A street corner reminded me today (see below) that I’ve been waiting to beat a zombie to death with a frying pan for months now. Then, I remembered that the L4D2 Demo is out today! I quickly headed home, powered on the Xbox and started the download. After not too much time, I was knee-deep in zombie-goo. Luckily, the real zombie apocalypse does not come so easily.
You start off getting to watch a pretty kick-ass cinematic that is nearly a short movie. In no time you’re back in the zombie-killing action and if you’re familiar with the first L4D you’ll have no trouble at all jumping right in. The controls are pretty much the same, but you’ll instantly notice the difference in graphics, weapons, and items. The other thing that knocked me in the face straight-up was the music. There’s nothing more awesome then hearing the twangy sounds of New Orleans with a horror-spin. The music is awesome, lively and puts you right in the mood of your surroundings.
The demo brings you 2 levels in the Parish. You get to choose one of your new characters and blam-o you’re in the action. The game seems to run more smoothly and the overall graphics look nice. The game-play is similar but has definitely ramped up the anticipation with all the new zombie types trying to bring you to a miserable end. Here’s the new types;
- Spitter – A nasty bastard that shoots acid on you that will tear you down pretty quickly if you don’t flee.
- Jockey – These creepy little guys jump on your head to gain the ability to steer your character in whatever direction they please, you can run around to get it off your head.
- Charger – Big ‘un that runs straight you to knock up groups, once he has you, he intends to beat you into the ground.
- There’s also zombies in bullet-proof riot gear who take a little bit more smashing to knock down.
There were pretty much all the new types I saw, on top of your regulars, you’re in for one hell of a survival attempt. The biggest change to the game is the melee weapons. You can ditch your pistol for a chainsaw, guitar, police baton, machete, and even a frying pan. Sometimes I found it more effective to stop shooting, pick up the guitar, and beat down hordes of zombies as my teammates backed me up with gunfire. It adds a whole new dynamic, as you could try and control doors or choke-points with melee weapons as you’re defended with gunfire. It’s satisfying smashing zombies down, to say the least.
Overall, it’s extremely fun and a great release thus fur. It will be interesting to see the rest of the game, and see how it pans out as a stand-alone sequel, since there’s a lot of discussion if it should have just been a large DLC package. It’s out and free, so log in to your Xbox or check it out here for PC. Good hunting!
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