18 Dec, 2009
So I’ve just completed Left 4 Dead 2 on the Xbox 360 with my good chum wielding the second controller. Once again, the fellows over at Valve did not disappoint us in the hours we spent getting bile to the face, acid in the eye, claws to the chest and humungous pieces of rock to our entire person. We admired the many new features and modes which have been added in this sequel, but what impressed us most was that this time round… the AI characters have brains!
Everyone who has played the original Zombie Apocalypse classic knows that in a time of peril, you can count on Francis to heal you when a Tank appears next to you, Louis to intercept and absorb every round of your precious ammo, and Bill to generally dither around and fall down a lot, (I would mention Zoey but, I always play as Zoey).
I know what you’re thinking, “If you played online this wouldn’t happen”. No, it wouldn’t, but for those of us without access to the wonders of Xbox Live or an above average PC, this AI problem can be a bit of a pest.
Not anymore! If you’re on your lonesome or just short of a player, you won’t be hindered by badly timed Pill Bottle donations or First Aid Kit theft anymore. Of course, there are a few instances of stupidity in L4D2, such as Ellis not entering the Safe Room because he’s obstructed by a fence post, or Rochelle being cannon fodder, one or two are expected. However, those tiny examples are a small price to pay for finishing a campaign on the Advanced difficulty with 3 survivors and your sanity/temper intact. (Oh come on, who hasn’t sacrificed one of them to save themselves?)
I tried a demo of this at the Eurogamer Expo in November and totally didn’t get on with it. I’m starting to wonder if I have some kind of disease that disables me from playing this game – I think I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t dig it much! Maybe I should give it another try …