Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 (abbreviated L4D2) is a single-player and multiplayer co-operative survival horror FPS game developed by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to Left 4 Dead and was first announced by Valve Corporation at Microsoft's E3 '09 press conference on June 1st.

The Left 4 Dead 2 multiplayer demo was released on October 28th (for those who pre-ordered), but the demo was made available to the public on November 3rd.

The sequel picks up 1 week after the events of the first game (3 weeks after the first infection) where The Infection has spread to the southern United States. Left 4 Dead 2 introduced three new Infected, new weapons including melee weapons, new items, upgraded Infected, the Uncommon Common Infected, five new campaigns, Scavenge Mode, and Realism Mode. The four Survivors the players control are Nick, Ellis, Rochelle, and Coach.

The Game

 * Campaigns/Maps
 * The Survivors
 * The Infected

Awards
Left 4 Dead 2 was featured as one of Game Informer's top 50 games of 2009, they had this to say:
 * "Ever wonder how far you could make it through the zombie apocalypse with just a chainsaw and a grenade launcher? Left 4 Dead 2 has your answer. Everything about Valve's sequel to last year's intense co-op FPS is amplified, with gratuitous gore, tons of melee weapons, intensified finales, and even more zombies. If you still think this sequel came too soon, then you haven't cracked a clown zombie in the face with a cricket bat while protecting a lawn gnome."


 * Interestingly, cricket bats are not available in Dark Carnival, despite the review.

Plot


The plot is similar to Left 4 Dead; it involves the aftermath of the the Infection 1 week after the events of the previous game, now being around 3 weeks after the first infection.

The story of Left 4 Dead 2 spans five campaigns, taking place during the daylight and night, and is set in the Southern United States. Four new Survivors replace the original Survivors in their quest to find a safe area where the infection hasn't reached yet: Coach, a 44 year-old high school gym teacher; Ellis, a 23 year-old auto mechanic; Nick, a 35 year-old gambler and conman; and Rochelle, a 29 year-old news reporter. The Survivors will encounter new Infected behavior, such as a Wandering Witch, and completely new Infected altogether, like the Charger, the Spitter, and the Jockey. There will also be new variants of the Common Infected, depending on which Campaign a player is on.

Valve has also said that they intend on providing more exposition about what may have caused the zombie apocalypse and to try connecting the narratives of the two Left 4 Dead games.

The Cover and Rating


The cover of the Left 4 Dead 2 appears to be identical to the original Left 4 Dead cover. The hand was modeled once again by hand modeler Andrea Wicklund.

The idea was to create a hand missing another two fingers along with the famous original missing thumb, resulting in a hand only holding up two fingers, further signifying the number two. The background's color was also changed to a lighter shade of green.

Around June 2009 the ESRB told Valve that the new cover is unacceptable, and the idea was changed to tucking the two bitten fingers behind the hand to create the illusion that model's fingers were missing, yet still retaining the missing thumb.


 * The ESRB was asked why they still allowed the new cover with only one missing finger, yet not accepting three. The ESRB has declined to comment.

Around July 2009 Valve decided to change the cover once again, instead of tucking 2 fingers to make them look missing, the idea was to just tuck them and leave them visible. The hand drastically changed, including the background which no longer contains green, Instead it now contains yellow.

In the United Kingdom, the cover was changed to show the hand facing the opposite direction, as the two-finger sign towards the viewer is considered an insult. This cover design change does not apply with the Australian version of the game even though the direction of the two-finger sign also applies there as well. In addition, the German and Japanese version of the cover features all of the fingers intact as it did with the first game due to the same censorship reasons that applied to the first game's cover.

Controls
These are the default controls of Left 4 Dead 2 for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions.

Context sensitive controls

 * The X button is used to interact with other things. Using it, you can pick up objects, open doors, or help other Survivors to their feet.
 * Select the first aid kit, target a teammate and press and hold LT to heal them. It has the same effect as them healing themselves. (It will therefore take 5 seconds and heal damage depending on the current hp of the person)
 * Select the pain pills, target a teammate, press and hold LT to give the pills to them.

Refer to health for further tips. Make sure your teammates know how to revive you and give first aid kits and/or pain pills to you. The Survivors need to watch out for each other.

Boycott
Shortly after Valve's announcement of Left 4 Dead 2, many fans were shocked of the idea due to the short period of time after the first Left 4 Dead and the fact that the long promised SDK (which is essential to making new levels for Left 4 Dead) was being held back because of this. Hours after the announcement fans gathered together and formed a group called L4D2 Boycott (NO-L4D2); the group reached 10,000 members in one week and 35,000 members in three weeks. The group believed that Left 4 Dead 2 should not be a separate game in order to keep the community one, claiming that releasing a sequel would split the community. Their suggestion was to make Left 4 Dead 2 either an expansion pack that is not full-priced or free downloadable content, citing a lack of new content and also voicing their preference to keep the original Survivors and maps. Many fans were also disappointed that Valve had yet to deliver the free DLC they promised.

Valve has informed the fans that they have been tracking their comments ever since the first announcement on 1st June 2009, and their response were that Left 4 Dead will continue to be supported with downloadable content. This announcement caused some fans to believe that Valve saw the fans of Left 4 Dead as boycotting the sequel only get more free updates and to save money. Valve has also said that they are discussing the matter and are considering importing the original maps into Left 4 Dead 2; nothing regarding the original Survivors was mentioned.

The boycott did not seem to be especially effective. Currently, the pre-order sales of Left 4 Dead 2 have quadrupled the pre-order sales of Left 4 Dead .

The boycott has since been officially disbanded as the founders themselves have said that they have done what they set out to do and are now sympathetic with Valve's work on Left 4 Dead 2, but however still maintain that they themselves will not buy the game. Despite stating this, it can be noted on the leader's profiles that they own and play Left 4 Dead 2. (It should be noted that not "buying" the game doesn't tend to stop one from "owning" the game.)

Trailers
See Also: Videos and Trailers

thumb|300px|left|Left 4 Dead 2 teaser trailer from E3 '09.

thumb|300px|left|Left 4 Dead 2 Zombie Survival Guide

thumb|300px|left|Left 4 Dead 2 Ad thumb|left|300px|Left 4 Dead 2 TV Spot 2A (Updated release date)