Left 4 Dead 2 [X360]

Zombies are all over the place these days. They're in the movies, in books, in videogames, and maybe one even at work in the cubicle next to you. You know, that guy who drools on his keyboard and smells like something unfortunate. At a recent event in San Francisco I got the chance to check in with a build of Left 4 Dead 2. The sequel to Valve's hit original released late last year, it appears to be retaining all the elements that made the first so memorable. Specifically, that means you'll be splattering zombie brains all over as your party of four is relentlessly assaulted.

If you're totally unfamiliar with how this game works, it's a co-operative multiplayer experience requiring teamwork for survival. You play as four humans armed with basic weapons and health packs wading through waves of undead, or infected as they're called in the game, to try and reach freedom. The campaigns maps are linear, so the goal is to get from the start point to the exit without everyone dying. These enemies don't shamble, either. They're fast, and they're not happy about you being alive. They run at you in groups, and they come in a few types.

Left 4 Dead 2 offers up campaign-specific common zombie types in addition to the regular grunts. In one campaign called Dark Carnival, these slightly uncommon zombies are dressed up like clowns with bells on their shoes, which mixes up the challenge being thrown at you. You also get the boss zombie types, which are playable in the game's Versus mode. These ghoulish guys and girls are the big obstacles for the survivors, as they've got a number of special skills. Valve's sequel introduces a few new types, one of which in particular was a blast to play as.

The spitter wanders around with a bikini thong sticking out her shorts, seemingly missing a jaw and drooling green goo. Her special attack spews forth sickly fluid that bubbles across the ground, serving as a hazard for any that pass over. Like the boomer's posthumous gore nova, killing her doesn't necessarily mean the threat is gone, as she'll leave behind a puddle of putrid stuff. She's pretty gross, but such is the way with zombies. Next up is the jockey. This awkwardly formed abomination shuffles around the maps and can lunge at any survivor that comes near. Unlike the hunter, who pounces and claws at downed targets, this guy hangs on, giggling hysterically. He can actually steer the survivor around, guiding them to hazards or separating them from the group so other zombies can move in and deliver damage hassle-free.

The charger was the real highlight for me. It seems when this guy got infected his mutation had a proclivity for asymmetry, since he's got one absolutely enormous arm. That's probably why his charge attack is so deadly. From a distance this guy can NFL linebacker-style barrel toward a survivor, taking them for a ride as he makes contact and drilling them into whatever surface he makes contact with. Then he proceeds to beat the snot out of them unless someone can kill him first. Out in the open his large size makes him an obvious target, but if he's able to surprise a straggler and slam them into, say, the bathroom of a motel room in the Dark Carnival campaign, it's a hell of a rush.

Aside from the Versus mode play, where two teams of four take turns playing as survivors and infected through a campaign, I also got to see Scavenge mode. The idea here is for people to get a Versus-style experience in a smaller chunk of time, since most who've tried Versus know a full match can last a while. It's the same philosophy that went into creating the Crash Course downloadable content for the original Left 4 Dead, which was just recently made available to the public. Yet with Scavenge mode, it's not just a campaign with fewer maps, it's a different mechanic.