by: Michael Ogunnubi

November 30, 2009

It's been exactly one year since the release of the original Left 4 Dead, Valve's zombie shooter. And a year later comes Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel. The flaws that were present in Left 4 Dead were fixed in L4D2, but also introduced some new flaws that just want to make you trade the game back if you are playing single-player.

The original Left 4 Dead was a highly acclaimed videogame in console gaming and in general as it successfully combined survival horror and first-person shooters – and one heck of a combination it turned out to be. Valve also managed to really nail the great feel of cooperative teamwork whether online or offline. I gave great praise to the first Left 4 Dead a year ago, and yet, desired a lot more than what was presented.

Left 4 Dead 2 is almost just like its predecessor, a first-person shooter against the backdrop of a global zombie pandemic. Player follows four new survivors (although again, none of them really matter) across several campaigns with an almost endless supply of ammo, almost as many zombies including special mutated ones, and no shooter's shoulder to worry about. It’s the same style fans of the first L4D will come to recognize. About 4-5 chapters per campaign with each finale chapter being the final get away part. Towards the end of the campaigns the survivors must defend a position to await rescue whilst going up against seemingly impossible odds. One level even has you filling up a gas tank in a vehicle to drive away in instead of waiting for rescue.