Left 4 Dead 2 - Demo Review!! :D (For real this time)

Left 4 Dead 2 is a funny premise for a sequel, on paper. "It's Left 4 Dead 1 - with melee weapons and sunlight and more shooty guns!!" essentially wraps up describing it, which is odd. And makes sense why people would vow to boycott it. So I'm gonna say the worst first: it's Left 4 Dead 1 with melee weapons, sunlight, and more shooty guns.

Left 4 Dead 2 takes place in Blackville, USA. No, wait. New Orleans. Which is fun, because it means our principle cast of four survivors, includes 2 African Americans. The diversity of race (we've got 2 African Americans, 1 Italian and 1 very annoying grime which probably evolved from the pus scraped out from under the kitchen sink... Ellis, buddy, I'm lookin' at you) is, funnily, enough to make the game already a hell of a lot better than Left 4 Dead 1.

Right into the thick of it, Left 4 Dead 2's gameplay s gnarly. Lots of shooting, lots of whacking, lots of blood splatter and on-screen mayhem. It looks much more exciting than Left 4 Dead 1, and the pacing is improved muchly (for example, the No Mercy hospital chapter in L4D1 always seemed to drag on longer than it should've.) The locations are more diverse this time around, from the empty bars complete with playable jukeboxes to disaster-strewn underpasses; all filled with blood-hungry Infected, with nothing on their minds more than "braaaiiinnnss." Presumably.

The demo itself is insanely short. I know it's a bit drab for me to be complaining about the value of a "free" demo, but when it's offered as a VIP pass for pre-orders it makes you question... why do we need it a week early anyways? It's only 2 maps long (which is half a map longer than L4D1's demo), and it contains all the Special Infected present in the full game. Beyond that, there's not a lot to increase it's longevity. I'm gonna make a bet, it won't stay fresh all this "bonus" week.

That said, the new AI Director is a flawed yet magnificent beast. The level is changed on-the-fly every time you play, which resulted in, unfortunately, me on my second time through, searching for a doorway which, thanks to the AI Director 2.0, no longer existed. Poop. The rate at which the Special Infected spawn also seems to have been radically altered: for instance, the Charger (a semi-tank, semi-bulldozer, incredibly fast Special Infected) seemed to appear almost every 5 minutes when I played, and acted as nothing more than a minor annoyance each time. The Jockey, too, is an incredibly infuriating new Infected, and goes on my list of "worst things to add to the game". However, the character model for the Jockey is gleefully evil. Reminds of The Darkness's gremlins. I loved those little guys.

Left 4 Dead 2 is looking like a brilliant game. This demo only further cemented this fact, and there's no doubt L4D2 will be one of the year's best titles. And who knows? Maybe the demo's longevity has been massively underestimated. It could be that in a weeks time all us VIPs will still be playing it with the same fresh perspective as the first time around, thanks to the frankly impressive way the AI Director 2.0 shakes up the game's already unique world. To be completely honest, I'm looking forward to finding out. This is the benchmark we'll judge L4D2 on, and so far, it's looking fantastic.

On a side note, and to rub some salt into Aussie pre-orderer's non-bloody wounds, the level of gore in this game is astronomical. You can probably no doubt tell from the screenshots. Shotgun shells tear through the zombie's skin like very bony bloody butter and blow off their limbs with frightening detail; the very powerful (and fun!) military-grade assault rifle's shells are even more devastating (somehow) and create more decapitations than any axe-wielding murderer could ever hope to replicate in his lifetime. It's gritty. It's awful. It's brilliant.

This is my most anticipated game of 2009.