Left 4 Dead 2

I was just as surprised as anyone else when Valve announced Left 4 Dead 2. The game hasn’t exactly been out for a long time, and well, Valve takes forever to release new games. Christ, I’m still waiting to hear anything about Half Life 2: Episode 3. So what is the big deal with the new sequel, and why not just make more content available for the original? We got to spend a little time with Valve to find out.

What’s new? Well a lot of things. On the exterior we can see that there are new heroes fighting an onslaught of zombies in the deep south. New zombies are seen, along with a few new weapons. For instance, we have the Charger, which is one big and fast brute that will come out of nowhere and send you flying, sometimes before you even know he’s coming. Melee weapons like a frying pan and fireman’s ax bring a new dimension to close-combat. You can even pick up incendiary ammo that will set your opponents on fire.

Sure, that stuff is cool, but perhaps stuff that could be patched in, or at the very least added in via an expansion. However, those aren’t the only changes to be seen. The biggest one is to the Director, which they are dubbing version 2.0. Now the Director can actually control things such as the path you take through each map and weather conditions. This allows for more dynamic gameplay, which will lead to better replayability.

So what happens to the original? Valve says that they’re far from finished with the first L4D game. They’ve still got new content in the works, which will be announced at a later date. In the meantime, check out some exclusive footage from L4D 2.