Left 4 Dead 2

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Left 4 Dead 2
Developer(s)	Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)	Valve Corporation
Series	Left 4 Dead
Release Date(s)	November 17, 2009
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer
Rating(s)	BBFC: 18 CERO: Z ESRB: M ACB: M18+
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh operating systems
	Physical Digital
Predecessor	Left 4 Dead

Left 4 Dead 2 is a 2009 first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Software. The game is the sequel to the 2008 hit game Left 4 Dead. It features five campaign missions through which four new Survivors must fight their way past hordes of zombies in order to escape at the end of the campaign. Among these zombies, known as the Infected, there are Special Infected from the first game, with three new additions. The campaign supports single player and co-op gameplay.

For the multiplayer experience, there is a Versus mode where one team of four players control the Survivors and four other players control the Special Infected, and respawn as a different one once they die. When the Survivors get to the safe room, the teams switch and whichever team scored the most points as the Survivors according to the game's logic wins. A brand new featured game mode for the series is Scavenge, a similar 4v4 mode where both teams take turns to collect gas canisters and pour them into a generator while the Infected players try to stop them. Through the content that the game offers, the game received critical acclaim.

Gameplay

Overview

Left 4 Dead 2 is a survival horror first-person shooter where the player controls one of four Suvivors and must rely on the other Survivors for cooperative gameplay. These Suvivors each have their own personalities, an aspect which was praised, but all have the same exact gameplay. Throughout all of the game's modes, Survivors must use equpment that they find to survive the hordes of zombies attacking them. Equipment includes primary, secondary, and throwable weapons, and major and minor medical supplies.

Survivors have 100 health, the status of which is indicated by a health bar. When the health bar goes red, the Survivor will start limping. You are able to tell when you are limping even in first-person, since you will move irrationally and more slowly. FIrst aid kits are necessary in this game to restore you or your teammates from this state. If health reaches zero, the Survivor will become incapacitated with 100 temporary health. While they are both stationary, vulnerable to threats, and are bleeding out, they must be helped back up by a teammate, or else they will die.

Death can result from either a failure of your teammates to revive you, getting incapacitated when your screen turns black and white, or if all Survivors are incapacitated at once. Being incapacitated twice without having been healed will change the graphics to present a more hazardous view of the world, with the screen turning black and white and the Survivor developing tunnel vision due to severe blood loss. Getting incapacitated a third time will result in death. However, if the nearly dead Survivor receives first aid, they may be able to survive a third incapacitation.

Infected are the main cause of damage, but friendly fire is present and will be more significant the higher the difficulty. If a Survivor falls off a ledge, they will hang on until a teammate helps them get back up, or else they will die and cannot be revived by a defibrillator. Defibrillators can resuscitate fallen Survivors as long as they didn't die from falling off a ledge. However, Rescue Closets may randomly be found in Campaign mode, which is where previously deceased Survivors may spawn, calling out to be rescued. Once rescued, the once dead Survivor will be able to fight by your side once again.

Objectives

There are five campaigns in the game, which are separated into four or five chapters. The campaigns are the source of all plot in the game, but in Versus, Survivors must get through whatever chapter is selected while Infected players try to stop them. When the Survivors either win or all die, the two teams switch places and after the Survivors win or die, whichever team had the better score while playing as the Survivors wins. To successfully complete a chapter in both Versus or Campaign, the Survivors must all enter the Safe Room at the end of the chapter and close the door to trigger the next chapter (if playing in Campaign). On the final chapter in Campaign mode, Survivors have to get to the rescue vehicle. Rescue vehicles are whatever the vehicle happens to be for whatever campaign you're playing. Normally, getting to the rescue vehicle will be a great struggle, as it is both the climax and the resolution to the campaign.

In Dead Center, Chapter 4, the Survivors have to gather 8 gas canisters and pour them into the car before they can escape. In Scavenge, players have to do the gather as many gas cans as they can before the timer ends and pour them into a generator. The Infected players will switch sides and whichever side gathered the most canisters while playing as the Survivors wins.

Difficulty

• Easy- This is the easiest difficulty in the game that is best if you want to earn Achievements with more room for error.
• Normal- The "normal" experience in Left 4 Dead 2. A gamer that is not experienced will find this to be harder than Easy, but a great place to learn more about the game and enjoy the game without too much challenge.
• Advanced- This mode is mostly for above average players, not recommended for newcomers. On this difficulty level, there is a significant increase in Tank durability, making them able to decimate a team of Survivors if they lack enough competence to take care of it. Special Infected will also hide better, and everything does more damage compared to Normal.
• Expert- This is the hardest difficulty in the game that is not enjoyable for inexperienced players. Only experienced players who are willing to take a challenge should attempt playing on Expert. However, no matter how good you are, it is recommended to play with a full team of human players. The best strategies for completing every campaign on expert all involve having a team of human players to coordinate with. Hordes are more common than ever, and friendly fire can cause you to easily incapacitate your teammates. Everything does more damage, and Special Infected are almost guaranteed to incapacitate you at least once, even if you're above average at the game.

Mutations

Mutations were introduced on April 22, 2010 as modified gameplay modes that changed every week. Because of this, the achievement "MUTANT OVERLORD" awarded for playing 6 different mutations hadn't been (legitimately) obtained by anyone until June 4, 2010. A title update on July 24, 2012 discontinued the weekly featured Mutations and instead made them all available for playing at any time if the user had The Passing DLC installed. There are 30 different Mutations since the 7/24/12 title update.

