better idea of what happened to this world. I do miss the old characters but I am really enjoying the new ones too and its great to see another perspective on the story of this world.

And yes there's a number of 'new' weapons that are just tweaks to other versions of them. Like the pump shotty and the chrome shotgun, I cant even tell a difference between them two, one does slightly more damage and fires slightly slower or something but its all minuscule.

The new campaigns are gorgeous. Honestly, its actually amazing how good they look, its an INSANE visual step up from L4D1.
This is a screenshot that i go back to time and time again, it has honestly some of the best foliage in any game in my opinion.


Melee is actually really great and it actually presents a very good choice, that pistol can be very valuable if your teammate gets smoked backwards or something its easier to just sit and shoot than it is to chase him back with your axe. But at the same time the axe is amazing if you get swarmed by common infected.


Now that being said yeah L4D2 kind of shows how unpolished, unfinished the original L4D was. Honestly not much has changed in the end, but its still an insane step up in every possible direction from the first game.

[yogibbear]

Well me and every other aussie are screwed...

Grrr...

Guess i'm importing in a few months...

[GeneralAdmission]

There is a MUCH bigger story to this game, It's starting to get real good story wise.

So does that mean there is more than simply linking one campaign to the next? Like an overall plot with unified storyline? Is the endgame more than just 'you survived campaign X' yet again? (not asking for spoilers)

How about adding non-hostile NPCs? Where are police/army forces that can occasionally assist you? How about a whole campaign designed around rescuing helpless uninfected? Where is the 'Find the Cure' campaign? I realize certain campaign designs would be entirely unbalanced for Versus mode, but why should that hinder a talented dev team unless they just have no interest in evolving the game? Personally I'd rather have some unique campaign design rather than the exact same gameplay in every 5-map sequence.

The new campaigns are gorgeous. Honestly, its actually amazing how good they look, its an INSANE visual step up from L4D1.
This is a screenshot that i go back to time and time again, it has honestly some of the best foliage in any game in my opinion.

Yes that does look good, but the biggest things I notice are sunlight and a brighter color palette. Exactly zero of the original L4D maps featured broad daylight, and I think some of the forest scenes would look just as good as that L4D2 screenshot if they did. Either way, I'm by no means a graphics whore. I think I clocked 4+ years on a Ti4200 before an upgrade. ;)

Melee is actually really great ... the axe is amazing if you get swarmed by common infected.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the melee weapons, I'm just disappointed at the absolute minimal implementation of them. How about weapons with unique combat properties? Wouldn't a riot shield be sweet indoors? 1 or two survivors could crouch and defend the whole group while the others rain gunfire from behind. Maybe a survivor with a shield and >75% health could stop a Charger in his tracks?

That's another thing, the SI could use a bump in power, IMO. Honestly, the only SI that makes me slightly nervous is the Tank, because he's the only one with a good chance of taking out an entire team. I think they should all strike "Holy Sh**!!" terror in gamers when they show up. Instead they just require a dodge and a few extra bullets. (And is it me or did Valve nerf the Witch?)

Honestly not much has changed in the end, but its still an insane step up in every possible direction from the first game.

OK, NOT trying to be an ass, but isn't that a contradiction? Personally I haven't seen what I would call major new developments. L4D2 does offer something new, just not $50 new IMO. If the game had launched @ $30, I probably wouldn't have bothered posting to this thread. I guess I just see a ton of untapped potential, and add the fact that Valve committed to content updates to L4D1 that ended up being paid content in a full sequel...it just leaves me a little let down.

[Mythiasis]

I got bored with L4D, and L4D2 is no different at all. I only played the demo for about half an hour, yet felt that was more than enough.

New skins - adds nothing to gameplay
New weapons - great, but very moddy and i found myself using the original weapons in the demo.
Melee weapons - awful, hitting them with a frying pan is just dismal.
New campaigns/maps - again, no better than the hundreds flying around for L4D
New infected - I pretty much hate every single new special infected.

It's the same game again, which isn't enough for me.

If there are some actual new gameplay mechanics that the demo didn't show, then I'd like to hear about them.

There are some more interactive mechnics in some of the stages. For instances, the usual spots where you have to set off an alarm or something to continue through the stage thereby causing a horde to come rushing at you - now the alarm and the horde do not stop coming until you can get further through the stage to a point to turn the alarm off. This happens way to much and makes the game difficult in single player as the NPCs still do some stupid things rather than keep up with you.

