It always disappoints me when I pick up a new game and there is no pre-configured single player mode to allow you to get a good feel before going out and blasting it out with your compatriots. However, in the case of L4D2, it wasn't necessary if you have every spent any time playing a valve game. The overall game play is consistent with previous valve games, if not a little better overall. Not that it really matters because there is a single player mode if you bother to figure that out before you jump into "Quick Campaign".

My first day on the job, I wracked up most infected killed, most damage to the witch, and most damage to the tank with 2 other live humans in the game. It was pretty impressive considering I'd never touched the game before. One of the only things I couldn't top the charts with was melee, because I was still uncomfortable with the idea of getting that close to something trying to kill me. Do you really want a nasty bleeding drooling zombie on you after all the zombie movies you've seen? I kept watching the blood spatter on my screen, and wondering how long before I became infected and turned.

The game features a number of different modes of game play called Campaign, Survivor, Realism, Scavenge and Versus. And then there are the special infected. All very hilarious.

THE MODES:
In Campaign mode, up to four players fight against the AI infected to make their way between the safe houses and eventually to rescue (if you live). AI manages unplayed characters so that your party is always 4. If a member of the party dies, you will somehow manage to find them locked in a closet yelling for help shortly thereafter.

Versus mode offers up the opportunity for four players to take control of the various special infected who try to prevent the survivors from reaching the next safe house or rescue. The two teams swap sides once per chapter/map and are scored based on their play through as survivors, with the scoring based primarily on distance traveled with a bonus awarded for each survivor alive at the end. In the event of a tie between both teams on the same chapter, bonus points are awarded to the team who did the most damage while playing as the infected.

Survival mode is a timed challenge where the survivors are trapped in a section of the campaign maps, and try to survive as long as possible against an unending onslaught of infected.

In Scavenge mode, the survivors must collect and use as many of the sixteen gas canisters scattered about a level to maintain fuel in power generators, extending the time in the round, while the infected players attempt to stop them, or at times, detonate the canisters themselves.

Realism mode can be enabled at any difficulty for any of the game modes. The realism mode removes the silhouettes of their teammates, and should they die, they can only be revived with a defibrillator kit and will no longer respawn later in the level. Damage dealt to Infected is also changed, with headshots dealing more damage to enemies, rather than limb or body shots, making gameplay even more of a challenge.

THE SPECIAL INFECTED:
The Boomer: a bloated infected whose vomit and bile blinds the player temporarily and attracts a horde of common infected. Bile and vomit are spit or spread when the Boomer is killed and explodes in a mass of grossness.

The Hunter: an agile infected that can pounce on survivors from great distances, and pin them down until they die or a teammate kills the Hunter.

The Smoker: a tall gangly mutant that can ensnare survivors with its long tongue and, upon death, releases a cloud of smoke that obscures vision and chokes survivors.

The Tank: as the name states, a Tank of a zombie, a gigantic, muscular mutant that is powerful and difficult to kill. The Tank will knock players backwards, dealing massive damage, and attack from afar by throwing a lump of debris or bashing a heavy object towards survivors

The Witch: a passive female mutant, who, when provoked by loud sounds, lights, or proximity of survivors, will attack the survivor that "provoked" her. She is able to incapacitate or kill the provoker (depending on the difficulty setting) in one hit. If her first strike doesn't do it, she will continue to attack, dealing a fair amount of damage, until the survivor is dead. She is very difficult to kill, moves really fast once angered, and has the ability to wander aimlessly in daylight. The aimless wandering wouldn't be bad, except that often you will find her walking right in the path of where you need to be.

The Charger: a large zombie with a mutated, oversized arm that is able to move quickly and knock players in its path off their feet. It can also grab players and smash them against the ground to deal major damage.

The Spitter: another tall gangly infected similar to the smoker that can project balls of stomach acid that splatter across an area, quickly eroding the survivors' health as long as they remain within it. The Spitter also explodes in a pool of acid that you'll want to avoid.

