The Passing, a Left 4 Dead 2 DLC from Valve

The Passing
a Left 4 Dead 2 DLC from Valve

Hello. My name is Lefty Redbeard. You may know me.
Thanks to the popularity and generosity of the GSA forum I have been given the opportunity to review The Passing, downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2.

My review will have an Introduction and then I was thinking of putting in a Middle bit where I talk a bit about game play, replay ability and stuff like that and then I will make a personal conclusion.
But to make it easier on the 9 out of 10 people who usually just scroll to the end I thought I'd just stick a lite version of the conclusion right up here at the beginning.

Conclusion lite:
I liked it. I really did. On an infected finger scale of four I'm going to give it a full fist of five.
But… I don’t think it was as good as I wanted it to be...


Introduction:
For two reasons the 22nd of April will go down in the annals of history as a very important date indeed. On that date my avatar in the real world celebrates his birth and, of only slightly more interest, in the height of spring 2010 Valve released downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2.

In November 2008 Valve, a game developer based in the state of Washington, US of A, uber famous for industry revered games such as Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress and Portal used their magic hands to polish off and release a product originally developed by Turtle Rock Studios.
Left 4 Dead is based around the desperate fight for life of four average people fortunate enough to be immune to a seemingly all encompassing plague or infection. Everyone else the infection touches is transformed into a ravening murderous maniac…. or worse. The four “survivors” struggle through hordes and hordes of common infected spiced randomly, by the games ground breaking artificial intelligence, The Director, with the special infected; extra big, extra nasty mutations. The only goal for the survivors is to reach the next safe-room, a secure place with hopefully just enough supplies, weapons and ammunition to help them make it to the next secure place and then the next… in the desperate search for a rumored rescue vehicle.
These simple targets could be attempted by the individual in a single player game with three computer generated companions or in the much more popular co-op campaign where a party of four have to work together if everybody is to survive…

Only one year later in November 2009 Valve released a follow-up: Left 4 Dead 2.
It has all the familiar game play and mechanics and centers around four new survivors trying to make their way to the fabled rescue vehicle. Introducing new characters, weapons, melee attacks and game modes this follow up was itself followed by the developer releasing new downloadable content for the first game in the form of a new campaign, Crash Course, and eventually at long last by bringing us, faithful reader, to the latest downloadable content for Left 4 Dead 2; The Passing.


The Middle Bit:
The Passing adds a new three part level to one of the most successful and most played games of 2009. In addition to new weapons, new infected and new game modes it also introduces the idea of a weekly play list system called "Mutations" to the L4D2 multiplayer community. If all that wasn't enough we were even given a crossover. In a much anticipated encounter the campaign centers on a chance collision between the four survivors from L4D2 and the original characters of L4D1 - the completion of The Passing’s campaign is reliant upon a certain level of cooperation between the two parties. And if all THAT wasn’t enough the campaign contains some very bad news about the original four survivors… some very bad news indeed…

As in the main game the Left 4 Dead 2 survivors, Nick, Rochelle, Coach and Ellis, struggle through the streets and parks of a city in the American Deep South. With the help of the new M60 machine gun and a hefty and highly effective golf club, both of which are linked to new achievements, the party of four crash a wedding, occasionally chase a new infected - The Fallen Survivor - for supplies, wade through sewers mined with chocolate bars and are eventually, in the campaigns finale, assisted by the original survivors in filling a generator from scattered gasoline cans which is instrumental in allowing them to continue on their road trip.

The graphics and sound in The Passing are, as to be expected, of the same high quality as the full game. The Source gaming engine excels in producing an environment of such detail and atmosphere that to really do it justice it must be played at night, in the dark, with friends who scare easy. The thought that Valve put into their games produces a psychological experience that the player will want to go through again and again. What other developer creates a world as detailed as this and then “blurs” it with rain? Who invents a rock group, their background, tracks on a jukebox and even the rumour of an album in the real world only to have their tour bus careen past in the background for only four seconds of screen time (to quote their official website: “We’ll stop touring when we stop breathing”. Could The Midnight Riders be immune survivors too…?). What developer goes to the trouble of producing a city in such fine detail, inventing the Red Light café only to cover the walls of its pool room with graffiti… (and what graffiti! “Otis, Out of film. No helicopter. Zombies are too fast. Not going to make it. Frank West.” - a dig from Valve that continues Left 4 Dead’s friendly rivalry with another well known zombie game).

