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Left 4 Dead 2 “The Passing” DLC Announced, Features L4D 1 Characters

Nathan Grayson — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:41:20 -0600

Four humans versus thousands upon thousands of zombies. Left 4 Dead 2 doesn’t seem very fair, does it? Well, in early 2010, four familiar faces are looking to even the odds, which – by our math – makes the zombie apocalypse 0.000000001% more evenly matched. That’s right: Francis, Bill, Zoey, and Louis are back, and Coach, Rochelle, Ellis, and Nick are… still here! So they’re teaming up, in case that wasn’t the most obvious thing in the entire world.

“The Passing will become the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the Survivors are being called together in one campaign,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “It will also be a huge offering of new gameplay content, with something new for every game mode plus a new uncommon common and weaponry.”

Taking place in a small town in rural Georgia, the DLC will also include a new co-op challenge mode. As for pricing, Valve’s not saying at the moment, but we’d be shocked if PC gamers were forced to drop a nickel or a dime on The Passing, as Valve’s PC content hasn’t traditionally carried a price tag.

The DLC’s out in early 2010. Which is nice, since we’ll need a relaxing Left 4 Dead 2 break in between our rigorous Mass Effect 2/BioShock 2 sessions.

Left 4 Dead 2 Sells Over Two Million Copies at Retail Alone, DLC Details Coming “Very Soon”

Nathan Grayson — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:17:04 -0600

Zombie hunting season is officially open, and Valve has another hit on its ESRB-compliant hands. After little more than two weeks on shelves, Left 4 Dead 2’s retail tally has slashed through the two million mark like a katana through brittle undead flesh.

“Left 4 Dead 2 is off to a great start with strong support at retail and great reviews from the press,” said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. “Meanwhile the title has already been played by over 1 million Xbox LIVE Gold account holders, and news regarding L4D2 DLC 1 is coming very soon.”

Valve also added that “sales to date are more than double the original title.”

As for the real zombie apocalypse, well, we're guessing that’s probably on hold. Odds are, its brain-munching participants are cemented to their screens at the moment, completely addicted to Left 4 Dead 2 just like the rest of us.

Left 4 Dead 2

Will Smith — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0600

Does the world really need a Left 4 Dead sequel already?

We love killing zombies. When Left 4 Dead came out, we feared that eventually we’d tire of returning the walking dead back to the hell from which they spawned, but it turns out we didn’t. However, we did quickly tire of the lame “optimal” ways that hardcore gamers developed to beat Left 4 Dead campaigns in the most efficient—yet boring—manner possible.

Enter Left 4 Dead 2. The biggest change to the established formula is the redesigned finales and crescendos—those mid-level events that attract unending hordes of zombies. Instead of simply finding a good closet and holing up for 15 minutes, popping out only to kill the occasional tank, the crescendos now require you to keep moving—either to reach a goal or collect and deliver items. The zombie closet is no more, and we don’t miss it at all.

Additionally, the five campaigns are more connected—one picks up where the last left off—and more dynamic, with multiple paths through key bottlenecks in the levels. The available paths—as well as rain, fog, and other dynamic weather effects—are controlled by the improved AI Director. As before, the Director monitors the overall status of your party—health, weapons, ammo, and progress through the level—and automatically adjusts the challenge to maintain tension while not overwhelming your party. The Director does this by sending zombie hordes, limiting ammo and weapons, and spawning the special infected.

This lovable uncommon is ready to entertain the young ’uns by juggling, riding unicycles, and eating your brains!

And the special infected are back—with friends. In addition to the classic hunter, smoker, boomer, witch, and tank, Left 4 Dead 2 adds three new specials: the charger, the spitter, and the jockey—all designed to force players to keep moving and make it easier for infected to split up even good human players, which is important for both single-player and versus. Additionally, each campaign has a unique type of uncommon common zombie. These undead are not much stronger than garden-variety zombies, but each has a unique power, making the uncommon common more difficult to kill.

In Left 4 Dead 2, the zombie models are much more dynamic—taking damage, losing limbs, and acting much more ragdoll-y.

Naturally, there’s a host of new assault rifles, shotguns, submachine guns, and pistols; but L4D 2 also adds special ammo types, grenade launchers, and melee weapons. Whether you’re talking about the katana, machete, cricket bat, or chainsaw, we love the melee weapons. While you give up your pistol slot to carry a melee weapon, it’s dead useful for one or two members of your party to go melee to serve as the frontline against big hordes.

With a stomach full of deadly, deadly acid, the Spitter’s job is to put a stop to your forward progress.

Last but not least, there are a couple of new game modes. For aficionados of versus mode, which pits a team of human-controlled humans against a team of human-controlled zombies, there’s Scavenge mode. Scavenge puts the combatants on small maps with tight time limits. Human players must collect fuel and return it to a generator, while the zombies try to prevent that. Because the action is condensed in a relatively small area, it’s much more intense than more traditional versus battles we’re accustomed to. We also really dig the new Realism mode. Realism requires players to headshot zombies, while removing the auras that make it easy to identify friendly players, weapons, ammo caches, and other items from afar. Because you can enable Realism at any difficulty level, it helps bridge the jump from Advanced mode to Expert, although we don’t recommend turning on Realism if you’re not playing with your regular group.

Each campaign has a unique uncommon common zombie, which you’ll find mixed in with the rest of the horde.

Our only real complaint with Left 4 Dead 2 is that the Source engine is beginning to show its age, especially in areas where there’s any kind of ground cover, uneven ground, or foliage. While the new character animation system and ragdolls are amazing, it can’t hide the fact that this engine is approaching its 10th birthday. Despite some graphical shortcomings, the game is a blast to play, and delivers an experience whose only real rival is its predecessor.

