Left 4 Dead 2 Preview - If It Ain't Broke...Don't Fix It
We've read and heard a lot of dissent about the upcoming sequel Left 4 Dead 2, due to stores and Steam in November. Valve's notoriety for expanding the life of their games with free updates and mod support was put in question when the official sequel was announced, and many fans felt that Left 4 Dead 2 would not provide enough new content -- with such a short development turnaround -- to warrant a whole new disc, box, and price point.
Planet Xbox 360 begs to differ...a preview posted today tries to bolster the confidence of those miffed.
After finally putting our hands to the sequel at this year's E3, we walked away very excited for it's release, the opinions that it's a glorified add-on were far from our thoughts.
The message is clear: fans will be satisfied. While that may be comforting, this is Left 4 Dead...what's not to like?! I don't think that anyone is too worried about the gameplay, weapons, or maps; it's pretty plain to me that most of the complaints are against the effort that has been transplanted from Left 4 Dead support to Left 4 Dead 2's development, and against the prospect of paying the price for another full-fledged production.
Other changes added in for the sequel include melee weapons -- such as axes, frying pans, and chainsaws -- non-persistent weapon upgrades, and more zombie infected dismemberment. I'm not too keen on the weapon upgrade idea (the one example so far being "flaming bullets"), as it sounds a bit too fantastical...even for game about mythical undead monsters. However, the lure of blasting off arms and legs calls to my inner sadist.
"It's just a flesh wound!"
For me personally, it's more heart-pounding action. More ways to die, more ways to survive. More four-player co-op. I'm not crazy about spending $60 more on another 3-hour campaign, but I'm not looking for innovation, either.
What sweetens the pot even more for me is what appears to be a diversity of handguns, which as you know is a not-so-subtle weak spot of mine. The top image in this post features Ellis the high school jock wielding what appears to be both a Sig Sauer P226 and a Glock Model 17 (or 22). Double-fisting pistols -- especially two different pistols -- is hardly efficient, but darn if it ain't cool.
Source: Link 
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Beyond that, I'm *incredibly pleased* that Valve is bridging the gap between the two titles interoperability through multiplayer elements, but most importantly, MOD SUPPORT backwards compatibility! If it weren't for these aspects, I'd likely not purchase L4D2.
As it stands now, I still might wait until the game goes on sale through Steam, but I'm really anxious to see currently developed mods take on Director 2.0 aspects. As soon as that happens, I'll have to snatch up this title, despite its price.