Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first person shooting game that takes place in a zombie apocalypse setting. The player plays as one of the four human survivors, who needs to fight through a horde of zombies in order to get to safety.
Game website: http://www.l4d.com/blog/
Gameplay demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaXl7DKG86U
Lens #7 – The Lens of the Element Tetrad
Mechanics
There are 5 modes of gameplay, all with single player or multiplayer options, each with a different set of rules and goals.
The standard mode is the Campaign mode which pits you against the director. Simply survive five stages of zombie attacks and you will be successfully rescued.
My personal favourite and the most popular mode would be the Versus mode which involves a maximum of eight players split into two teams. What I really like about the Versus mode is that you may either choose to play as one of the four survivors, or as one of the eight special infected zombies which presents a whole new point of view of the game.
There is also the Scavenge mode which requires your team to search for and return gas cans to a generator in order to escape the scene, the Survival mode which pits you against wave after wave of zombies to see how long you can last and the Realism mode which takes you another step further by removing all assistance and hints in the game, so that you can experience the situation in the most realistic way possible.
You may also select a difficulty level based on your gaming skills, which scales the health and damage of the zombies and the frequency of replenishment points.
Story
The main story of the game revolves around the four surviving protagonists, who are fighting their way through a bunch of zombies, each with a unique character and personality. There are 13 maps in the game, with a range of settings and activities in which you have to complete in order for you get rescued. The storyline of Left 4 Dead 2 may be simple, but it has captured the hearts of players by portraying them as the heroes of the story amidst crisis.
Aesthetics
Left 4 Dead 2 is a lot more detailed in terms of graphics compared to Left 4 Dead, which can be seen from the zombies’ reactions and environmental effects such as dirt and blood splattering. It generally introduces more gore and tension via visual and sound, which are important components that gamers look out for when playing zombie shooter games.
In terms of player experience, one great selling point of Left 4 Dead 2 maps lies in its diversity. Instead of hunting zombies on the streets in broad daylight, you have the opportunity to fight against them in swamps, riverfronts, plantations, hotels, malls, abandoned highways, amusement parks and more, presenting you a movie-like experience. The weather condition in the game is ever-changing as well, leading you through clear night skies and heavy thunderstorms, constantly challenging you adapt to your surroundings.
Technology
Left 4 Dead 2 was first released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360. It was subsequently released for OS X in 2010 and Linux in 2013.
I believe that the mechanics aspect is a huge part of Left 4 Dead 2, seeing how it caters to different players based on their skillsets and preferences. It also allows the players to view the game from various perspectives. The aesthetic aspect acts as a strong value add-on and the story, along with the technology, makes the game complete.
Lens #3 – The Lens of Fun
Whilst on the quest of staying alive, you may equip yourself with two weapons of your choice: a primary weapon and a sidearm. The primary weapons range from submachine guns to grenade launchers and have varying ammo capacities and abilities for you to experiment. The sidearm, on the other hand, is far more interesting. You may find yourself holding onto a pistol, slicing through the infected with your katana, whacking the zombies using a frying pan or even smashing them with a bright red electric guitar. It really surprises me whenever I get my hands onto a new-found weapon, because who would have guessed that you can kill a zombie in so many different ways?
Furthermore, grenades such as molotovs, pipe bombs and bile bottles are provided which adds on to the element of fun and the list of dumb ways to die for the zombies.
Lens #27 – The Lens of Skill
Alike most first person shooting games, playing Left 4 Dead 2 trains you to be alert and adaptive to your environment. You will learn to react quickly to attacks and listen closely for sounds made by the special infected in order to avoid them. Teamplay is an important part of the game as well and it requires you to communicate and strategise with your team in order to survive and complete the final quest. A progress report will be displayed at the end of the game which gives you a breakdown of the number of zombies you have killed and your headshot accuracy rate compared to your teammates, so that you can track your improvement over time.
Lens #38 – The Lens of Cooperation
Cooperation is essential during the multiplayer game modes. Left 4 Dead 2 allows communication between players through text and voice. It highly encourages player-to-player interaction by allowing you to heal your teammates using a medical pack and transfer healing items to them so as to give them a temporary health boost. If your ally has met with an unfortunate mishap, you may also revive him from the dead using a defibrillator.
This game also puts you in situations where you will definitely require your allies’ help. There are several special infected which are set for this purpose, including the smoker who abducts you using its tongue and the jockey who rides on your back and controls your movement. And trust me, there is nothing more comforting than being rescued by your teammates from the hands of these zombies.