Left 4 Dead 2
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
Like its predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2 is set in the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic of an infectious disease known as the "Green Flu", which rapidly transforms humans into zombie-like creatures and mutated forms that demonstrate extreme aggression towards non-infected (much like the infected in 28 Days Later). Few humans are immune to the disease, still carrying the infection but showing no symptoms. The Civil Emergency and Defense Agency (CEDA) and the U.S. military create safe zones to attempt to evacuate as many American survivors as possible. Left 4 Dead 2 introduces four new Survivors—Coach, Ellis, Nick, and Rochelle, who are immune to the disease and have individual back stories that are provided through character dialogue. While the game is intended as a continuation of the original, occurring one week after the first game begins, Valve decided to create a new group of Survivors due to the change in location. Like the first game, the five campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2 are set across a story arc, set in the Southern United States, which starts in Savannah, Georgia, and ends in New Orleans, Louisiana. The four Survivors have to fight their way through hordes of Infected, using safehouses along the way to rest and recuperate in order to reach extraction points.
=== Characters ===
Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of human Survivors, which include: Coach (voiced by Chad Coleman), a portly high-school football coach with a bad knee (although it does not affect gameplay); Nick (voiced by Hugh Dillon), a cold and sarcastic gambler and con artist; Rochelle (voiced by Rochelle Aytes), a low-level production assistant reporting on the evacuation for a local television station; and Ellis (voiced by Eric Ladin), a friendly (and rather talkative) mechanic who often talks about his friend Keith and their many misadventures. In addition to the four playable characters, Left 4 Dead 2 also features a supporting character in the form of Virgil (voiced by Randall Newsome), a Cajun boat captain, who appears (voice only) in the game's final three campaigns.
=== Story ===
The Sacrifice DLC campaign takes place before the main events of Left 4 Dead 2; and after the events of The Sacrifice comic. The original survivors of Left 4 Dead—Bill, Francis, Louis, and Zoey—arrive at the portside town of Rayford, in order to search for a boat that can take them to the Florida Keys. After finding an adequate sailboat, the Survivors have to manually start up generators in order to lift a bridge for their boat to pass through. One Survivor (canonically Bill) sacrifices himself in order to kick-start a generator once it gives out, so that the others may reach safety. This is the end of Bill's story in the Left 4 Dead video game series.
Left 4 Dead 2 opens in Dead Center (set in Savannah, Georgia), where the four Survivors find themselves abandoned on a hotel roof by rescue helicopters. They decide to head for the local mall, where a second CEDA evacuation point is located. After a brief encounter with a gun store owner, Whitaker (voiced by Dayton Callie), the Survivors discover that the mall is overrun, with all CEDA agents having become either dead or infected as well. Ellis helps the group use a stock car to bust out of the mall and travel towards New Orleans, rumored to be the last standing city in America.
The Passing DLC campaign takes place between Dead Center and Dark Carnival, and after the events of The Sacrifice campaign. The Survivors of L4D2 arrive at the bridge in Rayford, where they meet Francis, Louis, and Zoey. As they need to cross the bridge to proceed, the Survivors need to find another way across to refill the generator with gas. After fighting their way through a wedding reception (complete with a Witch bride), the streets, and a historic under-the-river tour, they meet up again with the original Survivors, who help by covering for the group while they fill the generator and lowering the bridge once it's full.
At the start of the Dark Carnival campaign, the four Survivors find the highway ahead completely blocked by ditched vehicles, and are forced to travel on foot through an abandoned (but still-operating) amusement park. After navigating their way to the park stadium, Coach devises a plan to use a large-scale light show used by a rock band, The Midnight Riders, in order to signal a helicopter pilot for rescue.
After being rescued, they later discover that their pilot has been Infected. When the pilot starts attacking them, Nick is forced to kill him (echoing a similar situation in Left 4 Dead), causing the chopper to crash into a bayou, the setting for Swamp Fever. Working their way through the swamps, the group comes across a crashed airplane, dead military paratroopers, and isolated swamp villages which had held out against the Infected but were eventually overrun. After spending the morning fighting through the swamp, the group arrives at a plantation mansion and make radio contact with Virgil, a Cajun boat captain who can assist them; however, his boat begins to run low on diesel fuel on the way to New Orleans. As a tumultuous rainstorm approaches (the titular Hard Rain of the subsequent campaign), the Survivors go ashore at Ducatel, Mississippi; make their way through an abandoned (and Witch-infested) sugarcane mill to a gas station to get diesel fuel, and return to signal Virgil with an improvised "flare".