Equipment

Primary Weapons

Primary weapons are firearms. They can be broken down into three tiers. Tier 1 weapons are the most basic tier of weapons, that are just functional enough to fend off the Infected. Tier 2 weapons offer more firepower and are uncommon, often found long after spawning. Tier 3 consists of two totally unique "special tier" weapons that are the least common and have no refillable ammo. Mounted weapons can be considered as Tier 4; However, Left 4 Dead 2 only has one mounted weapon in the game, and it is rarely usable, to the point that most players never even have.

Tier 1

• Pump Shotgun
• Chrome Shotgun
• Submachine Gun
• Silenced Submachine Gun

Tier 2

• Tactical Shotgun
• Combat Shotgun
• Hunting Rifle
• Sniper Rifle
• M-16 Assault Rifle
• Combat Rifle
• AK-47

Tier 3

• Grenade Launcher
• M60 Machine Gun

Secondary Weapons

Secondary weapons are a sidearm that Survivors carry that they can switch to at any time. These weapons do not require any ammunition, but are generally weaker. These include pistols and melee weapons. Pistols are very weak but have infinite ammo, while melee weapons can be powerful but endanger the player, and should be used appropriately. Melee weapons are to be used when the Infected are in close proximity to you, and you may dismember zombies this way.

Pistols

• P220 Pistol
• Glock (Only when dual-wielding P220)
• Magnum

Melee Weapons

• Fireaxe
• Crowbar
• Baseball Bat
• Cricket Bat
• Golf Club
• Guitar
• Katana
• Nightstick
• Machete
• Frying Pan

Throwables

Throwable weapons function similarly to grenades. Once thrown, they deal damage to the Infected. There are three unique throwable weapons in the game.

• Molotov Cocktail- A dangerous throwable item that should be used cautiously. Upon breaking on the ground, flames will engulf a wide area near where it splashed. The fire lasts for roughly 15 seconds. It is a useful tool for eradicating Common Infected, but if the player messes up or is moved into the flame either by foolishness or by other hazards, the player may receive serious damage, which will kill faster the higher the difficulty. Special Infected are able to withstand the fire, and may even use it to their advantage.
  • Sometimes Survivors may accidentally run into the flames while they're focused on avoiding another hazard. The Jockey can ride and steer a Survivor into the flames of a Molotov and deal serious, potentially lethal damage. The Smoker can use its long tongue to drag a Survivor through the flames. Furthermore, a Tank or a Charger can potentially knock a Survivor into the fire.
• Pipe Bomb- A useful grenade which attracts Common Infected to flock around the bomb, which delays long enough to give time for the zombies to put themselves in danger. It is less dangerous than the Molotov, but as an explosive item, it can do serious damage if the player stands to close to it. It can be thrown quite far, and has a small blast radius, so this is easy to avoid. Besides being a diversion, a well-placed pipe bomb can kill around 20 Infected at once.
  • Throwing two pipe bombs at once is a waste of resources, as all the Common Infected will flock to the first one you threw and ignore the second. Therefore, the second will have been discarded without serving the purpose it could've served.
  • Pipe bombs can be used to direct Common Infected to fall to their deaths, if thrown down from a severe height where you are fighting zombies.
• Bile Bomb- A throwable newly introduced in Left 4 Dead 2 that is a glass jar containing bile from the vomit of a Boomer. Where thrown, it will splash and cover everything in the area with green bile, dealing light damage, and attracting all Infected that have spawned to the green area. One must be careful not to accidentally splash their teammate(s) with the green bile, as it will cause all the Infected to swarm your teammates at once. If used properly, it can be a deadly diversion, or it can put you and your allies in even more danger.

Primary Health Items

Survivors have one slot to keep primary healing items. This means that you can only carry one at a time. These are also known as major medical supplies, which are used to keep you and your teammates alive. There are two major healing items in the game.

• First Aid Kit- A necessary item for survival which restores 80% of a Survivors health. In order to use it on yourself or others, the person using the first aid kit and the person receiving the aid both have to stand still. This takes 5 seconds to do, unless you are under the effect of an adrenaline shot. While having an adrenaline boost, it takes 3 seconds.
• Defibrillator- A new item in Left 4 Dead 2 which is used to resuscitate fallen teammates. It only takes three seconds to use, unless under the effects of adrenaline.

Secondary health items

• Pain Pills- Pain Pills grant the user 50 temporary extra health points, that slowly decreases. They are functionally a weaker but faster first aid kit.
• Adrenaline Shot- When taken, the user gets an adrenaline burst for 15 seconds which makes you run faster and do everything twice as fast.

DLC

Downloadable Content

Name	Release	🏆
The Passing	4/22/2010	10	250
The Sacrifice	10/5/2010	5	250
Cold Stream	8/3/2012	0	0

Pre-Release

Pre-Release DLC

Name	Release
Left 4 Dead 2 Pray Harder Trailer	8/29/2009
Left 4 Dead 2 Demo	11/10/2009

Features

• Different cast of Survivors
• Improved graphics
• Improved AI for bot-controlled Survivors
• New Special Infected (Charger, Jockey, Spitter)
• Uncommon Infected
• New weapons
  • Tier 1: Chrome Shotgun, Silenced Submachine Gun
  • Tier 2: Combat Shotgun, Sniper Rifle, Combat Rifle, M16 Assault Rifle, AK-47
• Tier 3 (Grenade Launcher, M60 Machine Gun)
• New sidearms (P220 Pistol and Magnum)
• Melee weapons
• Realism mode
• Scavenge mode
• Versus Survival mode
• Mutations