Left 4 Dead 2 Review

Post by Steve Farrelly @ 04:04pm 20/11/09 | 41 Comments

There's no secrets about this game anymore. Despite going up against a killer app like MW2, Left 4 Dead 2 has gained its own recognition, arguably making it a household name in Australia.

Unfortunately its notoriety is in no way based on good things; and given the nature of our business here, we've put together our review of what could have been a stellar effort, if only we didn't live in such repressed times here in Australia where censorship, the right to choose and art are things not deemed important enough for some. Our review here is based - specifically - on the un-modified version of the game in body, but the final score reflects the modified version. It's all covered within though.

Click here for the review.

left 4 dead 2 censorship review

Latest Comments

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koopz
Posted 05:31pm 20/11/09

drowning instantly while choosing a spawn point as SI in VS mode is gaaaaaaaaaaaay.

otherwise it's an awesome game though

last edited by koopz at 17:31:39 20/Nov/09

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infi
Posted 05:38pm 20/11/09

australian censored version is FAIL

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d^
Posted 07:12pm 20/11/09

So disappointing.

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greazy
Posted 08:14pm 20/11/09

Woah, <3 ausgamers and blahnana.

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koopz
Posted 08:35pm 20/11/09

http://www.midnight-riders.com/

I guess they had to do it

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CHUB
Posted 09:31pm 20/11/09

drowning instantly while choosing a spawn point as SI in VS mode is gaaaaaaaaaaaay.

I nearly exploded with rage when that happened to me, 30 second timer again.

Must be a bug because if it's intended Valve sure f***ed up.

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ravn0s
Posted 09:50pm 20/11/09

i think you were to generous giving it a 5. the cut version only deserves a 1.

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koopz
Posted 10:54pm 20/11/09

it's nice to see the 3FL guys are providing 510 boxes left right and center

GO GET EM

i think you were to generous giving it a 5. the cut version only deserves a 1.

it's a 9.9

we're not just talking about any game here - we're talking about L4D2 (a Steam engine game.)

after the dust settles we'll meta mod this to buggery for our own perverse reasons. Gore won't even matter anymore

last edited by koopz at 22:54:02 20/Nov/09

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greazy
Posted 11:28pm 20/11/09

are you saying i'll be able to use the black guy to wield a white guys penis to bludgeon the zombies to death?

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tequila
Posted 12:26am 21/11/09

if you put your mind to it I'm sure you could come up with a mod where you get to disrespect women and beat them with camels legs

L4D2 : Bakaladakadaka Street

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RockitMan
Posted 12:58am 21/11/09

meanwhile, the only L4D 1 players left are absolute noob sk's. Gonna have to buy 2 just to get a decent game.

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koopz
Posted 01:33am 21/11/09

jebus teq - why don't you two f*** and just get it over with ?

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tequila
Posted 01:45am 21/11/09

I'm saving myself

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koopz
Posted 01:56am 21/11/09

fair nuff

wants pics at the end though

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ctd
Posted 05:57am 21/11/09

Needs more about the MP and what is an awesome section of the game. Most people like myself will probably play through the campaigns once or twice each then proceed to play the s*** out of the MP.

Valve could have gone down the tacked-on road for the l4d series and made it survivor vs survivor generic team DM with AI zombies playing as the middle man. However they didn't and made it a unique asymmetrical experience. It would be pretty f***en hard to balance this s*** when you have 2 totally different teams playing against each other but they pull it off.

Versus is pretty unique when you think about it, an MP mode that plays through the campaigns where one team has to operate from outside the bounds of the map for a lot of the time. Not many games can claim to have a similar experience.

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Martz
Posted 07:21am 21/11/09

Man I remember when L4D2 was first announced, all you guys were soo f*****g cut up that it wasn't an addon for the first l4d lol

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ravn0s
Posted 09:47am 21/11/09

i wasnt

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trog
Posted 10:23am 21/11/09

Man I remember when L4D2 was first announced, all you guys were soo f*****g cut up that it wasn't an addon for the first l4d lol

yeh a lot of people seemed to get over that really quickly when it became available for pre-order :) I have still held out though because I think what they did is really lame. It looks so much fun though so I may cave, but I'm hoping to hold out until the first sale.

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Jim
Posted 10:25am 21/11/09

I was
still am

the $53.85 didn't bother me cos I'd happily have paid that for an add-on - it was the fact that they put different resources onto a sequel so soon after releasing the original, and despite claiming to have a sizeable team still working on the original, we had to put up with stupid s*** bugs and only two versus campaigns for so long and even when they did finally add the last two campaigns to versus, it was a half-assed job. the only noteworthy dlc until quite recently was the addition of survival mode which was a pure yawnfest against AI and the novelty factor for that wore off in about 2 days for me even if a week or two later for everyone else

by the time they'd added that new thing recently, crash course or whatever it's called, I'd already gotten bored of the game after putting in a solid 700 hours of playing it over the previous 6 months

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CHUB
Posted 10:34am 21/11/09

L4D versus was ultimately broken. I don't know how you spent 700 hours playing it Jim.

They either needed a huge update or a new game.

I'm very happy with L4D2, the entire pace of the game has changed and it's very challenging/exciting playing survivors. I enjoy both sides of VS. equally.

The new scoring system and tab-interface is one of the best additions.