In the final campaign, The Parish, Virgil drops the group off at New Orleans, where the military appears to be evacuating civilians across a bridge. On the way there, the four discover the city overrun with Infected, and that the military is actually leaving the city before it is destroyed by an air strike. The group manages to reach the bridge, where they make contact with the military. Judging from their dialogue, the military pilots suspect the Survivors to be "carriers", similar to the original Survivors of Left 4 Dead. After securing their rescue helicopter, the Survivors lower and cross the bridge, escaping on the helicopter just as the bridge is destroyed. While the Survivors' fate is left unclear after this point, Chet Faliszek, the game's writer, back in 2009 said that the military is taking survivors to cruise ships in the Caribbean in an attempt to escape the infection.

Review: In it, four strangers named Nick (a gambler and conman), Rochelle (A news producer), Coach (A health teacher and coach), and Ellis (a mechanic) team up to survive an outbreak of the "Green Flu" which causes people to behave like zombies (the Infected).
The Smoker- An Infected with a long tongue that can snatch survivors from a distance and constrict them.2.
The Hunter- A hooded Infected that leaps long and high to pounce survivors and claw them to death.4.
The Tank- The biggest and baddest of the Infected that simply attacks with its strength and throws debris at the survivors.5.
The Spitter- This Infected spits and acid-goo that rules out the possibility of corner camping during crescendo events and if you stand in it too long it will kill you.6.
The Jockey- This Infected jumps on a survivor's head an steers them into danger.7.
The Charger- Another large Infected that charges at a survivor and pummels them into the ground.8.
The Witch- A crying Infected that if startled, will attack the Survivors.9.
For example: the Clowns on Dark Carnival attract hordes with their squeaky shoes.The game is very fun with large improvements over the previous title.
The game now has melee weapons to kill the Infected and a lot more guns.
The variety of the maps is interesting and they are all connected, unlike the original Left 4 Dead.The game is also more challenging.
The bots aren't as good as they were in the first game is my only problem.
But overall the game is better than the first (which was my favorite game until I bought this one).The multi-player is good.
Coop- Just you and a friend teaming up with two bots to survive a campaign.2.
Versus- A team of survivors trying to make it to rescue while a team of player controlled Infected tries to stop them.3.
Scavenge- The Survivor team tries to collect gas tanks to fuel up the rescue vehicle while the Infected team tries to kill them all before they can or cause as many gas drops as possible.4.
Realism- This mode is the same as campaigns except that you can't see the Survivor Halos (this causes you to have to stay together), the Witch can kill you instantly and the common/uncommon Infected take less damage to the body and cause you to have to shoot them in the head.The only game types I've played are coop, Realism, Versus and the normal campaign.
Very challenging and causes you to work together more to survive, it makes the game feel less like 28 Days Later and more like the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead.The game is great.
Three or four weeks after the outbreak began(depending on the source you go by), the optimistic rescue attempt(the government's response increases over the course of this) leaves some standing on the rooftop, looking at the helicopters flying away, and realize they have to take things into their own hands.
Nick(a gambler and small-time hustler), Ellis(chatty and upbeat young mechanic), Rochelle(low-level employee of local TV station) and Coach(overweight African-American who trains high school football) will have to make their way from Savannah, Georgia to New Orleans(this really captures the flavor of The South, in aforementioned characters who have personality without being obnoxious, the fast-paced if lighter score, the areas, etc.) in search of a safe place to stay.They will move through a carnival(clowns!
sure, they don't unearth themselves, still), a huge cornfield(look above to spot a sign on a building to see if you're even going the right way!), small towns, and, where the FX enhance the atmosphere, with the slight increase in continuity and/or story not locking it in place(the AI Director 2.0 will keep you guessing, changing things like weather, objects and paths depending on what you are or aren't doing, it still feels alive and is endlessly replayable), rather making it have an impact - Hard Rain is a *journey*, as you make your way from a vehicle, to gather gas, and all the way back, as the downpour grows terrifyingly, hampering visibility and even making it difficult to hear if danger is near.
I don't know why not all 20 Survival(and that can now be played with a team controlling the Smoker, Hunter, etc.!
The one new mode has 16 total, 9 for this and 7 from the '07 ones(not just the same): Scavenge.
The aforementioned is also present in regular play, as one of the two new crescendo event types - refuel something or otherwise transport one or more items from one place to another before you can proceed, with the final one being the Gauntlet, where you have to get from points A to B - and you'd better be ready, because it's a relatively tight corridor, it's far, and you have to keep moving(once you get there, it has either the end, or the button to turn off an alarm that keeps luring foes in).
These make it vital to take an active part in these climax-like portions, and one that, like when making your way forward in general, may be unique; how many will transport the important thing(which prevents whoever is carrying one from attacking...
