L4D2 has exceeded all expectations - nice job Valve

[Mark_X]

I played L4D2 demo four or five times through with some friends last night (360). It exceeded all expectations- there was new energy in our teamplay. First impressions of the preview videos a few months ago made it seem almost campy and cartoonish. Actual gameplay is anything but.

1. Gameplay really does change each time through - certain doors are blocked or unblocked each time you play, forcing you to adapt on the fly. You won't be taking same route through map every time. This may just be the end of "rushing".

2. The new throwables (i.e. boomer bile) and powerups (adrenaline needle) are great, as are some of the big open environments of the 2nd parish map.

3. There are about 4x as many weapons in L4D2 as the first game- each class of weapon has at least 4 variations, and the locations with weapons contain different ones each time you play. Example there are four different Tier2 machine guns (AK-47, M16, etc) and even two sniper rifles- the bigger military one simply owns. Many more- even a defibrillator to revive a dead teammate- too funny.

4. 8 special infected coming at you randomly means you can't use static strategy like L4D1, i.e. no more "boomer's dead" thinking you don't have to worry about him 25 secs until respawn, because the female boomer could be right around the corner.

5. The "uncommon common" are a real pain. They're like "boss" common infected, each campaign has different ones (i.e. clowns), in Parish it's SWAT uniformed guys that you have to shoot in the back or they take a long time to go down and just keep getting up and coming at you.

That only scratches the surface- i.e. the spitter throwing a puddle down right at the saferoom entrance killing three of us on our last legs was hilarious. Overall impression is there's no reason Valve needed to make this game a mere "expansion" for L4D1 - it's very much standalone, very different, just awesome.

Can't wait to see the graphics on the PC version in a few hours, and can't wait to see grenade launcher, chainsaw, explosive ammo, laser sights, etc in the final game (they don't appear in demo).

VERDICT: VALVE has put the "fun" back in L4D again.

[yikomaka]

Damn, from what you have said I can't wait for the demo to come out now. I really hope though that they give us a lot of DLC for L4D2 as it sounds like what they wanted L4D1 to be like on launch.

Like I would be very happy even if it was just more guns to use so it kept it random or more maps etc.

Hell, I would even pay for a DLC.

[Whiskey990]

Haha hey this is fun for me to read! I don't get to play until after work tonight so I'm having fun with the forums...

1.)Awesome! That will promote teamwork and less "DEAD RUSHING" which I was never a big fan of

2.) I never saw those in action but they sound like a ton of fun!

3.) Woo-hoo! I want that big sniper!

4.) 8? So multiplayer allows eight specials? and four main players now?

WhiskEEe

[Th3N0rrisChuck]

nice little review and a constructive post.
+rep for you man

[krietzenkriel]

Wait, you can revive dead players using a defibrillator now? Haha, I didn't know that. Sounds awesome.

[mthe1337one]

well as i understand it from a few weeks ago, it was never the intention of the original L4D2 online petition to stop people from buying the new game. it was mainly centered around the fact that they simply wanted valve to support the ORIGINAL L4D post-release of the new sequel that we're all eagerly anticipating.

personally i'm actually content with the amount of stuff that has already released for L4D1.

also, thanks for your quick synopsis of the demo. can't wait for it to be released, and hopefully any kinks have been ironed out that were preventing the demo from being released yesterday.

[wutnowsucka29]

Are you telling me Boomer and Boomette are treated as different SI in terms of spawning?

Whoa...

[Toughsox]

Originally Posted by yikomaka

Hell, I would even pay for a DLC.

Oh, but you already are. All this L4D2 stuff should have been FREE DLC for L4D1...but we all know how that went.

[NT78stonewobble]

Sounds good... Looking forward to it

EDIT: Besides all the moaning around. I still think valve makes awesome quality games.

Owning: hl, hlpfor, hl:blueshift, hl2, hl2:ep1, hl2:ep2, lostcoast, condition zero / deleted scenes, counterstrike, cs:source, hl:source, tfc,
tf2, portal, l4d and soon l34d too... Did I miss anyone ?