Like the other campaigns The Passing is about one hour of crazy, bloody, gory, hectic fun and even by itself might well be worth to fans the 560 points Microsoft demand for its distribution on the Xbox 360. PC players can receive it directly from Valve through their Steam network for free.

But to soften the blow to those of us cursed with a console along with the campaign comes a new multiplayer mode called “Mutation”. Through the new Mutation option at the main menu Valve will distribute tweaked versions of their game modes. Up to eight players, four against four, can compete in the games locations, taking turns as survivors and special infected where the game play will be changed, limited, affected and maybe even improved by a week long themed update. The theme shipped with the release of the DLC, “Realism Versus”, disables all of the survivors perks; no more glows around useful objects making them easier to spot, no see-through-walls outlines for the other members in your party, instant death from the most tragic of the special infected, the witch. All of these things make for a much more vivid exciting experience and produce a real fear in being ensnared by a special infected and dragged away from your group… with no outlines for your feeble struggling body your only hope of rescue lies in the instructions you can give on your whereabouts: “I’m in the thing, you know, where the boxes are! God, help me! No under the stairs by that big stuff…. WHERE ARE YOU GUYS!!!“
Each week Valve will release a new Mutation, a new way to play the game, and with rumours from intrepid hackers of “Chainsaw Massacre”, “Four Swords Men” and “Head Shots Only” I believe these Mutations will produce the best replay ability for Left 4 Dead 2.

In a newly integrated blog on the main menu players can read about news, updates and every Thursday learn about the next Mutation to be released the following Friday. Through this in-game blog you can even take part in a weekly vote on your favourite theme or aspect of the game. Anyone with any experience of Valve are aware that they take the opinions of their public very seriously and it’s good to see this implementation of an opportunity for the individual gamer to make contact with an all powerful developer.


Conclusion, the extended cut:
Those who play Left 4 Dead 1 or 2 like to play it. They enjoy it. It’s a great game to play alone in the dark or with friends cooperatively or competitively and it’s still kind of topical with the whole zombie/infected apocalypse thing…

But even the innovative uniqueness of each Director generated level can wear on you after a while and receiving the promise of a new campaign and new weapons and new enemies can get a professional survivor a little excited. Add to this the idea of a crossover between the first game and second by players being given the opportunity to work together with the original characters…. Well, as a declared lover of all things Valve and a dedicated fan of Left 4 Dead I admit I nearly wet myself.

But I don’t know if I swallowed the hype too much. I don’t know if I’ve set Valve up on too high a pedestal. I expected more. The campaign was over in an hour. Realism Versus is no real fun unless you play it with friends. Just how many infected can you brain with a golf club before it becomes a little jaded…

Don’t get me wrong. My lite conclusion still stands, five out of four. I recommend that you download this content – if you’re a Left 4 Dead fan the 560 MS points wont even sting.

I think my slightly bitter sense of disappointment comes from my perceived lack of interaction with the original four survivors; Vincent, Louis, Zoey and Bill. Apart from some great dialog and some serious flirting what did they really do there…? Did the campaign rely on them? Was the story advanced by their presence…? Or could it just as easily have been anyone…? We’ve met other survivors before. That our paths were crossed by these particular people seems suspiciously like a gimmick.

Especially when you consider the bad news I mentioned at the beginning. As you may already know one of the original survivors… does not survive. All good things come to an end and for this good thing an end has come. It is not explained why. It is not explained how. Their sad crumpled body, weapon still gripped in their cold dead hands, can be found in the finale of The Passing… possibly after failing in an attempt to do exactly the same thing you and your companions must do to pass over to the other side.

Maybe my slightly bitter sense of disappointment comes from the concept of anything about Left 4 Dead ending… if one survivor can fall what of the others?
Valve have now promised a new chapter in downloadable content for the first game. It will take us through this same situation… but from the perspectives of the original four survivors; Vincent, Louis, Zoey and Bill. We will be made to relive a tragedy of which we already know the ending… can we go on from there? And in what form?

Left 4 Dead is dead. Long live Left 4 Dead 2...?