4 people going through missions full of zombies.
Various "special" infected zombies that serve as bosses and minibosses throughout the missions.
Crescendo events that signal large waves of zombies coming at you.
Director AI controling spawns so that no game plays the same twice.
Safe rooms as "save points" separating each mission into parts.
Basically, nothing was REMOVED from the first game. All that was done was added new things to an already great game. So let's go over those things, shall we?
1. New Characters: I don't know if it's just the characters, or the voice actors, or the fact that the game has a storyline (more on that later), but I like these characters a LOT more than the last bunch. Ellis' little stories about him and his buddy Keith, Coach praying for both his and the food court's safety, Rochelle's motherly attitude, Nick's role as the Jerk With A Heart Of Gold ( http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/JerkWithAHeartOfGold) although not quite as obvious as Francis, all of these make for a colorful cast, and I'm sounding like such a cliche reviewer right now.
2. Storyline: Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. Oh, wait. ANYWAY; there is a semblance of a story, but the only difference between the story in the last one and this one is that there is more dialog relating to how the people got to where the are. HINT: THE PILOT TURNED ZOMBIE!!
3. Moar Weapons: Yes, unlike in the last game, where there were only three types of guns, only two of which had a better version, there are MULTIPLE guns in this game. You have at least four different shotguns, the one from the first game, a chrome shotgun, the auto-shotty, and the combat shotgun. The hunting rifle now has the better Sniper rifle, which I believe is more accurate, but i'm not entirely sure. For machine guns, you have the Uzi and the assault rifle, but you also have an Ak-47, and a gun with a three burst shot. Also there's a grenade launcher. In addition to having two regular pistols, you can swap them out for one magnum pistol, which does slightly less damage then the weakest shotgun, and has only eight bullets per clip.
4. Ammunition: Taking the spot of your health pack (which you can usually pick right back up when you're done) is different ammo types. There is explosive, which guarantees one shot kills and glorious gibbing, and incendiary ammo, which lights all zombies on fire EXCEPT FOR the hazmat suit zombies in the first campaign. Also you can get laser sights, but they don't do much in the heat of battle, although they are great if you wanna do some sniping but you don't have a scoped gun.
5. More Stuff: Instead of the health pack, you can get a defibrillator, which brings dead people back to life. I personally haven't played online yet, and I suck at games so I play on easy, so I haven't needed it yet. There is a new throwable item; a jar of boomer bile. Any zombies that get hit by it will be swarmed by a horde, and one they have died, the bile will remain in the air, allowing you to shoot the clustering zombies like fish in a barrel. Throwing the bile on Tanks and Witches is also great fun. Supplementing PEELZ is shots of adrenaline, which give about half the temporary health that PEELZ give, but also let you do EVERYTHING faster; running, shooting, turning, reloading. Great if you are low on health, and want to guarantee that final run to the safe house.
6. SUPER SMASH ZOMBIES MELEE: Melee weapons, are awesome. They make you feel like Woody Harrelson in Zombieland. Tons of fun, and SO useful if you're surrounded by the Horde. Also...there is a chainsaw. It has limited fuel, and it attracts zombies (not new zombies, existing zombies), but hey, more stuff to slash, right? I personally NEVER have the regular pistol if the melee weapons or magnum are available.
7. It Got Worse: Both the Director AI, and the zombies. The game is harder than I remember the first being, and the special infected, aesthetically, look WAY unhealthier. The Boomer is fatter, the Hunter has marks on his feet and the sleeves going from the duct tape to his hands and feet have fallen off, the Smoker now has neck tentacles and several Boomer-like growths on his neck, and the Tank's lower jaw has grown into his chest. The Tank is also black, for some reason. New to the party are the Spitter, Jockey, and Charger. The Jockey is annoying, because although it cackles non-stop once it spawns, unlike the other Special Infected, it DOESN'T make a specific noise when it attacks. It is also quite small and fast, and like the Hunter and Smoker before it, once it gets you, unless you have a buddy to help, you ain't getting it off. The Charger is like that as well, in that it slams you down and you can't get out of it's giant right hand unless it dies. The Spitter dies quickly, one or two shots, but it shoots "goo" bombs at you that spread a great distance, and burn if you stand on it, and when it dies, it leaves behind a smaller puddle of the same goo. The goo dissipates after a while though. You also have the Uncommon Common, which are specific to campaigns. The first has Hazmat Suit zombies, who are immune to fire, and drop Boomer Bile. The second campaigns is Zombie Clowns, whose squeaky shoes attract zombies, which can lead to Boomer sized hoards if not dealt with. The third campaign has Mudmen, who are quicker than average, smaller due to crawling on all four's, run at full speed in water, and blind the player. Third campaign has Construction Workers who are immune to the Zombie siren sound of Boomer Bile jars and Pipe bombs, and can also take slightly more punishment. Finally, in the last campaign, you have Riot Workers, who drop police batons, and are immune to any front attacks, forcing you to get behind them to kill them. Oh, and during the day, Witches walk around now.
8. Can I Get An EPIC WIN?!: The levels. Oh god the levels. The first campaign is traversing through a burning hotel, to a gun shop where you escort cola to the owner to pass, then in the mall, the climax is running gas to a stock racecar on display to escape. The next level is a carnival, where the finale is putting a rock show with pyrotechnics AND heavy metal version of both Tank themes when the Tanks spawn in order to attract the attention of a helicopter. After that is a swamp, which is pretty average, not too much epic there. But after that, the campaign is going somewhere the first half, then coming back to the docks you started at. The catch? The Sugar mill is infested with witches the first half, and the second half? A FUCKING HURRICANE! And unlike other games where that would have no affect on gameplay, all previous areas are now flooded waist high, vision is impaired, In game AND microphone sound is dampened, and every once in a while, the storm will kick up, causing near blindness and attracting the hoard.
So there you have it. Eight new things in Left 4 Dead 2. Also? Two times four is eight. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!
So yeah.
Frikkin AMAZING game, HIGHLY recommend, no, DEMAND that you get it.
And before I go, two things:
1. In the first section of the last campaign, there is a jukebox. This jukebox will sometimes play the song RE: Your brains. Observe this video for more specificities:
There is also talk of DLC in which the characters of the first game meet the characters of the second game for a mission...
Enjoy fighting over those things on the forums people!
The saying is "The Whole is greater than the sum of its parts." your reversal of the expression says the whole game is a weak total game made up of strong individual DLCs.
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