Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2
Studio	Valve
Publisher	Valve
composer	Mike Morasky
Erstveröffent- lichung	Windows November 17, 2009 Xbox 360 November 17, 2009 November 20, 2009 Mac OS X October 5, 2010 Linux July 2, 2013
platform	Windows Mac OS X Linux Xbox 360
Game engine	Source Engine
genre	Survival horror first person shooter
Game mode	Single player , co-op multiplayer
control	Keyboard and mouse , alternatively other game controllers possible (PC), gamepad (Xbox 360)
system advantages preconditions	3.0 GHz CPU; 1 GB RAM ( XP ) / 2 GB RAM ( Vista ); DirectX 9.0 graphics card; 56k modem
medium	DVD-ROM , download
language	Multilingual
copy protection	Steamworks
Age rating	USK PEGI
information	USK 18 for cut version All uncut versions are indexed in part B of the list.

Left 4 Dead 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Valve , primarily played cooperatively . The sequel to Left 4 Dead was released worldwide on November 17, 2009 via Steam and in the US for Xbox 360 , and on November 20 in worldwide retail for both platforms. Left 4 Dead 2 contains new weapons and enemies and is mainly set in the southern United States . Contrary to what was originally expected, no version for the PlayStation 3 was released .

Customers who had pre-ordered the sequel via the Steam distribution platform could play the demo from October 27, 2009. In addition, they received a baseball bat as a melee weapon exclusively in the game. The demo was only available to all others from November 3rd (two weeks before the game was released) until the end of November.

action

As in the first part breaks in the continuation of a disease called green flu (dt .: green flu from), mutate by the people infected. Left 4 Dead 2 takes place one week after the events of Part 1, ie "three weeks after the first infection". As can be seen in the intro, the four survivors Coach, Ellis, Nick and Rochelle try to reach an evacuation station in order to be flown out of the contaminated area by helicopter. However, they just miss the military and have to save themselves from the city.

Campaign scope at publication

As in the first part, the five campaigns form a comprehensible chronological order. In the 1st Infection Center Campaign , the survivors ultimately flee with a car from a department store they had previously fought their way to and from. The 2nd Dark Carnival campaign begins with the fact that you have to continue on foot, as a barricade of cars makes it impossible to continue your journey. The group then fights their way through a contaminated fair and is finally evacuated by a helicopter. After starting the 3rd mala fever campaign , you find out that the helicopter pilot turned into a zombie and that the survivors had to make an emergency landing. This time the goal is to beat your way through a swamp area, only to be picked up by a boat at an abandoned plantation house. As the boat ran out of fuel at the beginning of the 4th storm surge campaign , the group had to look for fuel on land, but were surprised by a storm and the way back took longer than expected. At the beginning of the 5th campaign, the community took the boat as close as possible to an evacuation station of the military. The aim is now to fight your way to a bridge to catch the last helicopter at the other end.

DLC The Passing

In spring 2010, the first DLC was released, which contained the new campaign The Passing . It deals with the meeting of the survivors from Part 1 and Part 2. Together they lower a bridge to enable the onward journey. Chronologically, the events take place between the 1st and 2nd campaign.

DLC The Sacrifice

In autumn 2010 a new DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 was released. This includes an additional campaign called The Sacrifice and the Mercy Hospital campaign from the first part (at the same time the add-on is also compatible with the first part of Left 4 Dead, only the The Sacrifice campaign was added here). The aim in The Sacrifice is to fight your way through with the survivors from Left 4 Dead 1 to a bridge, which lays the foundation for the previously released DLC The Passing . The fighting takes place through port areas, warehouses and sometimes ships. In the end (on the same map of the first update, but this time from the point of view of the "predecessor") generators have to be started in order to lower the bridge. At the last generator, a player sacrifices himself for the group. This is indicated in a trailer published for this purpose, where the character Bill, armed with a Molotov cocktail, runs against a pack of zombies so that the survivors can escape, as well as in an online comic. Apart from the trailer template, however, any player can start the last generator.

DLC Cold Stream

The Cold Stream DLC contains the remaining four Left-4-Dead-1 campaigns and the Cold Stream community campaign . The release date was July 25, 2012. The beta version of Cold Stream for the PC was released on March 22, 2011, and was continuously improved up to the DLC release. In addition, the Dead Air campaigns on July 22, 2011 and Blood Harvest on August 12, 2011 were pre-released as beta versions for the PC.

