Left 4 Dead 2 - now $6.80 on Steam!

[JCvgluvr]

So, is this an "A" type of sequel, or "B" type of sequel? By that, I mean:

A) Very little is different. The game feels and plays mostly the same. It feels like L4D with new skins. It gets old much quicker than L4D1. The new characters, story and music feel different, and much worse in comparison.

Substantial differences. The game feels and plays the same in some ways, and different in many ways. It feels like a true sequel, and Valve really did try their best in just one year of development time. The new characters, story and music feel different, but not worse than L4D1.

If it's B, I'll be ecstatic!

[atmuh]

its pretty much exactly the same as the first one except i hated that and am enjoying this so take that however way you want

[Bahamut]

Try the demo - that should give you enough info.

[atmuh]

Try the demo - that should give you enough info.

imo not really

i didnt really enjoy the demo at all

[Abu]

Honestly, I felt it to be closer to an "A" type sequel than "B". Tons of things from L4D1 are there (such as recycled items, sound effects, textures, models) making the game feel more like an expansion pack than a new game. Some of the new weapons are damn near literal re-skins of the old ones (assault shotgun and sniper rifle come to mind) and they handle exactly like their L4D1 parents who also happen to be in the game as well. Subjectively, I didn't find the new characters to be nearly as entertaining as the first 4.

The new infected are great and really help to fill out the (previously) lacking enemy roster. They've definitely improved their map making skills both in terms of design and objective complexity. The director AI is reportedly better, but I admit I didn't have enough playing time to really see any differences. Being able to swap your secondary pistol out for a different sidearm or melee weapon is a nice touch too.

I didn't get a chance at versus mode, but I get the impression that if vs. is really your thing, this game is far superior to the first, if only for the extra special infected.

If you liked L4D1 and are just finding it to be a bit stale now, you'll probably like L4D2. I didn't find it to be worthy of a $50 price tag, though.

(I played the xbox360 version at a friend's house. Get the PC version if at all possible)

[Brushfire]

Honestly, I felt it to be closer to an "A" type sequel than "B". Tons of things from L4D1 are there (such as recycled items, sound effects, textures, models) making the game feel more like an expansion pack than a new game. Some of the new weapons are damn near literal re-skins of the old ones (assault shotgun and sniper rifle come to mind) and they handle exactly like their L4D1 parents who also happen to be in the game as well. Subjectively, I didn't find the new characters to be nearly as entertaining as the first 4.

The new infected are great and really help to fill out the (previously) lacking enemy roster. They've definitely improved their map making skills both in terms of design and objective complexity. The director AI is reportedly better, but I admit I didn't have enough playing time to really see any differences. Being able to swap your secondary pistol out for a different sidearm or melee weapon is a nice touch too.

I didn't get a chance at versus mode, but I get the impression that if vs. is really your thing, this game is far superior to the first, if only for the extra special infected.

If you liked L4D1 and are just finding it to be a bit stale now, you'll probably like L4D2. I didn't find it to be worthy of a $50 price tag, though.

(I played the xbox360 version at a friend's house. Get the PC version if at all possible)

I disagree with you Abu, and not in the way atmuh does.

I support my disagreement, and here is how:

The AI has been improved for the Special infected by quite a bit, almost to the point of being cheap. I also felt the AI for the regular infected seemed a bit "smarter" too.

The maps are much less generic than the previous game too. With the exception of the swamp campaign, every one felt like a very unique.

Characters even have more personality than the previous game, and while not fully fleshed out, I felt that they were more a team than L4D1's d00d.

I feel that the biggest shining moments are the finales. Absolutley amazing. There hasn't been a single one thus far that I didn't like.

Now the whole mad dash panic events are a bit too often in my opinion (since I have time to spell out the acronym). They dont have very many tradeoffs with the whole holding down the fort panic event. Also the mad dash ones seem to have never ending rushes. Even after alarms are disabled and what not (I am looking at you Dark Carnival).

I haven't tried Versus yet, but I have high hopes that it wont be so heavily balenced towards the Infected side.

[Brushfire]

i built someone a pretty decent pc for the price of a 360

when you think about it that isnt that expensive

And by someone, you mean no one right?

[Kiyobi]

I'm not grabbing L4D2.

Mainly because L4D1 scared the crap out of me. Almost literally.

[atmuh]

I disagree with you Abu, and not in the way atmuh does.

I support my disagreement, and here is how:

The AI has been improved for the Special infected by quite a bit, almost to the point of being cheap. I also felt the AI for the regular infected seemed a bit "smarter" too.

The maps are much less generic than the previous game too. With the exception of the swamp campaign, every one felt like a very unique.

Characters even have more personality than the previous game, and while not fully fleshed out, I felt that they were more a team than L4D1's d00d.

