I realise I may sound like a lunatic obsessive here, but it's remarkable the difference it makes. Even as recently as Half-Life 2: Episode Two the trees were interlaced flat panels. Trees in games are traditionally terrible. Brand new water effects have been introduced to a hugely improved Source engine, which look remarkably convincing. And very significantly, both here and in the marshes of the fantastic Swamp Fever, the water is superb, and makes an importance difference to how you play. You're now wading through feet of water, completely changing how you can approach the levels, forcing you to trace routes across rooftops. On that return journey through Hard Rain the storms have caused the towns to flood. It's absolutely enthralling – a sensation that no game has offered me before – the crazed desire for shelter and protection amongst the safety of your friends. The sound of thunder evokes shouts from all playing, “Get to cover! In there! In that house!” And the four of you sprint for the door, defending all entrances, and attempt to stay alive until the storm passes. You have to rush for shelter, the nearest building, the closest thing with a roof. But with the rain crashing down and visibility poor, getting caught in the open means doom.
The noise of thunder attracts the hordes, and attracts them in huge numbers. Remember when you played the first game and you encountered a Witch? The terror that induced? You've probably got over that now – you know what will trigger her, how closely you can sneak around her, what her limits are.
The rain picks up, becomes louder, and you hear that first crack of thunder. Whenever the Director feels it might cause you the most terror, a storm rolls in. And it's a rain that gets worse at the behest of the AI Director - Left 4 Dead's omnipotent controller of everything from the position of ammo to the spawning of enemies - and in this new game, occasionally the layout of the levels themselves.
It rains throughout, and in a novel twist for gaming it looks like rain. But what makes Hard Rain quite so thrilling is not only the dusky open areas and brilliantly smart layout, but the weather. You'll need to save stuff for your way back - which is frightening. It means the level is traversed twice (which rather than meaning they halve the effort by using each location twice, it's instead just enormous, and played differently on the return leg), which also means you might not want to collect every item you find on your way out there, whether in safe rooms or scattered around levels. The four new Survivors have to make a return trip on an errand, eventually making their way back to the boat that brought them there. While I don't doubt that Dark Carnival will prove to be the most celebrated campaign, so amusingly set in a fairground with hidden gnome-based extras, rollercoasters to run around, and a finale involving pyrotechnics and rawk, for me Hard Rain was the most outstanding part of the game. This time in campaigns that take place during the day, dusk, night and dawn, shedding new light on the original concept (sorry). As a team of four, working together or failing, they fight to stay alive and constantly progress. And significantly longer than the original.įour Survivors, living in a world where zombie-like Infected humans and monsters massively populate the cities and countryside, are desperately trying to reach potential rescue. It's what a sequel should be: the ideas from the original game rethought, reimagined, and enormously improved upon, in a new setting, with new characters, new weapons, new enemies, new tactics and new ways to play. It's an opportunity for more of those shouted celebrations of success, or cries of betrayal on defeat. Left 4 Dead 2 is not just a bigger, better, more involved sequel to the original game.
It was the stories, the individual tales of terror and derring-do.
It's those moments that made Left 4 Dead so much more than just a four-player zombie shooter. And the rescue boat is just there, you can almost touch it, and you can't move. There's so many of the Infected surrounding you, pouring from over fences and climbing from a hole in the ground, swamping you, and no matter how many you kill more take their place. One companion is pinned to the ground by a frenzied Hunter, another is barely alive, fallen from the path, trying to negotiate a route back, and you – you simply can't move. There's only three of you still alive, the rescue helicopter is right there, in view, and you can't move.
Having had a chance to sit down with L4D2 on PC for a couple of days, playing all five campaigns, the new Realism and Scavenge modes, and a good chunk of Versus, I think it's about time I told you wot I think.