You all know by now that I love my zombies, and for whatever reason as a gamer dislike most FPS games. But of course, blending the two won my heart over when it came to the first L4D.

The sequel is no exception.

Left 4 Dead 2 takes place far to the South of the original (which was situated in fictitious settings seemingly based/inspired around places in Northern Pennsylvania) in Louisiana. Also, there is a whole new cast of characters.

The story (and yes, this time there is some emphasis that there IS a story, rather than hinting at it) goes that the infection began to spread rapidly, and while it was just starting, this town seemed relatively safe…but as the story always goes, that was a false assumption. Also, this takes place shortly after the events of the first game, thus making the “origin” of the virus and it’s outbreak a little easier to pin down. What that also means, is that the virus has had more time to mutate: Enter not only new Special Infected, but also new versions of our old friends. The Boomer looks almost identical to what he was in the first game (you have to really look to see the differences), the Hunter looks like he’s barely escaped a few battles, the Smoker looks like he was left behind by the Hunter and barely made it out also, and the Tank looks like he was molotoved and managed to find some water before 40-seconds ran out (if you’re into the game, you’ll get the humor).

New to the roster of undead are: the Jockey, a little fella who annoys the crap outta you by steering you toward environmental hazards or hordes; the Charger, which is sorta a poor-man’s version of the Tank, though much faster; and the Spitter, who is a whacked out, acidic bile spitting woman who let her looks go…Seriously, people, she drooping in all the wrong places.

And of course, there’s the Witch. She hasn’t changed much. As anti-social as ever, though she can actually wander about environments now rather than only sit and weep. She still doesn’t want anything to do with anyone, so as always it’s best to leave her be.

Added among the throngs of the common Infected are “Uncommon” infected. These are basically Infected with special circumstances about them. There’s the Clown, which makes noise when moving that attracts a horde (and the buggers are often followed by a small entourage to begin with), the Riot Guards, who are clad in riot gear and a pain-in-the-ass to take down (their weakness lies in hitting them from behind: normally very unsportsmanlike, but in a zombie apocalypse who gives a flying fuck), CEDA Agents who are dressed in Hazmat suits which make them immune to any fire attacks, Road Workers who wear hearing safety gear, making them immune to the call of a pipe bomb, and “Mudmen,” which are basically fast, slimmy men from the bayou and are faster in the water then you OR common Infected. The only upside to any of these are that the CEDA Agents carry vials of sample bile from Boomers, but I’ll get into that in a moment.

Also additional to the game are new weapons, though they don’t really feel any different that the fare that you had in the first game. You have your short range (handguns), medium (shotguns) and long range (rifles), but there are more variants to them. However, finally, the handguns can be swapped out for melee weapons of a nice variety. Katanas, baseball bats, cricket bats, pans, guitars, chainsaws…and my personal favorite, crowbars. These are a nice twist to the gameplay, as it’s a gamble to leave your side-arm out of your arsenal for them. You have the classic molotovs and pipe bombs (and their improvised cousins, the gas tank, canister and oxygen tank), but added to them now is the afformentioned Boomer Bile. This acts essentially like the bile is supposed to; it attracts whatever Infected are in the area to it’s location. This is great for strategy. You can chuck it to an area away from where you need to go, if said direction is blocked because of undead congestion, or you can even (if you’re lucky and skillful) splatter a Special Infected with it, letting their buddies tear into them a bit. Not recommended as an anniversary gift for the girlfriend, fellas.

Weapons aren’t the only thing that have new additions. Supplies have new friends also. There’s the standard First Aid Kit and Pain Pills, but now there’s a Portable Defibrillator, which can revive a fallen ally before they’re sent to a “closet” late in the stage (these are good to have on hand during finales, provided the person carrying it isn’t the one taken out), and there’s Adrenaline Shots, giving your stats a temporary boost. Again, these are pretty handy during finales.

The stages are more expansive this time around. There are five campaigns, with all but one having five stages (the other has only 4), but they’re more intense this time around. Mostly, because you have to backtrack in a few, and others make you work for your finale…or during it.

The real-time weather effects are a nice touch this time around, as it changes up the gameplay yet again. The AI director does it’s job just as beautifully as it did in the first game, and has a few new lines of code hidden away for nasty strategic surprises, it seems. The game almost seems to be thinking of how best to screw you over, or even psych you out now and then.

As far as replay value, it’s pretty damn high. There’s a ton of achievements to unlock yet again, but many of them require you to really know what your doing, and the better ones are more dependant on you playing with friends than the AI partners. But more than simply killing a certain number of a certain type of Infected, or completing the campaign, there are also some small achievements many may not bother to notice; check out the “peanut gallery” in “Dark Carnival” and see if you can save the Gnome all the way through the campaign. It’s a pain in the ass (I still haven’t accomplished it, so I’ve a right to complain, damnit!).

Also, there’s additional gameplay modes. There’s the return of the difficulty hierarchy (Expert still lives up to it’s title, with appropriate achievements also), as well as the Versus and Survival which were included and later added on to the original respectively. New are “Scavenger” mode, which has you trying to collect as many gas tanks to refill one object or another as long as you can before being wiped out by the opposing team, and “Realism” mode; this is the crème-de-la-crème of the game! It makes most of the gameplay act as if you’re on Expert (Infected deal more damage and take less, Witches kill your sorry ass in one hit, etc.) regardless of your actual difficulty setting, but it also HIDES things. You no longer see your teammates outlined, making knowing where they are, especially if not near you, tricky. Also, any items to collect or interact with only appear “visible” to you (meaning outlined, folks, so don’t worry that it’s something like a texture pop) when you’re close enough to get to them, rather than from a good distance in advance. It really makes you appreciate solid teamwork, and I DEFINITELY don’t recommend trying it without human players (I’ve yet to attempt the game with such, and I really wish I could get online to do so…)

As far as the rest of the game goes, from sound design to the visuals, it’s pretty much what you would expect from the first game. It’s built using the same engine, after all, and it’s only been released a year and a day after the first game…literally. Street date for L4D was November 17^th, 2008 and L4D-2 street date is November 18^th, 2009. And considering what the developers were able to put into a game that was already fun, even after mastered, it’s a wonderfully pulled off sequel in such short time.

Overall, I’d give L4D-2 a 8.5 rating. There’s always room for improvement, even though they did much, and I love the game just as the first…but the original is special for a reason, and until that unknown element is tapped into again, nothing will truly beat it. But it’s great when the developers keep trying! I’m looking forward to the new content that’s gonna come out for this one! (here’s hoping that Xbox 360 owners don’t get screwed as badly this time around; we’d love for you guys to actually publish some of the custom-made campaigns for download, Valve!)

NOTE: I also must apologize for not having reviewed the “Crash Course” add-on campaign to L4D. As my internet connection is limited and doesn’t allow me to get online with my system, I wasn’t able to download the game and play it as yet…but I will soon enough, and a proper review (albeit, late) will come forth at that time.