Dead Center

Dead Center is the first campaign in Left 4 Dead 2. The campaign takes place in Savannah, Georgia, a city that has only just been hit by the Infection.

Footage of Dead Center is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQPnZYGHh6o starting at 5:35.

The campaign starts on top of a hotel converted into a evacuation center, recently swarmed by the infected. The Survivors witness the helicopters moving to a different location, and decide to follow them through the city. The Survivors' path leads them past a gun store and through a shopping mall, where they refill a Dodge Charger racecar to escape.

Trivia

 * The campaign poster is the only Left 4 Dead 2 poster that features close combat weapons in it.
 * It is not clear how the Survivors made it to the roof without encoutering the Infected, as of the only way to the starting place being already filled with the infected while the Survivors say that they have never met them before.
 * Dead Center is the third daylight campaign in game to be unveiled, though chronologically, it is the first daylight campaign.
 * The scene with the stairs and the helicopters from the Zombie Survival Guide trailer belong to this campaign, as well as the elevator scene. Though they both do not match with what happens in the game, as of Coach having a Pump Shotgun in the roof scene while they start with nothing but a pistol and melee weapons, and no elevators match the elevator part of the intro. The Riot Infected appears in that scene while they do not belong to this campaign.
 * This campaign also has several unique lines for the round-menu (such as "Look" when a survivor is highlighted).
 * In the campaign poster, Coach has a Machete, while Ellis has a Chainsaw, Nick has an Axe, while Rochelle holding both a Katana AND a Chainsaw, dual-wielding melee weapons, which is not possible in-game.
 * In the campaign poster, Ellis' left arm is not fully drawn. But, still, some may think that his left hand is behind Nick or in his pocket/hip, making it possible for Ellis' arm to appear as though it does not exist further than the sleeve.
 * The Achievement Robbed Zombie is obtained on this campaign in which the you must collect 10 Bile Bombs from dead CEDA agents you have killed. The CEDA agents are far more likely to have Boomer Bile on Easy Mode.
 * The tagline is a reference to the constant price-cuts employed by major chain stores to attract customers.
 * Like Dark Carnival, the tagline had been suggested on internet forums several times before reveal.
 * This campaign might be in reference to the survival horror video game Dead Rising or the movie Dawn of the Dead, both of which take place in a shopping mall.
 * Whitakers gun store might be a reference to Andy's Gun Store in Dawn of the Dead, both located just down the road from the mall, with the owner trying to survive on the roof, although missing some essential supplies.
 * This campaign precedes the Dark Carnival campaign, as in the beginning of Dark Carnival, the Survivors are heard talking about their escape from the mall, indicating that it took place immediately prior. The completion achievement for this campaign, also goes first in the achievement list, followed by Dark Carnival, Swamp Fever, Hard Rain and The Parish.
 * Like every other campaign poster, Nick is placed next to Rochelle.
 * Although this campaign takes place in Savannah, the city has no three story malls.
 * The Hazmat Infected appear in this campaign. They do not appear in The Parish.
 * If you look at the poster very carefully, you can see that there are a lot of mannequins laying in front, around, and standing behind the Survivors. They seem to have large cuts and missing parts, such as arms and legs.
 * Dead Center's music.
 * Ellis drives the finale race car to escape.
 * Gibbs' racecar is a factory street-model Dodge Charger modified with the wing from a Charger Daytona. The Daytona/Superbird had an aerodynamic nosecone and flush rear window; Gibbs' car, though it may have lost its nosecone at some point, has the tunneled rear window of a regular Charger.
 * The mall the survivors have to proceed through is called "Liberty Mall".
 * "Liberty Mall" is a real life location. However, it isn't in Savannah.
 * In one of the Dead Center screenshots, an acronym on a CEDA truck reveals the word DEAD (Disease Emergency Assessment Dispatch), which is ironic because CEDA is trying to save people from infection.
 * Dead Center is the second campaign revealed to have 4 chapters, after Swamp Fever.
 * This campaign starts with only melee weapons. Tier 1 weapons are not found until slightly farther on in the campaign.
 * Since the survivors have never seen any special infected before, they come up with their own names in the first two chapters. Ellis calls Boomers "Pukers", Nick calls Chargers "One-Arms", Rochelle calls Hunters "Hoodies", etc.
 * It is known that all four survivors have met up here, this being the first campaign.
 * When you first enter the mall, there are mannequins dotted around the levels; when shot, limbs fly off. When you don't have your flashlight on them, they can easily look like Common Infected. If whacked with a melee weapon, the Survivor who did this laughs.
 * In the third level of this campaign, there is a reference to "The Blues Brothers" movie in the form of a shop called "Disco Pants and Haircuts". When the party walks past, Ellis says, "Lots of space in this mall", which is a nod to the mall scene in the movie.
 * Judging by the fact that the Survivors introduce themselves to each other halfway through the first section, it can be assumed that they did not have the time to talk when they first met each other. However, the Survivors all call Coach "Coach" throughout the campaign. Though they may get to think that he's a coach from his clothes, thus calling him Coach. Later, he tells them to call him just Coach, confirming this being his nickname.


 * The uncommon common infected Jimmy Gibbs Jr. DOES spawn in the finale, though only once during it and very rarely at all. He has 1000 Hit Points and when he hits you your screen starts to get covered in motor oil like the Mudman Uncommon common Infected, also 'unique' quotes can be said by survivors, though the quotes are actually merely re-used from other scenes (i.e. Nick says "God DAMN you Jimmy Gibbs Jr." at the start of Dark Carnival, Ellis says "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" when being pulled by a Smoker, etc.) He can still be spawned in the developer console.
 * Although Coach can be seen holding a machete in the campaign poster, it is very rare to find one in this campaign.
 * Like Swamp Fever, this campaign only has 4 chapters, including the finale. Therefore, each chapter besides the finale has a Crescendo Event.
 * The poster for Dead Air can be seen to the left of this campaign's poster in the loading screen. Though it's nearly invisible and may be difficult to see.
 * In some safe rooms and on the loading screen, an Easter Egg can be seen. A CEDA poster saying possession of firearms is prohibited can be seen.