And if you're almost there, should you turn back to help if needed, or come back after securing victory?Further keeping you on your feet when taking on the role of one of the humans are the three new Special Infected, all of them filling niches and mending holes in their side's tactics.
like one of the many, and no longer always stationary, Witches.While the arsenal is made up mostly of the same kinds, each now has at least two within that(all useful, yet with different stats), and you're more likely to find a replacement gun than additional ammo.
You can replace your pistol with a mêlée weapon(like a chainsaw!), with instant-kills in an arc in front of you.There is constant detailed, bloody, disturbing gore and violent content in this.
The game's many additions such as new weapons, new infected types, daylight campaigns and more varied scenery really spice up the format of Left 4 Dead.
To me, the original now seems fairly bland and boring with its exclusively night-time maps and only a very small number of weapons.I feel the two best campaigns in the game are Dark Carnival and Hard Rain.
You'll be running from infected hordes through a Tunnel-of-Love and along a roller-coaster track.
There's also an achievement for carrying a garden gnome through the entire campaign and the finale is fantastic.Hard Rain sees the survivors' boat run out of fuel, forcing them to disembark and head to a gas station for a fill-up.
They then have to make a return journey, which means that if the players use up all the safe room health packs on the way, they won't have any left on the way back.Hard Rain gets its namesake from the dynamic weather effects it features.
At any moment, a storm could roll in, reducing visibility significantly and making the survivors sitting ducks for special infected attacks.
It also means that, on the return journey, much of the route will be flooded, slowing the survivors down and making them use alternate paths.The other campaigns are excellent as well, and there is a running story arc throughout them, unlike in the original game.
The only problem with this is that, due to Left 4 Dead's multiplayer format, there is no real ending sound-off to the story, although the last finale of the game is by far the hardest.Left 4 Dead 2 takes Left 4 Dead's award-winning format and improves on it tenfold.
Anyone who liked Left 4 Dead, or likes shooters in general, should definitely give this one a go..
For a game which the levels consist of "run through environment, shoot up zombies, get to safe house with teammates" the sequel has some areas to improve on.
You could give it more of a story or get more awesome weapons or you could make the obstacles more interesting by getting more Special infected.
This game seems to do all of those things.So the plot is that Nick, Rochelle, Ellis and Coach are all survivors who banded together during the infection.
So they fight their way through a swamp and into a boat and then fight their way for fuel and back in the heavy rain and finally we have them dropped off running to the final escape helicopter.So there is not that much of a plot.
I think what could have improved this game dramatically is cut-scenes to establish the characters a bit more.
We have them communication before the usual zombie shoot-up but I barely know these characters.The game-play isn't that different from the first game...
except you have katana's, chainsaws, grenade launchers, machetes and other awesome weapons to use against the zombies.
So in terms of game-play it is more fun than the first game when you pick a new weapon up because it always makes the game even cooler.So that really is all I can say for a game that basically has a similar level structure to Doom.
I mean, if you liked the first game because of the game-play then this one would have you really enjoying it.
Left 4 Dead 2 is a game that most people have at least heard of in their life time.
Released back in 2009, this game still remains highly popular, eight years later, and is still one of the most loved zombie apocalypse games on the market.
After playing a few games, it's not hard to see why.After being new to this game on PC, having played it on Xbox for quite some years, it was a different experience coming onto it and having to relearn controls.
But with L4D2, there's something about it that stops people feeling brand new, and you learn quickly.
Even playing with my friends who are basically pros at the game, having put thousands of hours each into it, felt like I was just another guy with tons of hours.
It's user friendly, and not hard to get used to.There's so many different game modes in this that allows you to go through and do pretty much whatever you want in the game, there's a mode for almost anything.
Of course, I wouldn't recommend playing multiplayer as a new player, with no friends.
The online community are absolutely horrendous when it comes to new players, and are definitely the kind of people who kick others just for being new.
The game itself is amazing, with brilliant graphics, an awesome soundtrack and really good movement and controls.
Left 4 Dead 2 is a very fun adventure game in which you team up with 3 others and kill countless zombies as you fight for your survival.
It has a good story line as well, making the characters who need to survive quite interesting as they have to interact with each other.
Another downside is that you should really play it with others, as with bots it is really bad because they act like they have no brain.
There are a good range of modes however, even ones when you get to control zombies!However,nothing beats the first time sitting down and playing with your family and friends, where you'd hear screams because somebody got attacked by a Hunter (L.O.L) Not to mention, this is probably one of the few zombie games that lets you play as the zombies.
Example: Did you just use your pistol on a regular infected to save ammo?
