Left 4 Dead 2: The Most Important Subject in the News Today

The biggest news for me out of E3 was the announcement of a sequel to the mighty Left 4 Dead. My initial reaction was positive and has pretty much remained so, basically because any new content along L4D lines is good news to me. This has not been echoed across the internet and seems to have culminated in this. Videogamers do not have a reputation as the most tolerant or balanced of enthusiasts but surely this marks a new low in the indignant, self-important sense of entitlement that manifests pretty much any time a new sequel, franchise or system is announced. To quickly run through the manifesto of this organisation:

• Significant content for L4D1 was promised, and never delivered

And Valve have said that L4D1 will continue to be supported (and that's not even considering the fairly major changes - introduction of Survival mode - that came with the update a few weeks ago).


• Valve put little faith in L4D1 since they almost certainly started working on L4D2 right after release

What has faith got to do with anything? What does this even mean?


• The fact that L4D2 is nearly identical to L4D1 will decimate the community for both games

OK, this is a fair point in theory, but it's important to bear in mind how popular L4D has been as an online game. Look then to Call of Duty 4, another popular online game which has retained a sizable community despite its age and despite a sequel being released last year (the sequel also has a good number of players so there's little indication that either L4D game would suffer).


• The announced date is not nearly enough time to polish content or make significant gameplay changes

Perhaps - and this is just a thought - some dick with a broadband connection is not quite as well-placed as a member of Valve's development team to make this judgement


• The new character designs seem bland and unappealing so far

Yeah, I can see that: riverboat gambler, TV newsperson, high school coach voiced by Cutty from the Wire. Bland and unappealing indeed.


• L4D2 is too bright to fit in with L4D1's visual aesthetic

This criticism sounds familiar


• The fiddle-based horde music is extremely disliked, though the differently orchestrated music is otherwise welcome

Well, it's nice of them to make the latter concession. I for one love fiddles. And banjos. More of both please.


• L4D2's release will result in a drop in quality and frequency for L4D1 content, even compared to before

Well, leaving aside the slight contradiction with their first point this at least makes sense. It's also the crux of the decision that any consumer has to make and of the warped sense of entitlement that is the reason for all this whining. Fact is that Valve put out L4D1 and you (and I) bought it. Played it. Liked it (or disliked it, but in the case of those people I doubt their getting too het up about the sequel). Anything that comes after that is a bonus - nothing more. True, the game is short, and that was highlighted by pretty much every review. Not literally every review - some, like Eurogamer didn't bring this up, but if you are obsessive enough to form a petition against the sequel, then you would have known this before buying the original.

In that case it's caveat emptor. To rely upon any non-specific promise of future content is naive and petty: anything that does come out (like the Survival pack) has done so wholly through Valve's goodwill and was not owed to the community, however much you or I may want it.


• The community has lost faith in Valve's former reputation for commitment to their games post-release

This is the most egregious complaint, and one that sums up why the petitioners are wrong. Basically the lesson Valve should take from this is never exceed expectations. Never support your products. Never give away anything for free. Because the second you fail to do these things subsequently, the spoiled horde of the internet will descend.



For my part I look forward to the sequel. Anything which brings about more Left 4 Dead is a good thing, and if this does happen to take the form of a full-price game then I will go into that with eyes open as an informed consumer. The game is big enough to rely on sufficient people doing that so as to build a decent online presence (and in any event many people- such as myself - play only with friends who they can rely on to buy the new game). Does that make me a sucker on a par with those people who buy Madden year after year? Possibly. But as long Valve make Left 4 Dead 2 as fun as Left 4 Dead 1, I'm happy with that.