And by shooter I do mean with guns blazing yes... Clue for readers, the dead refers to the zombies... yes, i hear ya bro... Zombies... Your characters are 4 survivors left in the US in a particular town with the sole aim of getting out of said town....
There are differences enough in the story between left fo dead and left for dead 2... Where left for dead actually allows your character to travel to safety by heli or boat or apc or whatever in each town or situation, Left for Dead 2 actually makes some sort of continuity between the maps... For example, you finish one town in a particular vehicle (I'm not gonna say what, spoilers you understand, after all, enough spoilers will be given, so I better keep some under wraps) and in the next map or campaign or what, you exit said vehicle coz the road is jammed or some problem (again secrets). So, it makes it interesting to actually play the game for the story (though if you guys just want to get in and start shooting thats fine too) for a change..
Well.. What next? Game performance obviously.... Btw, my pc is a custom upgrade so I dare say its performance is quite ok.. I'd say that this Left for Dead 2 and the previous are similar.... Disappointed?? Well.. Not really... Its the minute details that are improved.... And I dare say that is the winning point here.... The old Left for Dead allows you to shoot off body parts and lo and behold... Blood and dismemberment..... This one retains that feature (c'mon, you'd think they'd pull out that???) and also improves on it.... The developers added another detail... GORE!!!!!!!! By gore, I really mean gore.... Shoot a zombie in the head and you have a few possibilities..
a) The zombie's head explodes.. So headless..
b) The zombie's head explodes partially.. So a zombie with a hole in the face....
c) The top part of the skull comes off, with brains splattering all over the pavement.... Not pretty
d) You miss and shot the throat instead.... That zombie ends up falling choking....
e) Random events
Or shoot em in d stomach and end up with guts instead of brains... Hell, you could even see the ribcage if you use a weapon designed for power such as rifles.... Meaning almost every anatomy is given attention.. I said almost... Don't hold your breath for the chance to carve out the chest to get the heart though.. Its detailed, but not THAT detailed....
As most of you are well aware, melee action in Left for Dead 1 is limited to shoving away zombies with your hand or guns right?? Left for Dead 2 improves on that by adding melee weapons.... Should I put em here??? Alright, maybe I will.. The spoilers are as follow.. Limited though.. Get the game yourself if you wanna know that bad.... Machete.. Crowbar (duh, half life anyone??).. Base ball (Hit that head for a home run, LOL :P ).. and the obvious.... Chainsaw (Evil Dead anyone??)
The Chainsaw is like the most powerful melee in the game but with 1 limitation.... Ammo... or in this case, fuel.. Chainsaw is gas powered right? so I guess the developers stuck to a bit of reality and make it so that after enough activation, your chainsaw runs out of fuel and you have to discard it.... yes, no rearming or refueling.... Out means out.... Btw, the weapon list is incomplete.. Heheh... That was on purpose... The weapons also vary in damage and speed... certain weapons are actually slow and weak on the attack... While a few will literally cut you a bloody path through the hordes... I personally prefer using melee weapons and if a horde comes, I'll stay at a door entrance and barring any strenous circumstances, say a tanker or hunter or smoker comes, I could block that door alone... Lolz... Btw, the zombies are quite resilient.. Even with a hand blown off, they could still come to claw at you with the other... So my advice?? aim for the head..
Btw, when you use melee weapons and kill enemy for quite some time, your vision would be clouded, or blurred by blood.. Another example of sticking to reality I guess.... I actually got to the point where the screen is blurred by blood with only a small round portion in the middle that is clear for me to see...
Btw, when you pick up a melee weapon, it replaces your handgun... so in other words, you're stuck with your main gun and your melee choice... Not that big a deal for me... But all depend on preference I guess.. Btw, nearly forgot to say.. Using a chainsaw is like pasting a BIG FAT NEON SIGN ON YOUR FOREHEAD saying KILL ME!!.. It attracts attention..
Ok.. That was the melee weapons... now on to the guns... I now you guys just love guns dontcha?? Ok, its no longer the simple pistol, gun, shotgun and sniper.. No, no, no.. Now there's types of for each category.... You've even got a powerful handgun.. D downside?? only one of those babies.. No 2 guns blazing in each hand carving out a hole through the horde.. heh.. For rifles, the old m16 is still in plus a few additions.... and they're quite different.... Its not different only on the skin.. The function is also not the same.... You've got rifles with permanent burst functions.. Handy against specials... But not so handy when you're trying to conserve bullets....