[steveroger]

Originally Posted by Mark_X

I played L4D2 four or five times through with some friends last night (360). It exceeded all expectations. First impressions of the preview videos a few months ago made it seem almost campy and cartoonish. Actual gameplay is anything but.

1. Gameplay really does change each time through - certain doors are blocked or unblocked each time you play, forcing you to adapt on the fly. You won't be taking same route through map every time.

2. The new throwables and powerups are awesome (boomer bile, adrenaline), as are some of the big open environments of the 2nd parish map.

3. There are about 4x as many weapons in L4D2 as the first game, and locations with weapons always have different ones each time you play. There are four T2 machine guns (AK-47, M16, etc) and even two sniper rifles- the bigger military one simply owns. Many more- even a defibrillator to revive dead players- too funny!

4. 8 special infected coming at you randomly means you can't use static strategy like L4D1, i.e. no more "boomer's dead" thinking you don't have to worry about him 25 secs until respawn, because the female boomer could be right around the corner.

That only scratches the surface- i.e. the spitter throwing a puddle down right at the saferoom entrance killing three of us on our last legs was hilarious. Overall impression is there's no reason Valve needed to make this game a mere "expansion" for L4D1 - it's very much standalone, very different, just awesome.

Lastly I don't believe these "boycotters" are actually going to hold out buying the game. In fact I'm convinced they were the first ones to preorder, but that's another story. If they don't they're seriously missing out.

Can't wait to see the graphics on the PC version in a few hours, and can't wait to see rocket launcher, chainsaw, explosive ammo, etc in the final game (they don't appear in demo).

Sounds great. But it wasn't neccessary to mention the boycotters. They will obviously say that sure L4D2 is a great game, but it is one at the expense of support to L4D.

Anyway, this is will be awesome, once unlocked. I am curious how much we will play this demo over L4D. I suppose L4D will become a ghost town. LOL. It is already barely populated in the wee hours of the morning accross America. I mean the number of servers is tiny.

I suppose what Valve is doing is taking the infrastructure that supported L4D at it's height and applying those resources to L4D2. That is a pretty nice business plan. But again indicates the boycotters issues.

However, what I hope, like you have explained that L4D2 is so different that we will all basically forget about L4D. It sounds like many were wrong to equate L4D as TF2 when really L4D is more akin to the original TF line. Therefore, what I hope is that L4D2 becomes the platform to build on like Valve does with TF2 support.

I here mentions of L4D3 and even that tweet from Gabe that he is exhausted dealing with L4D2 and will take one day off until working on L4D3. I wonder if the whole boycott L4D2 will sprout then upon an announcment of L4D3. But will we hear about another sequel within 9 month of L4D2. I suppose that is of course conjecture. But it seems like L42 should last longer than 9 months before we think about a new game.

[KazooieBanjo]

Originally Posted by Toughsox

Oh, but you already are. All this L4D2 stuff should have been FREE DLC for L4D1...but we all know how that went.

You should boycott Valve. That'll totally work.

[stepha_t]

Boomette ? female boomer? do you mean the spitter?

[KazooieBanjo]

Originally Posted by stepha_t

Boomette ? female boomer? do you mean the spitter?

No, it's as bad as you think it is.

FEMALE BOOMER.

[Isy]

Originally Posted by Mark_X

Can't wait to see the graphics on the PC version in a few hours, and can't wait to see rocket launcher, chainsaw, explosive ammo, etc in the final game (they don't appear in demo).

Originally Posted by Mark_X

and can't wait to see rocket launcher, chainsaw, explosive ammo, etc in the final game (they don't appear in demo).

Originally Posted by Mark_X

and can't wait to see rocket launcher.

Originally Posted by Mark_X

rocket launcher.

Did I miss something? There's a rocket launcher?

[Mark_X]

Originally Posted by Isy

Did I miss something? There's a rocket launcher?

i misspoke, and fixed my post- it's a grenade launcher, NOT a rocket launcher.