Because what the internet really needs is one more review of Left 4 Dead 2.

I’ve been playing a good deal of the game since it came out and over all I have to say I’m quite impressed. I think Valve did enough with it to refute all the people that were complaining that they really should have just patched L4D instead of releasing a whole new game. The graphics improvements alone would almost make the new game worth it.

The basics of the campaign mode are, of course, pretty much unchanged. You and your friends run through various maps filled with zombies in a desperate attempt to reach safety. There have, however, been considerable changes in some of the details of your fight. First off, the “director” AI that controls the timing and placement of special infected spawns as well as the zombie horde attacks is much much meaner in L4D2. There are many more special infected combo encounters than I ever saw in the original L4D, almost to the point that you can pretty much count on the fact that if you encounter one special there is at least one more lurking somewhere very close by. This leads to all sorts of fun situations like being pounced by a hunter or constricted by a smoker and then having a spitter (one of the new special infected introduced in L4D2) run up and vomit toxic slime all over you. The special infected also seem to bring little mini-zergs of common infected with them just to add to the fun. This has the effect of making game play considerably more difficult than it was in L4D. I would say that the “normal” mode in L4D2 is more or less equivalent to the “hard” mode in the first game.

Adding to the increased difficulty is the fact that the computer controlled bots are profoundly stupid. If you don’t have three other people with which to play you will have a moderately frustrating experience dragging the bots through the campaign with you. They seem to have particular difficulty with the new special infected and with some of the new mechanics in some of the campaigns. In the Dark Carnival, for example, there is a section that involves running the track of a roller coaster in order to get to an alarm switch that you have to turn off. The bots have a very hard time with this. They’ll follow you alright but don’t count on them for any help killing even the common infected. Their behavior almost makes it seem like they just took the AI from Left 4 Dead and dumped it into the new game without any updates that would allow the bots to deal with any of the new content. The moral of the story? Play with friends.

Unsubstantiated rumors have been flying around that there will be plenty of downloadable content for L4D2, including a patch that will import all of the old maps from L4D into L4D2 and allow you to play them with the new characters and special infected.

The short version of the review is that L4D2 is more than worth picking up. If you’re a fan of the first one you will certainly enjoy the second. If you have never played L4D you may want to start out on “easy” mode in L4D2 unless you have a lot of experience with first person shooters.