360 Review – Left 4 Dead 2

11/27/2009 Written by Anthony Severino

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Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox 360 is the sequel to 2008’s well-received zombie survival shooter Left 4 Dead. Developed and published by Valve, Left 4 Dead 2 aims to expand on the content provided in the original game by putting forth new characters, maps, weapons, and a pretty noticeable face lift.

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Let’s get the graphics out of the way, shall we? Left 4 Dead 2 runs at 720p native, and with some definite enhancements over the first game in the visual department. The framerate is very consistent with dips only occurring in split-screen play or when there’s huge amounts of enemies on screen killed by a pipe bomb. Lighting remains fully dynamic, with nice shadows cast by flashlights and muzzle flashes. Good-looking HDR lighting is present, and the textures have also seen some improvement. It feels like there’s a lot more use of nice shaders, especially on weapons and characters. Animations have also been spruced up, with zombies generally being slightly more agile instead of running directly at you. A last, but very worthy mention, is motion blur. Even though the game has a plenty fast framerate, motion blur really adds a nice subtle smoothness to the game that’s appealing to the eye. With the most popular titles nowadays (like Halo 3, Uncharted 2, Gears of War 2, etc) sporting motion blur…I’m fairly confident it’s an effect that’s here to stay.

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Audio has been given some TLC as well; many of the zombie types have interesting and actually pretty creepy new voices. For instance, the smoker sounds quite different and much more…well, ‘freaky’ I guess would be the proper word. Boomers sound pretty much the same, as well as hunters, but the addition of the new specials such as Chargers, Jockeys and Spitters will have you listening for, and memorizing, their identifying voices within no time at all. Sound plays a big part in Left 4 Dead 2, because smart players will hear the sound of a special from quite a distance and can properly warn the team to be on the look out. This doesn’t really apply to a Tank though, because quite honestly, if you can’t see your whole screen shaking and stuff flying around…you’ve clearly got no sense of awareness. Weapon sounds are quite new this time around, thanks to…new weapons for the most part. There’s new handguns and new rifles. There’s several weapons in each class in L4D 2, so you don’t feel so restricted like the first game, where only 2 sets of weapons (basic and advanced) were offered. Characters are well-voiced and fun to listen to, although just like the first game, their banter is unfortunately limited, so you’ll hear a lot of the same one-liners many times throughout your play experience. Although I’ll always miss hearing “PILLS HERE!” being shouted by Bill in Left 4 Dead 1.

Controls are…for the lack of a fancier word, identical. Nothing new to report here.

Weapons have changed a bit due to one huge addition: Melee. Axes, crowbars and nightsticks, oh my! Frying pans, cricket bats, machetes, katanas…pick your poison and whack away. Melee weapons are extremely effective when at least a couple of you are equipped with them. The reason I say this is because of the newly-animated zombies…it’s advisable to have a partner with a melee weapon supporting you due to the fact that enemies will, most of the time, try and encircle you. Believe me when I say the AI has a knack for accomplishing that…all the time. Besides the nice and fresh addition of melee weapons, there’s a few more weapons in each class, therefore adding a little more variety to the gunplay. There seem to be many more instances of areas containing several waves of zombies, so it’s nice to have a melee weapon to fall back on when you’ve inevitably run out of ammo.

Along with new weapons in each class, there are several new pick-ups and the introduction of “deployables”. These are explosive and incendiary ammo types, and are of great assistance to players, albeit the amount of this ammo is very limited; understandable though, because copious amounts of these special ammo types would render players with a huge advantage over the zombies for the rest of the game.

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Naturally, we still have your run-of-the-mill pipe bombs and molotovs, and your regular pills and med kits, but now we’ve got the addition of bio bombs (boomer bile used to attract enemies away from you or onto a specific baddie), adrenaline (makes you faster for a small amount of time) and a defibrillator (used to revive dead teammates). These new additions to Left 4 Dead 2 each have their important uses, and when used properly, will carry a team to well-deserved victory over the zombie horde.

So now that we’ve got the specifics covered, let’s move on to the campaign and multiplayer.

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(5 votes, average: 3.80 out of 5)

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4 Responses to “360 Review – Left 4 Dead 2”

Adam Wolfe Says:
November 27th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Nice review I just wish they would of waited more then a year to release a new one.
Kerveen Flores Says:
November 27th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Nice review John. I was surprised you gave it that score to be honest, this game got a lot of flak, but it really looks fun.

John VanderSchuit says
11/28/2009 at 12:57 am
I realized that you can pick at individual parts of Left 4 Dead 2 and be disappointed, but these parts together form cohesively to make an overall better game than Left 4 Dead 1.
mrro82 Says:
November 30th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Nice review. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one.
Jeff Belote Says:
January 4th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
I love this game!!! My wife and I play it together when we can. I never played the first before this. After playing this game I had to buy the first one too.