Left 4 Dead 2: What’s New?

At this point, I’m pretty sure everyone’s aware about Valve’s new mod, er, sequel for the popular zombie shoot-em-up, Left 4 Dead 2. There’s lots of controversy, whining and general bickering out there about the release of this game so soon after the first. Well, for anyone wondering what’s new, here’s a new video interview with Valve sporting a few highlights from the upcoming game. So, is it new enough for you?

Written by

I write about samurai girls and space marines. Writer for Smooth Few Films. Rooster Teeth Freelancer. Author of Red vs. Blue, The Ultimate Fan Guide, out NOW!

14 thoughts on “Left 4 Dead 2: What’s New?”

  1. Oh, I see what you did thar.

    Yeah, Left 4 Dead 2 is shaping up to be a more well-rounded product than those on the Steam forums originally thought. New Infected, “common uncommon” (love that term), melee weapons, parachutists…good times. Might actually consider picking this up. Left 4 Dead LAN with my friends is still a ridiculously good time.

    I’m not liking the new survivors though. Could they at least act like they’re the least bit scared? At this point, when they see a tank they’ll probably have a “yawning” sound file.

  2. As I’ve seen posted numerous times, I already paid for the beta of this game. Unlike L4D1, this looks like an actual complete game – not that L4D wasn’t fun, it just wasn’t worth $40-$60.
    Unfortunately, instead of feeling happy about the new game that is actually a game, I just feel like a shmuck for buying the first one.
    Also, slightly on topic, don’t know if y’all had heard, but there’s also some controversy about Valve nabbing ideas for new special infected from their forums, namely the spitter and charger. And on that subject, it’s great that Valve includes user input, but…at least give credit where credit is due.

  3. This sorta feels like the left for dead they MEANT to release last year. It still feels like the first, same typical action, same graphics, same chaos (not to say that those things needs to change) but through quick glance there’s nothing iconic and new that I can immediately differentiate it to the first one.

    Fallout 3 DLC had about just as much change and nuance to the main game as much as L4D2 has to L4D. Maybe it will turn out to be more than just DLC material, but thought that the first L4D could have used the attention given to it’s sequel. I believe that this will be better than the first but only in a small way.

    And can anyone else explain to me how a full fledged sequel takes an tenth of the time it takes to make a single sort-of-game considered to part of an episodic trilogy?

  4. Well, L4D2 is shaping up to be awesome. I knew Valve had some new stuff ready for the sequel. As long as the Spitter’s spit isn’t too powerful, it sounds like a cool way to keep the Survivors moving, since before the Infected didn’t have much of a long-range guy, even though the Smoker did have kind of a long tounge. Anyway, the uncommon common Infected sounds like a great idea, and will keep things spiced up. New weapons sound like fun, particularly the Thumper and Cricket Bat.
    The parachutist idea will definitely keep gameplay fun.
    I hope that Valve has several new Campaigns (aka, more than 4 at launch) and actually adds a lot of content in the future. Pardon me, FREE content. Meh, maybe they can throw in a $10 one that includes several new campaigns or something.
    But I think the thing I’m going to miss the most from L4D is the characters. I got so attached to Bill, Francis, Louis, and Zoey. I just hope these new assholes, Coach, Rochelle, Ellis, and Chet will have as much flavor, because they seem sorta bland from here, but maybe they’ll get better.

    So I can’t wait for L4D2. I’ll sell back L4D in exchange for L4D2 at a lower price. Maybe. If I can part with Bill and Louis.

