LEFT 4 DEAD 2 IS A WORTHY SEQUEL!

Fighting hordes of the undead is like fighting the very tides of the ocean – eventually you are going to be dragged under.
No video game out there reinforces that terror more than "Left 4 Dead 2," a frantic first person co-op shooter that pits players against more zombie than you can shake a boom-stick at.

The sequel to last year's blockbuster success, "L4D2" leaves the basic formula intact – up to four survivors use teamwork to survive as they dash from safe house to safe house seeking rescue – while adding new weapons, gameplay modes and unique zombies to keep it fresh. That might not seem like enough content to warrant a sequel so soon after the original (a notion that led angry fans to lead a boycott against the title) but the final product feels fully formed. In fact, it manages to make the original feel lifeless in comparison.

Whether it's the new types of zombies (the guy who came up with the insidious jockey should get an award for sadism in video gaming) or the surprising creepiness of the new, daylight soaked locations, the sequel consistently delivers a novel experience.

The addition of melee weapons is particularly welcome.

The joys of being able to clobber zombies with a frying pan or dismember them with a chainsaw are obvious. Who really wants a pistol when there are samurai swords to be had? The answer is a no-brainer.

However, the well-implemented inclusion of hand-to-hand weapons winds up underscoring a glaring oversight carried over from the first installment: "L4D2" doesn't let players aim down their gun's iron sight, a standard first person shooter option that allows for increased accuracy at the cost of speed and range of vision. Instead, players are left shooting from the hip.

Considering that the run and gun fervor of the first game has been spiced up with puzzle elements and an AI that seems to grow more vindictive with every play through, the precision of an iron sight would have been nice. As it is, surviving the five campaigns, this time connected by an overarching narrative, can feel like a nerve jangling impossibility.

But that's alright. Half the fun is screaming at your friends to help you as you get dragged off by some mutated zombie. Especially if you're controlling said mutated zombie in the versus mode.

All in all, "Left 4 Dead 2" is a worthy successor, one that expands on the original just enough without messing up everything it got right. It may not set the world of cooperative gaming on fire again, but it will certainly drown it in corpses.