Left 4 Dead 2 takes place during the same zombie outbreak as the first game, but features a new pair of 4 survivors, Rochelle, Coach, Ellis, and Nick. While it wasn't quite clear what the new campaigns were apart from the fact that it will take place in the South US (the game starts in Savannah and ends in New Orleans), Scott Dalton, a level designer on the game, said that more of the story will be explored, including the reason for the outbreak.

Valve made sure to fix many complaints of the original game, and tweaks are apparent during the demo. Many players thought that the zombie enemies were not varied enough, as many zombies behaved the same exact way (in Valve's defense, these are zombies we are talking about, and they aren't generally known for their intelligence). Enemies now vary as some zombies are immune to certain types of attacks and will react differently to some situations.

In the demo, there were two noticeable new enemies. The walking witch, while not necessarily a new enemy, now walks around the level until the players either disturb it or get to the safehouse. The charger, a new special infected, is able to move faster than the player can run, and is able to knock them down with a single charge. Once the charger has knocked a player down, the charger will continue to smash them against the ground until the player dies, it will not take notice of any other players. The charger is just one of many new infected the developers wish to have in the 2^nd game.

Another complaint was the fact that the first game had little to no story (again, it was Valve's decision to do that) and there was no continuity between the campaigns other than the fact that they seemed to escape and survive at the end (unless everybody dies). This time Valve will have each campaign end where the next campaign begins (until you reach New Orleans where I can only assume you survive). The cause of the infection and the mass spread will be fleshed out and more of a story will take place.

New additions such as the gauntlet, and mid-level safe rooms made the game as well. Gauntlet moments are moments in which a large noise (think the gas station in No Mercy, or the crane in Dead Air) draws large numbers of zombies. Instead of being able to repel the main mass and then moving on, however, the zombies will keep coming until you reach a certain marker and turn off the noise. Mid-level safe rooms are rooms in which all 4 survivors will reach, and no zombies can get in. New weapons and med packs/pain pills as well as ammo may be there, and the next section of the game will not start until you open the next door. This is different from the first safe room in the fact that the chapter doesn't end when all survivors reach the room.

In the E3 demo that Valve had setup, they had the mid-level safe room setup right before the gauntlet moment. This let the team get ready to face the upcoming test. The room was in a mobile medical center that was in the base of what was once a survivor camp/military base. The moment the door was opened, the alarm went off, noting the military that an infected person may have made inside the base (the truth is that the base was over-run by zombies long before the players arrived). The alarm draws zombies and continues to do so until someone reaches the makeshift sniper tower to turn it off. Doing so results in being able to pick up said sniper rifle.

I played both the 360 version that Microsoft had setup at their booth and the PC version Valve had setup in the infamous 501C meeting room. The differences were the same as Left 4 Dead 1, the graphics were much better on the PC and it was easier to control the guns. It was worth noting that there were multiple glitches in the 360 game (did anybody else that played have the tank glitch?) that were not existent in the PC version. The 360 version did compensate for not having a mouse by having a button that turned players around 180 degrees, as well as having the enemies coming from less directions (note that these are the same compensations from the first game).

Many players complained at the low amount of levels for both the campaign and versus. Valve has stated that the campaign will consist of more chapters, as well as having 5 major campaigns as compared to 4 in the first game. All 5 of the campaigns will be available for versus mode right from the get go, and a survivor mode was most likely going to be in the game.

While not necessarily noticeable, the AI director was smarter, and did manage to balance out the gameplay much better than the first one (keep in mind that if the director is doing its job correctly, nobody will notice anything is being done at all). Players of a higher skill level were challenged with more zombies and special infected and players of a lower skill were given breaks by taking less damage and having to face less enemies.

New weapons exist in the game, and while none of the weapons from the previous game make it into the 2^nd, they all act the same as the first (so much so that I think the only thing that got changed was the models and sounds). Valve did add a few more melee weapons such as a frying pan, baseball bat, and the zombie killing staple chainsaw. The E3 demo included an axe, which the player could pick up (they could not keep the weapon on them and when they decided to use a firearm, the axe would drop for another person to pickup). The axe could be aimed at certain body parts of the zombie and could take them out with ease. What's better then chopping some zombie heads off?

All in all, Left 4 Dead 2, while may be a little early for a sequel, builds upon the foundation that made the first game so great, and adds on, with a larger, more in depth story, with new infected and new weapons. It will come out 364 days after the first game on November 17^th of this year for the Xbox 360 and PC.