    Sniff…I’ll miss “Pills here!”…

  5. Ya know what this looks like to me? The crappy sequal of the original zombie-blockbuster hit. Take the original, add new looking weapons, new looking infected, and new looking maps. This is the same game, but where the original was a solid game in it own right, the sequal added all the trivial bells and whistles and new skins we neither want nor need. Ever feel as if someone was trying to sell you the exact same product you already have by making it look ‘cooler’? No? Well now you have.
    It’s the same bill of goods, people, and for the most part it is even less credable than it ought to be. Spitter? Oh, a female boomer that… is essentially a flame thower. Sure, I can see how they want to solve camping, but have any of you ever found that camping was the only thing between yourself and replaying the entire level on expert difficulty all over again? What about finales on expert? Did anyone not hunker down? And seriously… burning goo? C’mooooon… you can do better than that!
    Extra weapons! Great! Wait… weren’t all the old weapons superbly balanced anyway(other than the uzi, which everyone knew was el’ terrible)? AK-47, that’s cool, but unless you have CSS weapon handling, will the difference between an AK and an M16 even be noticable? Also, did I not see a SILENCED uzi that was giving off a lot of muzzle flash and noise?

    Its nice to see that our new band of survivors can’t swim…

    And what’s with the Parachutist? In a zombie apocalypse, what kind of nut jumps out of a plane ALONE? Gotta say, I would have hoped for a better concept than that when it comes to horror games…

    I was hoping for new teamplay elements, like maybe having the ability to share ammo with someone who is out, or maybe slowly drag an incapped to safety. Nupe, guess not.
    At least I know what game I will not be buying this year.

  6. LOL everyone was fuming about this whining on about how they’re being charged for a new game (ooh shocker!) and now they’re in love with Valve again! In a month they’ll like the characters and stop the claims about how they’re lifeless/soul-less/whatever-other-less characters and how Valve were right to ship A COMPLETELY NEW GAME for them to enjoy. I’ve seen plenty of people asking Valve to speed up their development process (eg. telling them to hurry up with Ep 3) and they get a sequel to the best zombie game in ages. Spoilt brats. Think how sad me and Anthony are. You selfish bastards.

  7. @CAPTAIN CANADA.

    I’d give valve a chance before I say “I will not be buy this game”. I mean come on, its valve, since when have they just re-skinned a game and released it. the spitter does not look like a female boomer to me because it does not look like it calls a horde on you It just makes you rethink where you want to hold up. plus who says that valve cant come up with more weapons and not be able to superbly balance them? the mud man also sounds like a good addition. Valve has also said that they still have more that they are going to announce soon. I am not saying that this will make it as good or any better than l4d1, heck it could suck, I am just saying that one should give valve a chance before trashing a game

  8. i think this game looks superb. the only thing that made me think a little was that two characters are named Chet and Ellis. Were have i heard those names before? oh does anyone know how much this is being sold for?

  9. I’m still loving the whole “waah, they’re making this instead of episode three” thing some people display. How long did HL2 take? Six years. Yeah. Everyone bitched about that and when it came out EVERYBODY sung its praises. Until it takes about three years to release from Ep. 2, be quiet. This is supposed to be the end. Wouldn’t you be pissed if the finale you bought turned out to be crap? I would too. Let Valve finish the job.

    On the topic of L4D2 whiners, there’s always been people bitching about Valve’s choices, but when the game comes out, they love it. Without fail. Most just won’t admit it. And you know what? It’s not like Valve just thought “hey, lets withdraw most of the content and charge them for a sequel for the rest”, the made the first game, people loved it, then they decided a sequel was in order because they just couldn’t patch in all the stuff they wanted to add. And honestly, with all the stuff they’re adding, five campaigns, new infected, weapons, etc, how do people think they should be entitled to a freaking DISCOUNT on L4D2? It boggles the mind how demanding people get.

  10. “At this point, I’m pretty sure everyone’s aware about Valve’s new mod, er, sequel for the popular zombie shoot-em-up, Left 4 Dead 2.”

    Ah, best part of that article =D And I have to say, that spitter looks like it’ll be annoying as hell, and, pardon my french, but it also creeps the shit out of me. It looks like that guy from “The Thing” with Kurt Russel (sp?) You know, the fat guy whose head extends when he’s on the metal table O.o

Comments are closed.