Overview of the campaigns in chronological order

	German title	Original title	L4D survivors	L4D2 survivors	Number of cards	publication
1	Mercy Hospital	No Mercy	X		5	Oct. 2010 (Nov. 2008 for L4D )
2	Crash course	Crash Course	X		2	Nov. 2011 (Sep. 2009 for L4D )
3	Death zone	Death great	X		5	Sep 2011 (Nov. 2008 for L4D )
4th	Flight to hell	Dead Air	X		5	July 2011 (Nov. 2008 for L4D )
5	Thirst for blood	Blood Harvest	X		5	Aug 2011 (Nov 2008 for L4D )
6th	Infection center	Dead center		X	4th	Nov 2009
7th	The sacrifice	The sacrifice	X		3	Oct. 2010 (at the same time for L4D )
8th	The bridge	The passing	(X)	X	3	Apr. 2010
9	Dark Carnival	Dark Carnival		X	5	Nov 2009
10	Mala fever	Swamp fever		X	4th	Nov 2009
11	Storm surge	Hard rain		X	5	Nov 2009
12	The community	The Parish		X	5	Nov 2009
Does not fit into the chronology
	Cold stream	Cold stream		X	4th	March 2011

Infected

In addition to the normal infected , the special infected from Part 1 ( Hunter , Smoker , Boomer , Tank and Witch ) can also be found in the game. Three more special infected people were added. First the Charger , who runs towards his victim like a steam hammer, grabs them and hits the ground repeatedly, then the jockey , who jumps onto his victim's shoulders and can then steer them, and the Spitter , who creates a caustic carpet of acid spits on the floor. A feature has been added to the witch : the wandering witch does not sit in one place as usual, but walks around aimlessly.

There are also some new species among the normal infected , the so-called uncommon common . There are infected people in construction workers' clothing who wear helmets, which is why they do not hear any noise (e.g. with pipe bombs). Furthermore, the helmet gives them protection, which is why they cannot be killed with a targeted shot in the head. There are also infected people in chemical protective suits who often carry boom puke containers or police officers with bulletproof vests, which give them a certain insensitivity to fire or bullets. Some of the infected also wear military clothing and carry pipe bombs with them. In the second campaign you can find clowns who lure more infected people with their squeaky cardboard noses (similar to a pipe bomb or boomer puke) and in the third campaign so-called mud crawlers, who attack the survivors on all fours and thus difficult to hit or see in the swamp are.

weapons

After the selection of weapons in the first part of the game was quite manageable, the arsenal of the second part was increased. One of the innovations is the melee weapons available . In addition to the baseball bat, which is only available for pre-order, the game was cricket bat , a frying pan , a fire ax , a crowbar , a Katana , a machete , a baton , a guitar and a chainsaw added. A Desert Eagle has also been added as an alternative pistol.

The rifles include two submachine guns, one of which is silenced, two pump shotguns, one of which is chrome-plated, the automatic shotgun from the first part and an automatic SPAS-12 shotgun. Assault rifles include an AK-47 , which has a small magazine, slow and imprecise, but very powerful, an M16 , which has a good average of the criteria mentioned, and the Combat Rifle , which has great accuracy, penetration and Magazine size, but no sustained fire, just fires bursts of fire. In addition to the old hunting rifle , a sniper rifle with high precision and a large magazine is provided. There is also a grenade launcher and ammunition upgrades (incendiary and explosive ammunition), which gives you a full magazine of special ammunition and then continues shooting with normal ammunition. Explosive ammunition has the advantage, among other things, that it causes the special infected to stumble, while incendiary ammunition sets its targets on fire, which can also jump over to nearby infected people. You can also attach a laser sight to your weapon, which increases accuracy.

Customers from Germany have exclusive access to weapons from the game Counter-Strike: Source if they have the cut version of the game.

