One of the most atmospheric and technically-impressive game in recent years, even if the gameplay and feel is a bit 'off'. Great storytelling is a given seeing its being a novel adaptation, and has a fair bit of choice reminiscent of BioShock when it comes to story. The problem of course is that there's a likelihood that you won't notice these choices when you are presented with them, in which case the game reduces into a one-dimensional shooting fest without the bullets, adrenaline or snappy gameplay response that makes COD at least worth a try.

Oh, by the way--play the game in Russian.

I logged some 400+ hours' playtime in about 1.5 months playing this game. You don't waste that kind of time on a bad game.

Left 4 Dead 2 to Left 4 Dead 1 is like what Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight is to Batman Begins. It's a fair enough analogy, because everything that Left 4 Dead 1 does, Left 4 Dead 2 does--on average--better.

Exceptions lie with arguably more forgettable characters (or characTER specifically because Rochelle arguably is, uncharacteristically of Valve, an incredibly-boring character) and the hotly-debated loss of atmosphere due to daylight settings in most of the campaigns.

Then there's the fact that this game quickly made the then one year-old Left 4 Dead 1 redundant (exacerbated by the addition of Left 4 Dead 1 campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2) and the supposed 'consolisation' of the sequel in the form of narrower view and weapon FOVs and a console-friendly menu lacking a server browser (which, in all honesty was AWOL in the first as well); the former, which was later addressed via adjustable console commands.

Regardless, it is a great game with much replayability.