As you all well know, I love a good zombie game. Or zombie movie for that matter. It’s the only genre where you can cheerfully kill of thousands of enemy “humans” and no one will bat an eye. Think about it, if you replaced the word zombie with the word Jew, Arab, or Irish people would be up in arms about how terrible and racist these games were. But, since they’re zombies, everyone cheers you on.

Last year, Valve, put out a zombie apocalypse game, the first Left 4 Dead. The original L4D followed a simple and venerable premise; you cannot stop the zombie apocalypse; you can only hope to survive it. And, it did that job really well. The game created an interesting world that was a lot of fun to pay in.

Now, almost exactly one year later they’ve released a follow up game, cleverly titles Left 4 Dead 2. Now, I know what you’re thinking; “Abraxas, if Left 4 Dead came out last year, and this sequel is out a year later how can I view this as anything other than a naked money grab?”

And, you know what, that’s a fair question.

So, how could a follow up game put out a year later be anything but worse? It’s not advertised as an expansion, which I would expect, but as its own complete game. How the hell can they even think about putting a full game out as a sequel that fast?

I mean, if the first game was Dawn of the Dead in its coolness, then I expected this game to be like Gangs of the Dead or Hillbilly Zombie or maybe even Flight of the Living Dead.

Wow, I have seen a lot of zombie movies.

Anyway.

I did not expect anything out of Left 4 Dead 2 other than some new snappy lines with the same characters, and a new set of boards to murder zombies on. What I got was something different. Yeah, as it turns out, L4D2 is a fully rounded game that ups the ante of the first game, and delivers on the action. Who knew?

With L4D2, the story is pretty light, the game is really meant for multi-player action. You’re 4 survivors left behind on a rooftop. In the middle of a zombie plague. And, you’ve decided to get yourselves to the next evac center to get some rescue. That’s it. The game isn’t meant to be a complex physiological work that examines the themes of isolation, alienation, and the fear of government and technology. Well, not more than any other zombie movie is.

What did you think zombie movies were about anyway? Zombies?!?

Okay, maybe it does bring those points up. Well, if you pay attention to the game, and what’s written on the walls of the “safe rooms”. Unlike the first game, there actually is a coherent story being told, and even some of the zombies are clues as to what is going on. For example, there are zombie on the first mission that are in haz-mat suits. And, if you look closely, they haven’t been bitten which leads you to ask, how did they get turned into a zombie and why do they have a big jar of zombie puke on their belts?

What L4D2 does, and does well, is create an interesting and dynamic world that invites you to speculate about the nature of the zombie plague. The writing for the characters is good, and they are well voiced by professional actors. This gives the sense that they are well-rounded, “real” people. As an example, the characters panic and yell a lot on the first board but by the last one they are laughing and congratulating each other for good shots on difficult targets. It’s a subtle thing, but very important.

The parts with Ellis talking about his buddy Keith had me laughing out loud.

And, frankly, it was quite refreshing to play a game this well-rounded after having to suffer through Section 8- which was attempting the same thing as L4D2 in creating a multi-player game but completely failed at doing.

However, as fun as Left 4 Dead 2 is, there are some problems.

The AI for both the NPC’s (if you’re playing solo) and the Zombies doesn’t scale well from Easy Mode where the zombies are easy to kill and the NPC’s are sharp shooters at max range for all their weapons to Normal where they NPC’s are barely capable of tying their own shoes and the zombies are much harder to kill.

While it’s nice to have a strong online presence for the game, there isn’t a means to match players up by skill level (something the Wii does well for its competitive games). As an example, you could log in as a L4D rookie, and end up in a match with me. Sure, I’d have a lot of fun ripping you to shreds as a Hunter but I don’t know how entertaining you’ll find it.

True Story: I was playing as a Hunter Zombie on one of the vs. boards, and hid in one of the rooms that was completely engulfed in flames with just a narrow path for the Survivors to get through. As the Survivor team made it’s way into the room, I jumped through the wall of flames and pounced on the middle player. I actually heard him scream in terror over the XboX mic. It was awesome.

And, when it comes to guns in the game, I have to wonder where in the South the developers lived? I mean, I live in Texas, arguably one of the most gun happy places on the planet, and I still haven’t seen near as many guns and random piles of ammo stashed about as appear in this game.

Well, some parts do reflect real Southerners, for example we all do have our endless ammo pistols with us at all times. But, that’s just common sense, really.

Also, I found some of the achievements for the game at odds with how the boards were laid out and the game constructed. Specifically, the Sugar Mill. There is an achievement for going through the whole board without disturbing a single Witch. Which was impossible the 5 times I played it as the Witches were invariable placed in the one door I had to go through.

And some of the goals for the boards were a bit weird. On one of the first stages you have to collect gas for a car so you can all escape. Which sounds reasonable, until you realize you’re in a Mall that just happens to have gas cans strewn about it. Seriously? Why would you store gas in the Mall, and why on all the upper floors? How does that make sense? And, how smart is it to store your gas in an enclosed area with lots and lots of firearms?

But, frankly, these are minor quibbles. If you like FPS games with some good AI for the npc’s and the enemies, give the game a shot. The multi-player is fun, and they offer more than just vs. maps.

Just remember my cardinal rule when battling zombies: two shots to the head and you know they’re dead.

If you don’t like shooting games, zombies, or being covered in blood after hacking the zombies to bits with an ax, well, I don’t know what the hells wrong with you but you should probably seek medical attention.