The bad news is that finales in Left 4 Dead 2 force you into the open. The good news? Pyrotechnics!

Hey, You Got Your Left 4 Dead in My Team Fortress 2!

Nathan Grayson — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:35:07 -0600

Team Fortress 2 is pretty great, but you know what would make it even better? Did you say “one or more zombies”? Yeah, us too. But instead, you’re getting a hat.

“For the first time in history, two separate Valve universes collide. That's right: it's a Left 4 Dead/Team Fortress crossover! This is not fan fiction! This is not a dream sequence! The characters from Team Fortress 2 will team-up with Bill's hat from Left 4 Dead 1!” reads a post on the TF2 Blog.

There’s a catch, though: Bill’s ridiculously regal Head Enhancement Item is only available to those who have preordered Left 4 Dead 2.

Honestly, though, to make such a strong fashion statement – nay, a fashion exclamation – we would’ve shelled out the full fifty smackeroos even if Left 4 Dead 2 weren’t involved at all.

Ok, not really, but you get the idea.

Left 4 Dead 2 PC Demo Delayed by One Day

Nathan Grayson — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:51:31 -0500

It’s Tuesday! Woohoo! Oh, you’re wondering why we’re donning our party hats on this most mundane of days? Simple – the Left 4 Dead 2 demo’s available to Steam pre-orderers today! We’re just gonna queue up our download and… well, that’s odd. We’re sure the demo’s around here somewhere. Just, uh, hold on a sec. No, no – that’s Killing Floor. Hey, Valve, what’s the deal?

“The Left 4 Dead 2 Xbox 360 Demo is now available for those who pre-ordered and obtained early access to the demo," read a release from the company tonight. "The PC Demo is currently targeted for release on Wednesday, October 28."

Well, what are we going to do with all these party supplies now? Quick! Theme change! Now we’re celebrating, er, uh, Boss Tweed’s arrest on October 27, 1871. There’s something everyone can drink to.

Uncensored Version of Left 4 Dead 2 Shot Down in Australia, Still Banned

Nathan Grayson — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:15:31 -0500

Sorry, Gabe Newell and co. You gave it your all, we’re sure, but in the end, Left 4 Dead 2’s true form proved too gore-splattered for Australians’ delicate palettes. Or at least, that’s how the Australian government sees it. Said a note from Australia’s Review Board:

“In the Review Board’s opinion, Left 4 Dead 2 could not be accommodated within the MA 15+ classification. The computer game contains a level of violence which is high in impact, prolonged, repeated frequently and realistic within the context of the game.”

“In addition, it was the Review Board’s opinion that there was insufficient delineation between the depiction of general zombie figures and the human figures, as opposed to the clearly fictional ‘infected’ characters. This was a major consideration of the Review Board in determining the impact of this game on minors.”

It’s true! We totally have friends who – if you squint really hard – are the spitting images of Boomers and Tanks. Oh, there’s also that one guy with the crazy-long tongue. But we don’t really talk to him. Wait. You say the Review Board was talking about "general zombie figures"? And here we thought our colossal, bile-spewing buddy had finally found a country that would accept him with open arms.

Ahem. Anyway, Australia’s still on track to receive a heavily censored version of Left 4 Dead 2, which is better than nothing, we suppose. Oh well. Aussie gamers, if our site hasn’t already been censored, better luck nex—[content blocked because we’re pretty sure it had a knife].

Left 4 Dead 2 Coming to Australia – Decapitation, Dismemberment, and Gore Are Not

Nathan Grayson — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 02:26:53 -0500

Is some Left 4 Dead 2 better than none at all? We’re thinking “yes,” but that probably won’t stop Australian gamers from wishing they could tear whoever censored Left 4 Dead 2 limb-from-limb.

See, while decapitation and dismemberment are apparently physically impossible over in Australia, neutering isn’t – as evidenced by Left 4 Dead 2’s sterilized state.

“The board notes that the game no longer contains depictions of decapitation, dismemberment, wound detail or piles of dead bodies lying about the environment,” said a note by Australia’s Classification Board. “No wound detail is shown and the implicitly dead bodies and blood splatter disappear as they touch the ground.”

Valve still hopes to eventually release an unedited version of the game as DLC in good ol’ Oz. That is, if it can find a way to sneak past the big, bag Classification Board.

For now, though, all those kangaroos, koalas, and Wizards Of are going to miss out on the Violence Orgy. But don't worry about it too much, Aussie readers; the violence was only there to hide the real meat of Left 4 Dead 2: the racism. Good thing the Classification Board missed that. It was so blatantly obvious to everyone else, too. Close shave, that.

Left 4 Dead 2 "Scavenge" Multiplayer Mode Revealed

Nathan Grayson — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 02:53:46 -0500

Zombies are nature’s griefers, it would seem. Or at least, they are if Left 4 Dead 2’s new “Scavenge” multiplayer mode is to be believed. See, here, the shambling jerks aren’t even looking to get their fill of juicy, succulent brains anymore. Nope. Instead, they’re actively seeking to knock out survivors’ power generators for -- what we can only assume to be -- fun. After all, if those pesky zombies were hurting for a heaping helping of brains, why wouldn’t they just chase down the survivors like always?

So here’s how it works: players are divided into the usual teams of survivors and special infected, just like in versus mode. Levels are littered with a grand total of 16 gas canisters, which survivors must collect in order to power a generator. The mode is played as a series of two minute rounds, though more time is added to the clock each time survivors manage to haul a can to their generator.

The infected team, of course, is out to make life difficult for the survivors by playing keep-away with the cans. Apparently, Spitters and Jockeys really shine here, as they can set cans on fire and “steer” survivors away from their objectives, respectively.

Left 4 Dead 2 will launch with six Scavenge maps – one for each campaign – on November 17. There's a video of the new mode in action here.