Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2 is a single-player and multiplayer co-operative survival horror FPS game developed by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to Left 4 Dead, it was first announced June 1st 2009 by Valve Corporation at Microsoft's E3 2009 press conference.

As of January 24, 2010, Metacritic gave Left 4 Dead 2 a metascore of 89 out of 100.

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

The sequel picks up one week after the events of the first game (four weeks after the first infection) where The Infection has spread to the southern United States. Left 4 Dead 2 introduces three new Special Infected, new weapons, melee weapons, new items, upgraded Infected, the Uncommon Common Infected, five new campaigns, and two new game modes: Scavenge Mode and Realism Mode. Realism Versus and Mutations were later released with the The Passing DLC, a new campaign which chronologically fits in as the second campaign out of six.

The four Survivors the players control are Nick, Ellis, Rochelle, and Coach.

The Game

 * Campaigns/Maps
 * The Survivors
 * The Infected
 * Updates

Awards
Left 4 Dead 2 was featured as one of Game Informer's top 50 games of 2009. Game Informer 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."

The Drunk Tank Podcast by RoosterTeeth named Left 4 Dead 2 the best game of 2009.

The Cover and Rating


The cover of the Left 4 Dead 2 is almost identical to the original Left 4 Dead cover. The hand was modeled once again by hand model 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 unwanted fingers behind the hand to attain the desired effect, yet still keep the missing thumb.


 * The ESRB was asked why they still allowed the new cover with only the missing thumb, yet not accepting the two unwanted fingers and the thumb. The ESRB has declined to comment.

Around July 2009 Valve decided to change the cover once again, making the two tucked-away fingers slightly more visible. The hand drastically changed, as did the background, which is now 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 New Zealand and Australian versions of the game even though the direction of the two-finger sign applies in those countries 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.

Australia and Germany censored Left 4 Dead 2, removing some features generally to do with violence:
 * Blood and gore: Virtually no blood is found after killing the Infected and is impossible to remove any body parts from using weapons on them. Despite this, achievements for dismemberment were still included and can be awarded in the Australian version
 * Fire and Explosive Effects: Infected can no longer be set on fire and no damage is visible when hit with Explosive Ammo or the Pipe Bomb. Infected that the game registers as having been set on fire act in the same way as they would if on fire except that no fire is visible.
 * Bodies: After dying, the Infected disappear, often before they even hit the ground
 * Infected: The Riot Infected is removed from the game, because it "encourages violence against official authority". In the Australian version, the Riot Infected was eventually put back in with minor alterations to remove any connection to official authorities.

Major changes from the original

 * New Main Characters
 * More Infected in each level.
 * Increased level of gore
 * New Common Infected textures and models
 * New Special Infected textures and models
 * New Special Infected (the Charger, the Jockey, and the Spitter)
 * New Uncommon Infected enemies
 * More guns
 * New weapons tier
 * Melee weapons
 * Gauntlet crescendos
 * New Gameplay Modes
 * Upgraded Graphics
 * No running animations
 * Counter Strike: Source weapons (German Users Only; compensation for the game's censorship in Germany).

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 was not especially effective because the pre-order sales of Left 4 Dead 2 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, one should note the irony that on the leader's profiles it is noted that they own and play Left 4 Dead 2.

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) thumb|300px|left|The third TV Spot for Left 4 Dead 2

DLC

 * Baseball Bat upon pre-order (now available for everyone).
 * The Passing
 * The Sacrifice with No Mercy
 * Cold Stream with original Left 4 Dead campaigns

Split screen
Split screen play is fully supported on the XBOX 360 allowing players to play both online and offline with a friend using one console. On PC, split screen is unsupported but still possible. Using an XBOX 360 controller for PC and some console commands, one can play only offline with a friend. Due to changes in the console split screen online for PC is not possible, unlike Left 4 Dead where split screen PC can be done both online and offline. Doing this requires a high end graphics card.