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Jim
Posted 10:41am 21/11/09

how do you mean ultimately broken? I thought the implementation of versus was great apart from a few silly bugs that weren't game-breaking - but the silly matchmaking/server find bugs meant you spent such a long time trying to pair up your two teams sometimes and only having two maps for so long got boring. I kept playing it though cos I had a couple of gaming friends and a regular handful of ppl I'd met through l4d who were very strong players and there was usually at least 4 of us on most nights/weekends so we'd team up and have some good games against clans or just randoms. I guess the attraction of doing well vs organised clans was a decent attraction that held me for a fair while

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ravn0s
Posted 10:58am 21/11/09

I'm very happy with L4D2, the entire pace of the game has changed and it's very challenging/exciting playing survivors. I enjoy both sides of VS. equally.

yep. ive been s***ting myself so much playing survivor in versus. since theres more special infected you dont really know whats coming like you did in l4d (always boomer, smoker and 2 hunters). im enjoying survivor a hell of a lot more.

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CHUB
Posted 11:06am 21/11/09

I just couldn't find it fun Jim.

You played survivors and it was slow and repetitive, moving from section to section, sitting in corners and closets doing melee and surviving each wave one by one.

You played infected and it was frustrating because you had nothing to counter a solid survivor team doing lame tactics.

None of that happens in L4D2. The survivor team is on the move at all times trying to get maximum distance, everytime they revert back to L4D tactics a spitter really cleans up. The different crescendos in the campaigns really back up this new gameplay style by keeping them moving.

I just think it's a vastly superior game and directly addressed my gripe with L4D VS.

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spitfire
Posted 11:33am 21/11/09

Not going to be buying this when EB is selling this horribly censored version for $110. Absolute BS. It's no wonder that people turn to downloading things illegally.

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CHUB
Posted 11:35am 21/11/09

It's no wonder that people turn to downloading things illegally.

Not with L4D2 though?

I didn't think there was any possible way around Steam games?

How the hell can you pay $110? What's that for, Xbox360?

I paid $27 pounds, $47 AUD.

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spitfire
Posted 01:19pm 21/11/09

L4D 1 got cracked so yeah there is a way around steam games, you just dont get to play online with people. And it was $110 for the PC version, not console.

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Jim
Posted 01:25pm 21/11/09

yeh buying from local retailers is usually a good way to get reamed
can't remember the last time I did that with a game, other than when we needed a copy quick so we could fire up servers for GA before we'd been sent a free copy from publisher

been buying them all online for quite a while

and yeh it was very different in that respect chub
but I did find it was fairly even if you had two good teams still

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Plasma
Posted 02:19pm 21/11/09

The matchmaking in L4D2 really is utter fail.

I can't remember being put with so many high pingers and foreign servers before.

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ctd
Posted 02:27pm 21/11/09

Man I remember when L4D2 was first announced, all you guys were soo f*****g cut up that it wasn't an addon for the first l4d lol

I was surprised, releasing a game so soon after the first was not like valve. Pretty much what Jim said, by the time they released all the versus campaigns I was over the game.

L4D2 has 5 new and way better campaigns, everything about the game is 10x better. 5 campaigns, new modes, new characters/infected doesn't = addon. L4D1 was just released too early. Still played the s*** out of it though.

plasma - doesn't GA and 3FL have console commands to put in so it picks a local servers?

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CHUB
Posted 02:49pm 21/11/09

The matchmaking in L4D2 really is utter fail.

I can't remember being put with so many high pingers and foreign servers before.

I exclusively use Steamgroup servers.

Just add the big 3FL + Gamearena steamgroups, then you can slot into 7/8 games still on the 1st stage easy.

L4D2 has 5 new and way better campaigns, everything about the game is 10x better. 5 campaigns, new modes, new characters/infected doesn't = addon.

It is just a far superior game. The campaigns are absolutely badass, there's a fun mixture of new items and weapons (chainsaw FTMFW) and the new infected are perfect.

I would definitely recommend it, exceeded my expectations.

Dark Carnival is my favourite atm. Dark Coaster is one of the most difficult levels, haven't seen anyone survive the rollercoaster yet, you can nearly always get a perfect spit on them waiting for the gate to open. The concert finale is heaps of fun too for a simple arena, the little things like music/lighting/fireworks makes for an awesome atmosphere.

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ravn0s
Posted 03:32pm 21/11/09

the 3fl servers are f***ed. pings wont go below 100.

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CHUB
Posted 03:41pm 21/11/09

100-150 is alright.

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ctd
Posted 04:53pm 21/11/09

the 3fl servers are f***ed. pings wont go below 100.

they are the WA servers DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

sv_search_key 3FLNSW

last edited by ctd at 16:53:01 21/Nov/09

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Minxy
Posted 06:44pm 21/11/09

Went to check which campaigns I've done and it seems I've lost all of my achievements. Anyone else had this happen??

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koopz
Posted 08:33pm 21/11/09

mine are back now

strangely, all the lan stuff we did is there as well now. I'm kinda happy about that though.. Survival is f*****g hard to get golds on without good mates

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casa
Posted 11:17pm 21/11/09

Massive problem in VS is if theres not enough infected players, bots dont take over the specials unlike the survivors. Although s***** AI survivors is still an issue.

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ravn0s
Posted 11:43pm 21/11/09

its been like that since the original casa.

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Jim
Posted 12:02am 22/11/09

I think I'd rather have the reduced respawn times (how it is now) than try and rely on an AI special infected

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SidewindeR14K
Posted 10:44pm 13/12/09

Auz versions scuk hard

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fpot
Posted 04:26am 14/12/09

I'd already gotten bored of the game after putting in a solid 700 hours of playing it over the previous 6 months

imo 700 hours for whatever it is you paid for the game is good value for money.

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Jim
Posted 09:37am 14/12/09

yep, think I mentioned the cost didn't bother me

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