Games of the Year: A Review of Left 4 Dead 2
Friday, November 20, 2009 at 11:52AM 
We didn’t ask for this, but developer, publisher, and multi-faceted industry pioneer Valve software delivered Left 4 Dead 2 barely one year after the first anyway. And company chose to do so despite the passionate and sometimes ludicrous objections from fanatics clinging to an all but bygone way of industry distribution (Valve typically spends years perfecting each iteration of a property while maintaining consumer interest in those at market with free updates and downloadable content).
Months ago, the loudest protesters received an invitation to play the title they so strongly opposed at Valve’s own headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Shortly after, the community-driven petitions received fewer signatures and boycott groups disbanded. Valve won, but did gamers as well?
After months of waiting, and Valve playing coy drug pusher with a brilliantly concise and addictive demo, the game’s out now on both the Xbox 360 and PC. The explanation behind the death of the defying few’s doubts is obvious now. Valve destroyed them with better game design.
The first Left 4 Dead now plays like a developer trial run. The linearity of its levels rarely encouraged exploration and/or alternative pathing – telling survivors to always find the optimal straight line in their A to B journeys and stick with it. Nothing good could ever warrant deviation. 2’s levels remain linear by design, but traveling in these expansive environments feels more organic and diverse. Repeatedly during each campaign, players must take note of their current health and inventory and decide whether or not distancing themselves from the vaguely beaten path is worth an unidentified reward that may or may not exist. Sometimes it is, and the group can move forward with greater confidence and efficiency, and sometimes people die. This risk/reward system’s present in nearly every videogame ever created (I’m aware of many exceptions, thanks), but implementation here is strikingly vital to player perceived enjoyment.
In a single-player game of Left 4 Dead 2, a risk/reward thought procedure includes few factors involving the group’s efficiency. Computer-controlled allies don’t carry throwable items like the Boomer bile, pipe bomb, and molotov cocktail, but they will find and use a chainsaw or a grenade launcher regardless of your own personal preference and capability. These teammates are stupid, too – sometimes falling from a vital location or ignoring others incapacitated by the zombie pack. Out of necessity, players must think only of themselves when playing alone. “All that matters is if I can reach the end,” they likely think.
Add a few more flesh-and-blood teammates to the mix and more factors get thrown into the risk/reward situational blender. Emotion, the bittersweet spice, inevitably slips its way in as well. Groups filled with equally capable players are rare, and at one point or another, everyone eventually debates whether or not it’s a good idea to use a healing item on the fool with a constantly dropping health bar. “Perhaps it would be a better idea to save the invaluable first aid kit and use it on someone else, someone with more kills and a greater sense of what it takes to survive,” we wonder. “Or maybe we should check in that dark corner behind the motel. I once saw a health pack there during a different playthrough.”
Undoubtedly the best campaign.
Situations like these present themselves at the end of every bleak corridor and inside each brightly outdoor environment in Left 4 Dead 2. From the small, “this zombie will hit me in maybe three seconds, but one might hit me from behind in two…what should I do?,” to the big, “I’m at the end of the level and all of my friends are lying on the ground getting attacked by everything. Do I save them or leave?” Valve’s successes in inserting these moments dictate the game’s unexpected achievements in playability. Don’t be fooled, the zombie apocalypse is just pretty packaging.
As I stated earlier, the title’s levels are brilliantly crafted environments that allow the intended gameplay design to work exceedingly well. The craftsmen themselves deserve substantial credit, but will probably receive very little from those outside their field. It’s okay, guys and gals, few realize the visual splendor of films like Brokeback Mountain and 25th Hour are due to cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto’s involvement.
Making the level designers look even better...
Read the rest at IPR's Multimedia blog.
Left 4 Dead 2, PC, Steam, Valve, Xbox 360, undead, videogames, zombie in review, videogames 