I feel that the biggest shining moments are the finales. Absolutley amazing. There hasn't been a single one thus far that I didn't like.

Now the whole mad dash panic events are a bit too often in my opinion (since I have time to spell out the acronym). They dont have very many tradeoffs with the whole holding down the fort panic event. Also the mad dash ones seem to have never ending rushes. Even after alarms are disabled and what not (I am looking at you Dark Carnival).

I haven't tried Versus yet, but I have high hopes that it wont be so heavily balenced towards the Infected side.

the things you listed arent really huge gameplay changes

basically what you said is that it looks a little nicer and plays a little better, which it does

its still incredibly similar to l4d, its just that all the little changes that were made make the l4d concept actually fun this time

and man i just played through the finale of dark carnival 8 times on advanced to get that dumb gnome achievement that was difficult

speaking of the gnome i cant believe they gave him that stupid "awesome face"

[atmuh]

uh really guys im not saying i built them some crazy pc its halfway decent but nothing super special

i forget the specs but it plays tf2 and l4d just fine (not on super high settings obviously)

I'm not grabbing L4D2.

Mainly because L4D1 scared the crap out of me. Almost literally.

really?

i scare rather easy and as a result dont play many horror games or watch horror movies but l4d i find more funny than scary

[Dr. Tran!]

That's uh. Not the awesome face.

[atmuh]

the eyes are going the wrong way but come on it is

[Brushfire]

Yeah but you keep saying that 350 bux is not much.

Most people don't have 350 bux lying around.

Therefore, computers are expensive.

So nyah!!

[Doulifée]

it's Gordon's gnome, he is back from space, show some respect.

[Level 99]

After all the issues I had trying to get this thing to work (and it ended up being a compound issue of Windows 7 64-bit, AVG, AND Steam, I must say I was very impressed with the final. It's hard to describe every difference but, for the most-part, everything is improved and built-upon. The difficulty feels a LOT harder on-average though, and as Brush pointed out, those panic events and Special Infected rushes come a bit too often. On normal difficulty, there were some moments where we'd killed two Special infected and a Horde just to have another three Special infected come around followed by another Horde. It's still do-able, but it seems like they're assuming much more previous-play of the game. Also, voice chat is a near-necessity now, as frantic typing has never worked and sticking together and working as a group is the least-likely approach to failure. Maybe I was just pissed off with all my getting-the-game-to-work issues, but regardless, still very fun.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

So Gamestop has a trade in deal that if you trade in two eligible games(PS3, 360, Wii), you can grab a new game like Dragon Age, Halo:ODST, Brutal Legend, or Left 4 Dead 2 for 20 bucks.

I shall be joining in on the zombie killing post haste.

[atmuh]

Yeah but you keep saying that 350 bux is not much.

Most people don't have 350 bux lying around.

Therefore, computers are expensive.

So nyah!!

they are inexpensive in that its the same price as a console so you dont have an excuse to "buy a console because it is cheaper"

[Bahamut]

So some people have noticed these social groups - come join in here L4D/L4D2 people: http://ocremix.org/forums/group.php?groupid=2

[Native Jovian]

(I played the xbox360 version at a friend's house. Get the PC version if at all possible)

Explain this.

[Doulifée]

we sucked hard in scavenger mode. need more training and team play.

[big giant circles]

Dude, that is a freaking AWESOME sig.

[Bahamut]

The dialogue in the game is a lot more fresh in this game...for example, when we were doing the swamp campaign last night, we heard Coach say "Shh, I hear a bitch" when a witch was near - I did a double take because I did not expect that, but surely enough I wasn't the only one to hear it.

Just something for people to note while they're playing.

[Doulifée]

The dialogue in the game is a lot more fresh in this game...for example, when we were doing the swamp campaign last night, we heard Coach say "Shh, I hear a bitch" when a witch was near - I did a double take because I did not expect that, but surely enough I wasn't the only one to hear it.

Just something for people to note while they're playing.

"That sounds like my ex-wife." is my favorite so far (It's Nick).

also i have french voice so it's different

[atmuh]

The dialogue in the game is a lot more fresh in this game...for example, when we were doing the swamp campaign last night, we heard Coach say "Shh, I hear a bitch" when a witch was near - I did a double take because I did not expect that, but surely enough I wasn't the only one to hear it.

Just something for people to note while they're playing.

yeah some of the stuff is pretty comical

[Vivi22]

Thanks to the new infected I'm liking versus a lot more in this game than I did in L4D. I always used to get stuck as a Hunter or a Boomer and I sucked at both. Not that I was much better as a Smoker mind you, but I'm enjoying the other three enough that I don't want to quit everytime I spawn as the original three. I suppose that means I'll probably stop sucking with them after a while.