Left 4 Dead 2.....meh.

L4D 2 Demo impressions:

Left 4 Dead 1 was a great game. No doubt about it. On PC it saw lots of community support, custom campaigns...etc. On the Xbox, not so much. Valve pretty much left the console people out in the cold as far as real DLC goes. And when real DLC finally came out, we had to pay for it, unlike the PC/Steam community who got it for free.

So even though I enjoyed it on the Xbox, it honestly left a bad taste after Microsoft forcing Valve to charge....and then Valve announcing a sequel so soon.

Enough about its predecessor. Tuesday the demo for Left 4 Dead 2 was released to the general Gold member populous. And I figured what the hell...its free....I'll give it a try.

A section of the Parish campaign was playable. I pray this was just a section.....because if thats the whole Parish campaign....it was too short.

Not many new weapons were around. The handguns, uzi, hunting rifle & chrome shotgun were available, along with a guitar and a frying pan. I was really sad to never find a chainsaw. Ran into 3 of the new special infected. While the designs for them were cool, they weren't anything more than a little annoying. Nothing scary about being in broad daylight either.

Even though there are some new features and new enemies, its really nothing more than items to slap on the back of the box as selling points to try to convince you that Left 4 Dead 2 is gonna be a true sequel.

Did I get my $60 worth out of the first? Sadly I don't think so. I got bored with it way too quickly thanks to the short campaign.

I downloaded the demo hoping that it would change my mind about the game. That it would make me want to drop $60 on the "full sequel". But it did not. It really just felt like the first game with new characters and a few new weapons & enemies. The new A.I. didnt seem better, there were no weather changing effects, the landscape didn't change at all when I replayed the level. So all those cool features they advertise did not make it into the demo from what I played. Whether its Valves fault or Microsofts about the DLC....doesn't matter. To me Left 4 Dead 2 still needs to be a DLC pack for the original. Not a full retail release.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope that this demo was not even a crumb of whats gonna be in the full retail release. But I doubt it.

Will I buy Left 4 Dead 2? No. I'm gonna go re-buy the first game on PC and get all the free custom missions and just keep playing that instead. Then later....I MIGHT get Left 4 Dead 2 on PC. But I will never buy another Valve title on a console.

I love zombies. I love the zombie apocalypse. But Microsofts restrictive DLC & update system and Valves lack of support has killed a great game that could have had some real staying power.

Its cool if you disagree. But talk to all those Team Fortress 2 guys who haven't seen any DLC since the Orange Box dropped on the 360. While the PC version STILL sees updates and new content.

Valve...stick to PC. As cool as it is for the consoles to get your games.....they aren't worth the extra $10 versus the PC versions cost....and the lack of support and new content is the final nail in the coffin.

- Gat