14 DAY TRIAL // Left 4 Dead is one of those games that were so good they turned people into psychotic fans. The game in itself is a huge cement truck of “fun” distilled through twisting glass tubes until it could fit a game box. The frantic survival zombie shooter pits four more or less ordinary people against the population of a small town, a zombie town. With few weapons and about just as many types of enemies the game still manages to be incredibly fun. Based around a cooperative gameplay idea, players have to rely on their friends more often than they do on their own skills. Sure, you can be a solitary god and finish the whole level by yourself, but it's scenes like “You 'all used me like a pipe-bomb!” that make the game so unique.
So when Left 4 Dead 2 was announced people jumped for joy. Well, at least the fans that don't have a weekly scheduled meeting with a padded room. While some people greeted the news of the upcoming game with open arms, others decided to boycott it. An official boycott group started in June claimed Valve's move to launch a new Left 4 Dead was a money-scheme that brought shame to the original title and this rushed new installment would end up as a secondhand product. Four months later after the boycott was started it seems like things are settling down.
Valve went above and beyond the call of duty to assure their fans that this game would be a genuine and quality experience of the Left 4 Dead universe. They decided to fly two of the boycott's founders to their headquarters and show them first hand what Left 4 Dead 2 was really like. Surprisingly, the two critics were pleased with what they saw.
"We have accomplished everything we can on our manifesto," wrote Agent of Chaos on the L4D2 Boycott Steam Community. So if a follower of Dark Knight's Joker is satisfied with it, what more can you ask from the game. In the end, the two concluded that the title was "balance and tight" and didn't "feel like a rushed job." If the game managed to please even the hardcore fans then it should prove to be a worthy experience when it comes out on November 17.