Left 4 Dead 2 – The Passing – Hands-On
The long-awaited DLC for Valve’s zombie shooter sequel, Left 4 Dead 2, was released last night for gamers on the PC; having been released that morning for 360 gamers. As such, when I arrived home from college I found the content downloading, and eventually got to play it today after a lengthy download from some obviously over-stressed servers.
Obviously the main gimmick to this campaign is that it features the original Survivors from the first Left 4 Dead, with an obvious exception. Set after Dead Center with the Survivors still in the stock car from the shopping mall, they must work their way under a river to reach the other side, fuel up a generator to lower the bridge to get across and carry on their way.
The level design itself is reminiscent of that from the original L4D with not very open outdoor areas combined with tight indoor corridors leading everywhere. The three individual levels are quite varied, each with their own different challenges to overcome to push through, including the wedding, the sewer run and others.
The final is, rather annoyingly, another Scavenge-style affair, requiring you to fetch gas cans from across the map. However, the area in which the gas is spread around is considerably larger than the mall in Dead Center, which does offset the fact that you do have the remaining original Survivors helping you out with covering fire from above.
In all, the DLC is quite good. Nothing too amazing, but it’s also not lacking anything. The gameplay is good, but the story behind the campaign, and especially the inclusion of the original Survivors makes no sense whatsoever.
Video coverage of a run through the campaign can be seen below. Beware as it does contain spoilers for those of you who haven’t yet played the DLC.
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