These people are the worst.But sadly, Valve is STILL trying too sell the 1st Left 4 Dead on Steam.Left 4 Dead 1 is a great game, but there's no reason to buy it since all the maps, weapons, characters are in Left 4 Dead 2 along with NEW content including the ability to mod using steam workshop.
Take all of zombie films and take the good old FPS action element and you got this game.
Now, this game is pretty, compared to the movies, pretty colorful, it has nice graphics, interesting AI and tense action.
They are not special in their own way, that's too bad, I expected that each of them have something special, some special move, or combo, something like that, but no, they are just based upon some usual characters from the zombie movies that joins together to fight their way through the zombie filled terrain.
The only thing different is weapons UZIs, shotguns, handguns, melee weapons, now these are cool, you have katana, or chainsaw for example.
You just pick your character and go shoot some zombies.
Now, the zombies are pretty good here, they are attacking in packs, of course, but, they are not slow, oh no.
Not just that, but you also have special zombies that have special abilities, for example you have Charger, a large, mutated zombie that runs like nuts and crushing everything in their path, you also have Smokers, Spiters, Jockeys, Hunters, Boomers, pretty much pain in the neck all of them, and two more very, very specials the Tank, a very large mutated zombie, more stronger than Charger and a Witch now that's an unusual character, but she is the most dangerous, when she jumps, she will claw you to the ground.
Now the gameplay is pretty simple on moments, but on some occasions, it can be pain in the neck, especially with these special zombies, but overall, it's fun.
The levels are good, a pre-apocalyptic ambient of deserted villages, small towns, hotels, malls If you 're watching "Walking Dead" for example, and you enjoy it, well you'll enjoy this too..
This game is pretty good.
This game is pretty good.
Not so great if you don't play online, like me.
Yes, i have played online a bunch of times, but if it's not with my friends, I hate it.
People are jerks online and ruin the fun.I like how they kept the same weapons as in the first one, but all the new weapons are pretty much the same as the old ones.
The grenade launcher really isn't as great as people say it is- but fun nonetheless.
I like the Boomer bile, but that's the only new thing you can pick up and throw in the game.
the same stuff as in the first one.A major problem I have with the game are the glitches and crashes.
A few times a night the game will lose the connection with steam.
Also, there are a bunch of glitches- like on the rooftop in the finale of "Hard Rain," where parts of the roof are missing, so it looks like pipe bombs, etc.
Again, another issue people are facing with this game- at least for the PC.I am not a huge fan of the characters.
I liked the characters in the first one much better.A few of the campaigns were boring.
"Swamp fever" was the same thing every time you left the safe room.
Hard rain is kind of half a campaign.
But, like in the Carnival for example, they could have added so much more cool stuff- I mean, you're in a carnival and you can play 2 games and walk on a roller coaster.
the tunnel of love was horrible because it just went on forever and it was all the same thing.You can definitely tell Valve rushed this game- they even admitted it.
They say that they are working on fixing the problems with the first game, but they have been saying that for almost 3 months now.I am a huge fan of melee weapons.
The only one I don't like is the cricket bat.But all in all, it's still a really fun game, but I definitely would not give it 10 stars- I think 10 stars is just foolish because it doesn't deserve 10 stars.
I guess that's the reason why Valve usually does take a long time to release a game.I give it an 8 because it's a good game, but because L4D1 exists, i can't give it more than an 8.
L4D1 gets a 9 from me because it's just a better game.
Left 4 Dead 2 Review.
Left 4 dead is based upon a zombie apocalypse that basically keeps the whole earth under quarantine.
4 brave survivors takes the adventure seeking through zombie filled lands until they reach a safe room.
You can take the side of the zombies in the versus mode and you can endure the fun of attacking the humans!Overall the graphics is outstanding and very realistic.
The thing that impressed me the most was the military procedure and the actual procedure that health authority's will take in a zombie apocalypse.
The characters are extremely realistic as well as the general objects/obstacles.I would recommend his game to anyone with a mature mind.
If you had told me that I would enjoy a Zombie kill fest game where you simply run -shoot-save team mates (in the single player mode)I would have said you are quite mad but surprisingly I did enjoy this game and it is pretty much exactly as I just described.
It seems that your mission is to start inside a 'Safe' house run through maps killing everything that wants to eat your brains in order to get to the next 'Safe' house.
There are objectives which help alleviate the tedium of run-shoot-kill such as when you are in a shopping centre (mall if you are American) and the only way out is to drive a car that is on display for a prize - the only problem is that it has no petrol (or Gas - again American) So you must scavenge enough fuel cans to have the car filled enough to make your getaway.
This is the sort of game that you must play at least once and forget it for at least a year then come back and enjoy it all over again - Bwains!!
If you would like a game reviewed for its 3D readiness please email me at ratcat17@hotmail.com