Left4Dead 2 is the promptly released sequel of last year's Left4Dead. Although the game has faced some opposition from fans due to its release being so closely to the release of the original, Valve promised real changed and not something that should have just been a DLC package.

L4D2 has five modes, most of which you will recognize from L4D1. There is campaign, realism, survival, versus, and scavenger. Campaign mode will seem very familiar when you first begin to play it, but it's easy to see that there have been changes. Yes, your goal as a survival is still to get from safe house to safe house avoiding the hoard, but this time it's different. I'm not talking about the new maps or the new cast, I'm talking about the other new stuff. I mean the new guns, the addition of melee weapons, new projectiles, new health items, new special infected and the introduction of uncommon infected.

Valve also had more up their sleeves than some new things to look at, they changed how you played the game. They even beefed up the infamous A.I. Director. Not only can it dropp infected at will, it can now move the very walls and route you take. To make this Left4Dead even more of a challenge than it's predecessor, Valve also changed how events that would trigger horde moments worked. During L4D1, players could alert the horde and then sit in a corner and melee until it was all over -not any more. Players must now run to turn off alarms, race to a new area and stick together all while dealing with the new infected. I won't go into too much detail, just know the game has been stepped up. It's more intense, it's harder, it's fun.

Versus and survival still play much like they did in the first one, the only differences being the same changes that were mentioned before like new infection, weapons, etc. These modes are still a lot of fun. The same can be said for the other new mode, scavenger. In this mode, its a four on four of survivors versus infected. The survivors run through the level trying to collect 16 gas cans that are scattered across the map to keep their generators running. The infected do what they do best; try and stop them. A lot have people said it's a great alternative to those who want to play as the infected, but don't want to sit through an entire campaign in versus. It's a quick game, perfect for a short adrenaline rush.

Now, you may have noticed that I skipped over realism mode, and that's because it's not so much a mode itself, but a game play modifier. It's something that has been added for the hardcore players. Realism mode can be enabled for any mode, and when it is enabled things get harder. Items no longer glow white when you hover over them. People no longer turn red when they've been pounced by a hunter. Head shots really do matter. It really can be a challenge. It's something that really forces the team member to communicate well, and stick together. If you're up for the challenge, it's a lot of fun.

Overall, I say L4D2 is a great game. Valve promised something more than a glorified DLC pack, that they can through. The game is harder, more intense, and just as fun as the original. They've tweaked some game play mechanics, and some of them I can't even put my finger on. I just know that now the game feels smoother, faster, sharper. It's awesome.

Accessibility Review

Although Valve has been some hard work in to make this game accessible, it's surely not going to work out for everyone.

As fans of Left4Dead know, much of the game's humor and charm come from character conversations, intense music and infected vocals. But the audio is much more than fun sounds, it also provides much needed information such as if there is a boomer near-by, a horde getting ready to attack, or a witch that you should leave alone. Valve knew this, too and really tried to make make this game playable for the hearing impaired. L4D2 is fully closed captioned. It includes everything from the scream of a hunter to the last gasp of a dying smoker. There are only a couple complaints I have with the closed captioning system. First, the captioning doesn't notify you of the presence of a witch or tank nearly as soon as it should. The music changes when either of these special infected appear, but the captioning doesn't notify you until one of them makes some sort of noise- which often means that you are too close and in danger already. The other thing that sometimes got on my nerves was the location of the text itself. The caption is in the center of the screen, just above the health bars. The captioning shares the space with help text such as “Stick together to stay alive” and “Turn off the alarm on the third floor.” That means that if you need to turn off the alarm well Ellis is telling a story, the text will overlap. Also, when a large amount of things are going on, like during a finally, a lot of text can build up at once, and make it hard to see near by objects.

In overview though, the closed captioning system is really nice, and I can tell Valve put a lot of work into it. At this point, I was just nit picking. Valve did a good job of making this game accessible to the hearing impaired. The one thing that is preventing Left4Dead 2 for getting a 10 in this section is the fact this game was meant to be played with people. Like the description states, it's a four person co-op game. Unfortunately, the console version don't support a way that the hearing impaired can communicate with their teammates, which can really subtract from gameplay.

Although Left4Dead doesn't require any gross movements, it does require a large amount of fine motor skills. You must be able to melee, reload, shoot, and heal along with several other actions in in quick succession and a few of them at the same time. It also does not allow you to remap controls, only choose from a few standard presets. For these reasons I do no recommend this game for those with diminished fine motor skills, or those who are one handed.

L4D2 is a fun game visually, but is hit and miss for those who may have some visual impairment. For those who are red-green color blind, you'll be able to play the game fine. Although the life bars are green for good and red for dying, you can still look to see how full the life bar is to know where you stand. Things are a little harder in verses and scavenger modes though. While playing through as the infected, the survivors glow according to how much health they have. It's a nice way to see who you need to pounce- unless you can't tell the colors apart. You could look at the survivors and figure out their life based on their walking animation, but that probably takes more time than it's worth. Additionally, Left4Dead2 has a lot of really dark moments, and really bright moments. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what's going on even when you have 20/20 vision with no colorblindness.

Along the lines of accessibility, Left4Dead2 does okay. It has a few different difficulty settings and close captioning, but still leaves people with fine motor skill troubles behind. Valve showed that they could put a lot of work into the game and making it accessible, but they didn't make it work for everyone.