Tools

In addition to the aids from Part 1, bandages and a can of pain pills, Part 2 includes new aids with adrenaline and defibrillator. These are randomly distributed in the game world, often also in rooms and places off the main path. Unless the game is being played in the highest level of difficulty, the game supports the players by replacing pills and adrenaline, if necessary, with bandages. Otherwise, bandages can hardly be found outside of Saferooms. Pills and adrenaline can be passed on to teammates if they need them, with bandages you can either heal yourself or treat a teammate and the defibrillator can revive dead teammates. The bandages are also the only aid that a player who has a "gray screen", i.e. who has been lying on the ground several times and would die with the next rainfall, can heal to the extent that he can survive being overwhelmed again. Because of the small number of first aid packets, many players forego treating bots as long as they are not important for progress in the level section, but the bots recognize the player's condition and use existing first aid packets or pills to help the player.

First aid kit

• Carrying point: Carried on the back like a backpack
• Passable: Only by dropping it
• Time to effect: 5 seconds
• Duration of action: permanent
• Healed value: 80%
• Other effect: Heals players from the "gray screen"

Painkillers

• Carrying point: worn on the belt
• Passable: Directly to a player or by dropping it
• Time to effect: Immediately
• Duration of effect: Temporary, decreases slowly and works for approx. 4 minutes
• Healed value: 50%
• Other effect: If you have 10% life, use the pills and then suffer 55% damage, you will not die after the effects have expired, but remain at 1% life.

adrenaline

• Carrying point: worn on the belt
• Passable: Directly to a player or by dropping it
• Time to effect: Immediately
• Effect duration: Permanent healing - Temporary effect, 15 seconds
• Healed value: 25%
• Other effect: Increases running speed, no fatigue in melee attacks, immunity to slowing by enemies or water.

Defibrillator

• Carrying point: Carried on the back like a backpack
• Passable: Only by dropping it
• Time to effect: 3 seconds
• Duration of action: permanent
• Healed value: 50%
• Other effect: revives dead players

Game modes

In addition to the game modes already known from part 1, Co-op , Versus and Survival, Left 4 Dead 2 also features the Scavenge mode . Here, the survivors have to manage to get gas cans to a generator as quickly as possible. The canisters are in the direct vicinity of the generator. The search is made more difficult by attacking infected people. Which team was able to procure a certain number of canisters faster wins.

In addition, an additional realism mode can be activated in campaigns. This makes it difficult to identify team members - due to the missing, glowing border - and players have to hit attacking infected people more precisely in order to kill them.

In spring 2010 a new game mode called "Mutation" was added to the DLC update. A special game mode is made possible every week through an update. Since autumn 2012, all mutations can also be selected individually independently of the updates. Example: The mutation "Bleeding" in a campaign in co-op mode ensures that not a single bandage package can be found and that the player only has temporary life points.

synchronization

figure	English speaker	German speaker
Coach	Chad Coleman	Tilo Schmitz
Rochelle	Rochelle Aytes	?
Ellis	Eric Ladin	Tim Knauer
Nick	Hugh Dillon	Erik Schäffler
Virgil	Randall Newsome	?

Protection of minors and cut versions

In contrast to the original version, which is available in Austria and Switzerland, the version available in Germany is reduced in force. Similar to part 1, the German cover also had to be changed so that it no longer shows a broken thumb. The original version was confiscated on February 15, 2010 by the Tiergarten District Court for glorifying violence (file number 353 Gs 694/10) according to §131 StGB . In February and March 2019, the confiscation order was lifted by the AG Berlin-Tiergarten, but these versions are still subject to a distribution ban in Germany due to the indexing in List Part B and may not be resold.

In the UK , the cover of the DVD box also had to be changed. Not because it shows a torn thumb, but because the V-sign with the index and middle finger (which stands for the second part of the game) with the back of the hand towards the viewer is an insult, similar to the stinky finger . For DVD boxes in the UK, the hand is turned so the palm can be seen.

In Australia , the game was denied an age rating by the Office of Film and Literature Classification . The commission complained that the game contained "realistic, frenetic and relentless depictions of violence" and was not suitable for people under the age of 18. Since there is no age rating from 18 years in Australia, the game could not be sold there. After an objection from Valve was not granted, the game is now being released in a cut version (from 15 years), in which no severed limbs, beheadings, wounds and accumulations of dead bodies can be seen.