You've also have upgrades to play with... You can have from explosive to incendiary ammo... But only limited to 1 clip per obtain.. And only if you find the ammo box.... For sticklers who dont want to spend their time aiming and prefer to just go in guns blazing, the laser sight upgrade is a tremendous help... The laser sight helps you sight your target and not just the cross bar anymore....For people who really love mayhem and explosions, say hello to the grenade launcher.... Though sadly, like the chainsaw, there's no re-arming this baby.... If you're out of ammo, you're out of ammo.. For smg's, there's the silent type now, perfect for those who want to get by as quickly and quietly as possible... The shotgun even has a new type that has less spread of bullets, meaning its more concentrated on where you shoot and not on luck.... The sniper rifles has been upgraded too with 1 confirmed additional type that is actually semi-auto.... Btw, for some weapons like the shotgun, the ammo count has been reduced.... Though not necessarily limited to the shotgun....
So.. The campaign.... Its no longer straight from point a to b... Now there are puzzles or tasks to be done.... And while that task is left uncompleted, hordes of zombies will come rushing to kill you... I learned this the hard way... I thought the alarm that was ringing was temporary and therefore took my sweet time killing and butchering every zombie I came across.. But after almost 5 minutes of non-stop butchery I started to wonder what the hell I was supposed to do to shut that damn alarm up... Thats when I tried following instructions for a change and was rewarded with some relaxing quiet.... Hell.. After 5 minutes of non-stop butchery, you'd want some quiet too.... The ground was literally teeming with body parts.... Those that didn't fade away anyway.. Certain campaigns are actually merry go rounds where you end right where you started.... only after accomplishing certain objectives.... heh...
On to the infecteds..... The old specials are still there... With some additions.... Those are the Charger, the Spitter, the Jockey, and certain few that I have no name for.... Chargers are like incomplete tanks in the sense that they have 1 Tank arm and they will come running at you while making a sound like a rhino's roar.. If you got hit with no team mate around, you're screwed.... You can't react at all while in his grip.. To top it off, if your team is tightly grouped while he hit ya, there's a distinct probability that he'd be able to scoop all of ya and kill ya.... Coz there's no getting away from his grip save your team mate killing im.... Spitters are like Boomers that they spit stuff at you... But Spitter spit is dangerous.... Hot dangerous.... And when they die, they leave a pool of goo on the floor for a while.... The Jockey.. Thats a no brainer.. Jockey are little child sized zombies that will jump on your backs and ride you like a cowbow, all the while shaking his ass on your head.. If on the ground, its not so dangerous, excepting throwing yourself into a Tank's path, but on a roof top ledge?? deadly.. Expecially if your team is a bit slow.. Other than that, there's a zombie cop that wears kevlar and is invulnerable.... From the front that is... I once spent 4 clips of rifle on that ass just to see how much he could take and he was still alive.. The only way I know of to kill him is to push him away and try to get a shot at his back.. Seems all that armor was only at the front.... After all 4 clips is just too expensive on a simple zombie....
Btw, to all witch hunters out there, witch are no longer stationary.. Though certain may be.. Now the spend their time walking around the neighbourhood.... So my advise? try putting a few sniper rounds in their head before you pump em full with rifles or shotguns.... There's even a particular campaign where you'd meet almost 8 witches.. And all of em are at the same time.. Made for a very nervous and dark trip I'll tell you that... Hunters improvement are mainly graphic and the same can be said of Smokers. Tank?? Big improvement.. Don't hide behind a car.. That Tank would just lift that car up and throw it at ya.. Instant Incapacitation.... And it seems the developer are getting a bit evil.... There was this stage where after I killed a Tank, another directly spawned behind it.... And that was when I thought we had a clear run to the heli.... damn........
Items,, same explosives with the addition of the Boomer Bile.... Acts like boomer spit... Attracts attention and not just on yourself.... I actually used this to good effect against a Tank by getting a zombie horde to attack him instead of me... So I managed to get some shots at him while he was blocked by the zombies..... The Defibrilator is a form of health... But it's only useful for reviving dead players..... There's also the Adrenaline Shot.. A mix of pain pills and steroids... Makes your actions SLIGHTLY faster....
I think that just about covers it.. If I missed anything, let me know and I'll add it into this post later....
See ya...