The Jockey: another modified version of an existing infected (Hunter) can jump onto the back of a survivor and steer them into other infected or terrain traps such as a large roof top set by the Director.

If you haven't played Left 4 Dead, then you probably aren't familiar with the Director. To put it simple the game is sort of laid out in the format of a movie. The safe houses are equivalent to the lulls you'd find in a movie where character building is done. So, basically, the director is nothing more than an AI system designed to try to challenge the survivors. It is supposed to be capable of determining how well the players are doing and pushing them harder, as well as providing rewards for more challenging paths taken, etc.

I've thoroughly enjoyed playing this game, and look forward to seeing more of you on one of our 3 L4D2 server.

[#c.T.] Pounce or Bounce #1[/b] 174.34.157.86:27015
[#c.T.] Pounce or Bounce #2[/b] 174.34.157.89:27015
Steam Community Members Only [#c.T.] Pounce or Bounce #3[/b] 174.34.157.94:27015

If you have played Bioshock, then you have come to expect a reasonable level of game play, nervous anticipation, difficulty. The dual weapon options, the sort of creepy sense that you were always being watched or that there was an enemy around every corner, and the hard hitting weapons combined for a pretty interesting game experience. Personally, I like this sort of game. It is a bit of a mix of FPS and Puzzle. Albeit the puzzle side is pretty direct. Too much leading this way and that. Otherwise, the game was great. I'd have given Bioshock an 8 out of 10 if I had reviewed it originally.

I must admit that I have a problem when it comes to FPS games... I'm a brute force player. This means I'm always pushing forward and trying to get in the enemies face to throw them off. I'll stand there and take a dozen hits and suffer the damage while I smash the enemy. For some games this is a simple enough method to reach the end, however, in Bioshock, on the higher difficulty level this technique would get you killed often. The creators gave a fair amount of thought to how much power your enemy had and balanced it nicely for the different expertise ratings. Forcing you to use tactical combat as much as direct attack. And yes, I did play the original on the highest difficulty. I died quite a bit, but ultimately, it wasn't the hardest FPS I've played over the years.

This brings me to Bioshock 2. It took me approximately 2 weeks of a couple hours here and there play to defeat the game. This was after I struggled with getting the Games for Windows Live crap to work. I can't believe that XBox users can stand that. Then again, the game portion of LIVE was developed as an interface around the XBox. It may not be so bad, but if you are one of the people like me that are running Windows Vista and can't get the .net updates to install all I can say is I'm sorry. I'm still not exactly sure what caused the thing to start working. All I can say is "Patience young Jedi."

Eventually, I was able to get into the game in Single Player Mode. This is where I discover that the game still delivers on the creepy factor. It wasn't as bad because I'm familiar with the character types now. Though, there were still places where I'm backed into a corner just waiting for something to come. This is one of my favorite parts of this game. If you have ever played Silent Hill all the way through, then you understand.

The weapons have underwent a minor change. Many of your favorites will still be there, but I think you will find new ones. The pistol has been replaced by the rivet gun, the wrench with the drill, and a few other twists have been thrown in there. Oh and some of them are lots of fun. Reminds of the days of playing Doom with a chain saw.

The plasmid structure has changed some, but I think for the better. Instead of 4 distinct areas of plasmids, you are left with 2. You have your offensive plasmids and then everything else. The list has grown significantly in the everything else market, which creates different possibilities for play style. I was rather impressed with the overall feel of the new plasmid structure.

Game play...well, I have not yet played Multi-player, but I do look forward to it. I thought the story line was a little weak and could have used some help, and in a way this took away from the game play. Still too much leading you around, but overall I'd give Bioshock 2 an 8.5. I think they did a fantastic job in many ways even given the failings. So much so that I'm looking forward to testing multi-player, as well as going back through to play the evil path.

One last thing. I'm not giving away the ending.

Merry Christmas to one and all. Unwrap your presents, and eat your food, but remember this is time for family and giving. You all have given much to this community and we appreciate it. Thank you and have a wonderful holiday.