Cloud synchronization

As long as the game is running, all activities within the game are recorded and transferred to Valve when the game is closed ("cloud synchronization"). This functionality cannot be switched off and is a fundamental part of the business model, since regular updates are set on the basis of this information to keep the game "interesting". The speed of movement of the "infected" was increased several times in order to keep the game difficult. Which information is transmitted is only partially known, as similar functions were already introduced in the Half-Life 2 series.

Community boycott

The announcement of the second part caused great resentment among some supporters of the first part. It is feared that the community could split up between the two games and that the promised free expansions to Left 4 Dead would be discontinued or at least processed with lower priority. On June 1, 2009, a Steam group called L4D2boycott was founded. The group had 5,000 members on June 4th, 21,000 on June 9th, 26,000 on June 11th and more than 40,000 members on July 20th. After the group's founder visited Valve, he announced that he would end the boycott on October 21, 2009. His fears were allayed during this visit and all the demands contained in the group's manifesto were implemented.

reception

Meta-ratings publication Rating Windows Xbox 360 Metacritic 89/100 89/100

The reviews were positive. At Metacritic, the Xbox as well as the PC version received a rating of 89% like the predecessor. The PC Games said the game was "a consistent sequel to Left 4 Dead." However, criticized the monotony and the terse story, the game was limited to "shoot, chop, blast, ignite, saw up". PC Action says: "Of course, Valve is not reinventing its own gameplay, but the zombie experts are improving and expanding it in every virtual nook and cranny."

Web links

• Official Left-4-Dead website
• Left 4 Dead 2 at MobyGames (English)
• The second part of the "Left 4 Dead Wiki" (English)
• Cut report on the German Xbox 360 version

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mike Fahey: The Sacrifice Is Out, And Left 4 Dead Is Ridiculously Cheap. In: Kotaku . October 5, 2010, accessed March 15, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Chet Faliszek: Left 4 Dead 2 Beta is out of Beta! In: Left 4 Dead 2 News. July 2, 2013, accessed March 15, 2019 . 
3. ↑ No Left 4 Dead 2 for PS3 on fudzilla.com (English)
4. ↑ Pre-order now on Steam! at HLPortal.de
5. ↑ New official trailer in HD! at HLPortal.de
6. ↑ Youtube Left 4 Dead 2 The Sacrifice DLC Trailer [HD]
7. ↑ The official comic
8. ↑ All ten Melee weapons confirmed by HLPortal.de
9. ^ EA: CS: S Waffen in the German version at HLPortal.de
10. ↑ Fourth game mode revealed at HLPortal.de
11. ↑ Details on the realism mode revealed at HLPortal.de
12. ↑ German cover without (visible) thumb at HLPortal.de
13. ↑ Blade41: Indexings / Seizures March 2010 Left 4 Dead 2 - Seizures lifted. Accessed December 30, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Left 4 Dead 2 - Seizures lifted. Accessed December 30, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Left 4 Dead 2's new box art: no longer flipping off the UK at Gamegrep.com
16. ↑ News.com.au: Left 4 Dead 2 refused classification in Australia . September 17, 2009. Accessed October 26, 2009.
17. ↑ Gamesindustry.biz: Left 4 Dead 2 loose Australian appeal . October 23, 2009. Accessed October 26, 2009.
18. ↑ ^{a b c} 26,000 players boycott Left 4 Dead 2 article on rebell.at
19. ↑ Moving Forward Announcement of the Steam Group
20. ↑ Over 21,000 members have joined a Steam group set out to boycott the upcoming Left 4 Dead sequel Article on tomsguide.com (English)
21. ↑ Steam Group L4D2 Boycott (NO-L4D2) page of the Steam Group (English)
22. ↑ Hard News 10/14/09 ( Memento from October 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) News on screwattack.com (English)
23. ↑ IGN news on IGN.com (English)
24. ↑ Game Politics News on gamepolitics.com (English)
25. ↑ Meta-rating, Left 4 Dead 2 (Windows). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed March 15, 2019 . 
26. ↑ Meta-rating, Left 4 Dead 2 (Xbox 360). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed March 15, 2019 . 
27. ↑ Comparison of scores at Metacritics
28. ↑ Test at PC Games
29. ↑ Test at PC Action (in the press review)