The Ghostly Month of Virtua Sonic SPOOOOOOOOKIES!!!! continues with one of the greatest action horror shooters! Let the zombie mashing begin!
Somehow, Valve solved several problems when it came to the formula of zombie horde shooters. Left 4 Dead is far from being in a rare genre of gaming, but when it comes to online team shooter games, this has a special place in Steam. Left 4 Dead 2 has never had a dead concurrent count and is still popular enough to find games easily. This is coming from a game that is over a decade old. When you play it for yourself, you'll start to see why it's so popular, even after players have already poured hundreds upon thousands of hours into this title.
This game is not perfect, but it does have many different game modes. While the zombie mode is fun, it's always been the core game of 4 players against zombies that has captivated the real interest in this game. Even without mods, it was a lot of fun to go through entire armies of zombies. Even when you don't have 3 other players in your game, the bots in the game are not really terrible to play with. They're not as helpful, but that just leaves more zombies for you to kill by comparison.
There are elements that force you to use your teammates to save you. The special zombies are a mixed bag of awesome and annoying zombie types. The spitters and the boomers have annoying ways of using projectiles to either damage or blind you. The Hunters, Witch, Tank, Jockeys, Chargers and Smokers all have moves that can incapacitate you immediately. These all require the help of your other allies to get you out of it. The Tank and the Witch are in a category of their own, being able to take the most damage and deal the most damage all at once. They both of have monitors on your stats on who did the most damage to these two special zombie classes.
When it came to which title is which, they're both essentially the same game, like Doom and Doom 2, they differ only in added bonuses when getting the sequel. Chargers and Spitters were added into the roster, while changing the overall detail in the graphics as well. They also introduce four new survivor characters that take up the mantle of their journey. Left 4 Dead 2 possessed all of the first game's levels and characters, while introducing new levels and new player characters alongside all of it. The new weapons were plentiful, including a nice pump action shotgun and an AK-47. The game is the same, though, and you can easily skip the first Left 4 Dead.
The entire system of random zombie hordes and special zombies mixed with special events was just a fun ride, like at a theme park. No, I'm not joking, this is like one of those simulated experiences where you're working as a team and you must get to special horde and special zombie events. A lot of these special horde events involve a large quantity of zombies along with tanks. Tremble in fear of the tank, for its enormous girth can make you crumble. One hit from this thing and it can incapacitate you, or even throw you off of a building where you are dead. These things can wipe out an entire team with one throw of debris.
The witch is different, but not to be taken lightly. When you find her, she is crying in a corner somewhere and getting close to her agitates her. If you frighten them by shooting them or touching them, they will go after you with a one hit knock out. If you have all of your team attack her at one or hit her with a powerful enough weapon, she goes down easier. Witches are not as bullet spongy as the tank.
The thing that has truly kept this game alive is the fact that it is also fully customizable with mods. You can change the zombies and players into virtually anything thanks to the free downloadable content. There are mods that range from cartoony to very exotic, and yes I mean that in the most adult way possible. Be sure you're 18 or older if you get into some of these mods. You can change your entire party into the Doom Marines and then turn around and get Rick and Morty zombies. It's just a fun time all around to see them work within the game.
Left 4 Dead 2 is a game that is just so perfect, it really doesn't need an update. Perfect doesn't really mean perfect, but it is so popular for a very good reason. It became timeless without the use of unique stats on weapons or a Looter Shooter mentality. It's just fun for the sake of being fun and despite its flaws and glitches, it has become the Skyrim of the zombie games. That's right, I use that term unironically. It's just a good way to blow off some steam (pun not intended) and mindlessly shoot things while having the option of looking as silly as possible. You can't fault them on that. Roast them with a Molotov but also remember to drink water.
