Left4Dead 2

LEFT4DEAD 2

Do you enjoy zombie video games? Did you have a blast seeing the movie Zombieland? Did you like the original Left4Dead? Do you love co-op video games? If you answered, yes, to any of those questions, then please go cop Left4Dead 2 immediately. The developer here, Valve, has been known as one of the best in video games for years, with classics like Counterstrike, Half Life, Team Fortress 2, The Orange Box and Left4Dead under their belt. If you play this game just by yourself, then you might not see what all the hype is about. It was made to be played with others, whether you are doing co-op campaign missions or you are playing Versus Mode.

This time there are four survivor characters, they include:
- Coach, who looks like Shaq and is a high school football coach with a bad knee (voiced by Chad Coleman)
- Rochelle, an assistant reporting on the evacuation for a local TV station (voiced Rochelle Aytes)
- Ellis, a mechanic who makes hick remarks (voiced by Eric Ladin)
- Nick, who looks like a young Italian gangster (voiced by Hugh Dillon)

Left4Dead 2 has upped the ante in every single way possible. The game is also much harder this time around. There are now melee weapons (which provide very gruesome deaths for the zombies), more guns in general, as well as new add-ons for guns and new kinds of ammo (incediary, etc). On top of all that, there are new modes for online play, improved graphics, and some aweswome death animations! Another HUGE addition is the weather engine that brings some crazy rain and storms that make it hard to see and move.

In this sequel there are five campaigns (one more than in the original) and they feature some awesome locations. My favorite is the Carnival Level where you find yourself fighting zombies in an amusement park and even on a rollercoaster track. Did you watch Zombieland and say to yourself, "I would love to play a video game where you're fighting zombies in an amusement park!" I sure did, and this is like a dream come true. There is also one level that has you running across this huge damaged bridge and there are hundreds of zombies chasing you...loads of fun.

The action is intense and teamwork is a must to survive the zombie apocalypse. Some games you can just do everything solo, but that is not the case here. A lot of people where pissed off that Valve made another Left4Dead a year after the first one came out, but that's not an issue for me at all. They have improved on the original by listening to the issues that people had with it. There is not much of a storyline here, but that didn't really matter. I need a good plot in an RPG game or a drama film, but this is a zombie game where you are the last people alive...not much of a story is needed.

You can get Left4Dead 2 for Xbox 360 or PC. Both versions have the same gameplay and the same content. But if you have the choice, I would suggest the PC version, as it runs better, has better graphics, and has the ability to make and play your own missions like the first Left4Dead.

My only complaint about Left4Dead 2 really has more to do more with the online community than the game itself. A lot of people seem to quit Versus Mode if they start to get their ass whooped. It would be nice if somehow Valve could punish people for quitting, instead of just showing how many times someone has quit. Make the quitters lose access to a weapon or something like that. If you are going to quit whenever you get beat, then just play the co-op campaigns and don't come online.

Need some excitement during the holidays? How about stopping the zombie apocalypse?