I thought it was better than the first one, actually. If not the same quality. I had a lot of fun with it when I played it.

I played through Dead Center campaign in two parts. Got to the mall and then was destroyed by several waves of zombies while dying without ammo. Then I quit, drove to GameStop to pick up Assassin’s Creed 2 at midnight, came back, and finished the campaign (starting at the mall).

My experience was different in that I was the target of every special infected for most of the time. That being said, I’ve yet to play online.

However, the first one had a hidden split-screen option on the PC (you had to open up the console and use a couple of commands) and if L4D2 doesn’t have that (I’ve yet to check) then that’s going to bum me out.

Have you tried playing the Realism Mode? I heard it changes a lot of things that would make the game…darker.

The changes to the flow of the game did change the feel of the game, I do agree. Does it make it not as good as L4D? I don’t think I agree.

The change to crescendo events from “stand and shoot” to something a little more tense was a fine idea. The new infected do throw a wench into the gears. The bridge finale on The Parish is pretty tough. Overall, I find the only thing lacking from L4D2 is Cortana (oops, I mean Zoey).

I have only played the demo because i get paid every two weeks and burned out my money on bills and essentials. Dang it I don’t need to eat but yeah i figured i should o.o. So I have to wait til sunday. The wondering witch is what gets me. With a machine gun yeah. I spray everything and some how my bullets find her. It’s just seemed weird playing against zombies in daylight XD. Zombies popping out of no wheres in the dark. thats what i enjoy out of the first one XP .

I played the game last night with my friends. I have one major complaint. On the campaign that we were playing, the finale of the last level is FREAKING IMPOSSIBLE!!! Other than that, the game is awesome. The katana is one of the most fun weapons in the game. I highly enjoyed the experience of being able to cut a zombies head of. I would agree with you, in general, that the game is a little lighter. On the other hand, there were plenty of times in the campaign I was playing that I was scared shitless. So i guess it ends up being up to each player to decide which L4D they like best.

The game gets pretty damn dark later on. Also, witches. Lots of them. You’ll see what I mean. I think you’ll enjoy the concert later.

I played Hard Rain last night and loved it. At first I thought it was kinda cheesy to have to back track through the level, but they did a very good job of making it feel different than the way in. The weather effects were freakin awesome. Mobile witches in a confined space definitely make for tension.

Oh yeah and braaaaainzzz….

I hate you all for having it. I want to kill more zombies, but have to wait until Friday. (In the same boat as Bulb.) The demo was still sweet, though that wandering witch was…hard to discern from background coloring. And the remixed cue music is great for the region.

the scary part, thats exactly what my physics teacher looks and acts like .-.

Well..in the first campaign…I found running through the burning building to be unsettling…

On top of that, with all the weapons? Makes it harder to grab a single gun and make it through the entire campaign with it, at least that’s hwo I feel. Also, hard rain? Definitly goes from normal to omgwtfbbqpizzasauceclamshells pretty fast

The advantage of the melee weapons is that they are far more effective against groups of standard zombies and non special specials. They really help crowd suppression, and are useful for rushes. The downside is as soon as you are in a situation with a special zombie and are short or run out of ammo you are fucked since your secondary has no range.

I think the melee added a lot of needed depth to the secondary weapons. Overall I feel like the additions really expand the game options, and I am excited to LAN some 4v4. I never felt shorted by L4D in the first place, and I think L4D2 has gone a long way to come across as a real sequel and not just an add-on. This kind of thing is the future of games to be honest. With ballooning development costs more and more first releases are going to feel a bit cut compared to their more realized sequels.

I was surprised to see Hawks power symbol being used by a real life superhero
http://reallifesuperheroes.org/?p=553

A friend tells me Hard Rain is apparently incredibly dark and creepy. Haven’t had the chance to try it myself. Going through a carnival in the middle of the night was kind of creepy, but overall Dark Carnival had more of a feel of goofiness to it than creepiness.

I still have fun with the melee weapons, even after having used them for a while, and try to carry one around. It makes getting swarmed by an entire horde easier to deal with. Also, the bat has a special little gibbing effect. If any of the bits that explode off of a zombie you kill with the bat hit another zombie, that zombie also dies instantly.

as you’ve already read, Hard Rain is pretty crazy. I Thought it started off pretty slow but holy hell once the storm hits i started getting freaked out, i thought we would have to fight through a freaking hurricane in the finale.

on difficulty, i think the hardest part is not knowing whats next. L$D scared the crap out of me to the point were normal seemed impossible. now i can run through it like a breeze on hard (Expert still requires a good team but once you get T2 weps its pretty easy till the finale).

Not knowing whats coming next is what gets me in L4D2. not knowing where to go or knowing at what parts i will probably find ammo is making the game a lot harder, but a few months down the road i;m pretty sure I’ll only be playing Vs again, and scavenge too.

on melee weps, their pretty good if your main is a rifle, use hand guns if your using a shotgun though. oh and Cory, I’m pretty sure all melee weps can hit multiple zombies at a time.

overall there is a different feel to L4D2, not better or worse but different in my opinion.

I’ve played the game through, and as of yet, only survived once with all four survivors. Sometimes it was the AI being dumb, others dumb luck, and of course the fact that the tank spawns between you and escape is annoying.
I like the feel of this game, and the fact that the level changes when you run through it more than once is nice. It keeps you on your toes.
As for weapons, I stick with the combat rifle (SCAR), grenade launcher, and whenever possible the chainsaw. Nothing kills better.
Oh and Hard Rain can bite me with all its “witchyness”. Once you play it you’ll see.