Some of the campaigns have more interactive endings, which I do enjoy. Like collecting enough gas cans to put in the stock car inside the mall before you can speed away to safety.

Overall, I agree that there just isn't enough to new content to make it feel like a new game, but the slightly new mechanics gives the community more modding power. Give it sometime and we should see some interesting mods. I would love to see an RPG mod where the characters gain xp and learn new abilities, etc. Wish I knew enough about developing to work on my own.

I guess the highlight of my first campaign run was discovering that they added rag doll physics to the pipebomb explosion as body parts and gore goes flying rather than just a red cloudy mist.

You'll also notice right off when fighting the zombies that instead of just being splattered with blood and falling down, you will actually tear off chunks of flesh revealing organs and bones. Dismemberment pretty much works the same as the first one.

I was sort of disappointed with the bat as a pre-order bonus. I much prefer the sword that is a standard in-game melee weapon.

[DaFox]

Honestly not much has changed in the end, but its still an insane step up in every possible direction from the first game.

OK, NOT trying to be an ass, but isn't that a contradiction? Personally I haven't seen what I would call major new developments. L4D2 does offer something new, just not $50 new IMO. If the game had launched @ $30, I probably wouldn't have bothered posting to this thread. I guess I just see a ton of untapped potential, and add the fact that Valve committed to content updates to L4D1 that ended up being paid content in a full sequel...it just leaves me a little let down.

It could very much seem that way, but I see it as more of they changed a bunch of little things, when all of those little things changed together it became huge. It's hard to explain but individually going oh this changed and that changed it's quite clear that not much has really changed.

How about adding non-hostile NPCs? Where are police/army forces that can occasionally assist you? How about a whole campaign designed around rescuing helpless uninfected? Where is the 'Find the Cure' campaign? I realize certain campaign designs would be entirely unbalanced for Versus mode, but why should that hinder a talented dev team unless they just have no interest in evolving the game? Personally I'd rather have some unique campaign design rather than the exact same gameplay in every 5-map sequence.

None of that yet, really we are very early in the story of what has happened just 3 weeks since the first infected. The game starts off with you running to the evac station and the helicopters taking off before they get overrun with zombies leaving you behind. You find out in the first level via the whiteboards etc that New Orleans is the only major city that is not overrun, leaving you to go seek it out.

The campaigns are much much much more unique in this than the first L4D. But ultimately yes its basically the same you just have to get to the end, no one else is alive near you.

I haven't completed the game yet so I don't quite know how it ends or anything but right now the military and CEDA are arguing, CEDA still thinks that they can contain the infection. The military wants to get rid of the infection the easy way.

[anonemus]

Hi, guys! I just upgraded to an X1900XT from a 7900GS a few weeks ago. I was able to complete MW2 on its highest settings on my 1440x900 19" Viewsonic. Will I be able to do the same with L4D2?

[yogibbear]

Hi, guys! I just upgraded to an X1900XT from a 7900GS a few weeks ago. I was able to complete MW2 on its highest settings on my 1440x900 19" Viewsonic. Will I be able to do the same with L4D2?

Yes.

[StingingVelvet]

I love both games, can't get enough of them. I got L4D2 for expansion price, but I would have paid $50 if I had to. Excellent, excellent games and with L4D2 having more content than the original you can't call it an expansion, or if you do it is an expansion worth full price.

[GeneralAdmission]

Need to update my opinion now that I've played the full game (only 3 levels of it so far). That demo really is a piss-poor sample of the game, and doesn't even seem like it's using the same code/config in terms of difficulty.

Full game is sweet. Difficulty is much harder than L4D1, which is great. Horde swarms are more challenging. My very first game, second map, I got the grenade launcher. Should be called the awesome-launcher, IMO. Or glee in a tube. Can't wait to get my hands on some other new weapons.

Why in the world did Valve put out a demo that not just undersells, but actually misrepresents, the final product?

[erikjanneman]

I'll probably buy it when there is a good sale @ steam. Did the same with the first one, and i occasionally still enjoy playing that one.

[anonemus]

Thanks for the info, guys! I'll order one right away!

[StingingVelvet]

Just beat expert with ONE other person in Dead Center. That was an achievement, I tell you what.

[ViddaXondi]

Gonna wait till they put it on Steam for half price before i get it, did the same with the first. I did get bored of it pretty fast though so hopefully this one will keep me interested longer.

[Paradigm Shifter]

Must admit I picked up L4D at full price and wished I hadn't... so I'll keep an eye out for one of Steams '£5' weekends or something in the future...