Let’s look at it from a pricing standpoint. If each campaign were released as DLC, they would be what, $10 a piece? Just going from pricing trends there, but it’ll have to do. There are 5 campaigns total in L4D2, so right there you would have payed the same amount and you wouldn’t have the rest of that content that’s been added in. So in reality, Valve saved you money releasing the game this way. Not to mention that these missions are generally longer, more varied, and overall more FUN than the campaigns from the first game. Actually, this game took me longer to finish than I’m hearing most people are taking to finish MW2, and I would definitely play through it all again.

While I’ll say it certainly is possible this could have been “patch in” to the PC version, since the game is installed onto a hard drive, I don’t think it would be as easy on the Xbox, because the game isn’t stored on the HDD, but rather on the disc. So not only would an Xbox patch, if they made one, be very large in size (which in itself is a problem due to the smaller hard drive capacities), it would also lengthen initial load times and possibly slow performance. This is because the game would have to load the data off the disc, then run a check to the hard drive to pull the new content (kinda like when you start up Halo 3 or Rock Band, and it has to run a check for your DLC.) So on a technical level, I don’t think this could have feasibly been done as a patch.

Plus the game does feature graphical and engine improvements, including the new A.I. director which not only effects enemy spawns and behavior, but also effects the layout of the maps depending on your teams performance, something L4D1 did not do. I’ve seen sequels come out a lot further from the first game that had way less improvements than this, so I’d say it’s a winner.

Then you also have some pretty good new multiplayer modes, the new special and uncommon infected forms, the realism mode, and better Live integration.

Put that on top of the already winning formula established in the first game, I think it’s definitely worth the price of entry. You may not agree, but hey, that’s fine, we all have our opinions, and I just wanted to get mine out there. I’m also sure the fact that most of your friends are playing MW2 instead of L4D has more to do with the hype-storm surrounding MW2 then it does the quality of L4D.

I will give it to you on the A.I. of your team mates though, it can be pretty awful at times, probably due to the more open level design compared to the first game but they certainly could have improved that quite a bit.

I also totally agree about Valve’s attitude toward their other franchises. It’s been way too long since we’ve had any info on the next Half-Life episode. They seriously need to get it together in that regard.

But overall, even if I don’t necessarily agree with you, it was a good review, and you raised some valid points. Good job.

…although its possible the Xbox version has some diffrences that make it feel less like a sequel (the PC version looks quite a bit better then 1, which might be a huge selling point for those that care about that and im not sure if the xbox version does or not)

I’ve ALSO not played single player at all just due to the fact I cant STAND the first ones AI, and it looks like I made the right choice.

Excellent review!