So, after a long week of finals I have been finally able to spend considerable amount of time playing L4D2. As such I feel more than capable to share my expert opinion with you.

When Left 4 Dead came out, it was a dream come true. I have always been into the zombie killing thing, and it was nice to actually play a decent zombie killing game. But almost a quarter of a million zombies later, and more hours than I care to mention, the game was getting stale. Game play had become predictable, especially in the competitive scene. But L4D2 showed promise to change that

My concern about L4D2 is not about how fun it is, although fun is great. My apprehension is about whether or not the game is playable at a competitive level. If I wanted casual fun I would find some dudes down to P&P on craigslist.

I may  be picking on the baby gazelle here, but scavenger mode is unplayable at competitively. For those of you with no foresight, let me assist you. The game mode is eventually going to be broken down until a single "best"strategy is found. After that strategy is found, everyone is going to adopt it, making it a game of execution. As fun as that may sound for some of you, it WILL blow. There's only so many ways you can go around collecting gas cans. just like L4D1, predictable + repetitive = stale toast.

Versus mode is a little harder for me to sink my claws into. Why? Because I find it very enjoyable. All that zombie hacking, slashing, and exploding action; I'll be damned if someone doesn't find that entertaining.But as previously mentioned, I don't give 2 shats about fun unless it can be played competitively (that IS why I am here). To start out, the scoring system is bunk, By that I mean it is horrendous. The scoring system is based on how much of the map the survivors complete; which means if you kill a couple survivors off outside of the safe room, you are only knocking a few points off their total score. my next grievance is about the asstastic game registration. Chargers regularly pass through survivors, and jockey's slide off of their heads as if they had banana peel hats. It really is frustrating. these are factors skill alone cannot compensate for. This is something L4D1 players were able to correct by using console commands to compensate, but valve has restricted how much this can be done in L4D2.

Also, for some drug induced reason, everything in the game has become over powered, except for the tank. It is plausible for an organized infected team to make even the best of teams come to the safe room butt hurt and limping (good thing damage doesn't matter right?). But the huge arsenal and addition to mêlée weapons isn't enough to completely thwart an infected attack. I do expect that to change once players learn the maps better though. As for my buddy the tank, he throws as well as Shaq, and has skin thinner than a slugs. Tank music use to mean "head for the hills", now it only means there is a speed bump ahead. If you don't believe me do this next time there is a tank: Pop adrenalin, pull out mêlée weapon, and spank that tanks ass like theres no tomorrow; he will keel over faster than a 6 year old.

I really would like to hear what everyone else has to say. Do you agree with me? disagree? did I miss something? let me know. As for now, I still believe that everything would be a lot better off if the new maps and special infected were just added to L4D1 as down-loadable content; the very same DLC that valve promised us in the first place.