The Left 4 Dead 2 demo came out yesterday (for people who pre-ordered the game, anyway), and I played it for half an hour last night. I noticed several things when compared to the first Left 4 Dead (if you want to find out for yourself, stop reading):
– The main menu is vastly improved
– The in-game HUD is improved
– The full version will have five campaigns and four five game modes at launch, better than L4D1’s four campaigns and two games modes (four and a half campaigns and three game modes, if you add in the post-launch DLC)
– New survivors (of course), and it’s actually a refreshing break from Bill, Louis, Francis, and Zoe
– There are new, improved models for the Tank, Boomer and Smoker (not just new textures)
– New textures for the Hunter and Witch
– New, improved sound effects for old special infected
– Three new special infected
– At least one new type of common infected (some are armored and therefore harder to kill), and I gather that there are more that aren’t in the demo (e.g. clowns)
– Melee weapons – TONS of melee weapons: batons, machetes, frying pans, axes, chainsaws, guitars… you have no idea how satisfying it is to bash a Smoker over the head with a guitar.
– New primary weapons: I must have used at least a dozen new primary weapons in my one play session
– New secondary weapons: Along with the default pistol, a higher-powered pistol was added
– New thrown weapons: Vials of boomer puke to attract infected somewhere (and I think one other I’m forgetting at the moment)
– New utilities: defibrillators to revive dead teammates, adrenaline shots to increase speed (there may have been one other I’m forgetting)
The last six items there should give you pause – there are whole new areas of strategy in L4D2 that simply don’t exist in L4D1. You have to choose between carrying a health pack or carrying a defibrillator unit; adrenaline and pills; pistol or melee; pipe bomb or molotov or boomer vial… you get the idea… and you have to balance that against not just “hordes and a few special infected”, but groups of different types of common infected along with six types of special infected.
The graphics engine has been greatly improved, and anyone who tells you otherwise is playing at 640×480 with all the eye candy disabled.
The demo lets you play the first two levels of The Parish. Daylight zombie-killing has a very different feel to it, and the two maps in the demo feel less cramped than (say) No Mercy while feeling less empty and less railroaded than Crash Course.
I didn’t spend time exploring the maps, or fiddling with every weapon I saw. There are probably things I missed.
There can be no doubt about it. L4D2 has more new content than L4D1 had at launch, and I for one welcome our new armored zombie overlords.