Game REVIEWS

unWIRED Rating:

Left 4 Dead 2 Review

Developer: Valve Software
Platform: Xbox 360 and PC
Category: Survival Horror
Available Now

As Valve’s newest Survival/Horror sequel, “Left 4 Dead 2” delivers what fans have been asking and craving. Instead of telling the story of the survivors from the first game, “Left 4 dead 2” introduced four new characters. Similar to the previous game, the survivors have to travel through zombie infested roads and cities to get from one safe house to another. With survival as the ultimate goal, the characters have to fight their way through the zombie-infested-American south searching for help.

The game plays very similar to the original. “Left 4 Dead 2” has ton of new weapons for players to choose from. For example, ten different melee weapons: axe, crowbar, baseball bat, frying pan, katana, cricket bat, electric guitar, machete, nightstick, and the chainsaw are ready to pick up and start slaying. It is oddly satisfying to be able to chop off the head of a zombie and watch the blood gush out from the neck, it is also very enjoyable when the zombies get sliced to pieces by the chainsaw. Every special infected zombie from the first game has returned, with the addition of three more. The game also offers new deployable items, the incendiary round and the explosive round. The new laser sight is very helpful during the course of the game; it lowers the bullet spread immensely when it is attached to the weapon. So, it helps with people who are not good with aiming to have higher accuracy.

Like in the original, “Left 4 Dead 2” is very linear when it comes to level design. There is really no way anyone can get lost, since everywhere they are not allowed to go is blocked off. There are some minor glitches and registration problems in the game, for example, sometimes long distance bullets will not register even though the animation showed that it had hit. Zombies sometimes fall through the wall either while they are spawning or right after being killed. The last act of each chapter requires the player to fortify wherever they are at, and wait for rescue, which is a nice addition to the game, not having to run through more streets fighting the dead. Multiplayer in this game follows its predecessor. The players can either try to survive wave after wave of zombies, or they can take the form of the infected to fight the survivors in team deathmatch style match.

All in all the game is well done. The music really fits in with the Southern half of the USA. The game really retains what made the first Left 4 Dead fun and entertaining, while adding a lot of new features and weapons to the game. To fans of zombie survivor horror games/movies, this is the best game you should play this holiday season. Also to those who just want something to shoot at that is not a human being, this game is something they should seriously consider.

** Written by Benson Chen