Linux Games: Left 4 Dead 2

Some days ago Left 4 Dead 2 has been released on Linux on Steam Gaming Platform.
The game was released on 2009 for many gaming platforms such as Xbox and Windows, but if like me you like to play games on your Linux box, this is a good opportunity to play one of the most famous FPS cooperative survival Zombie games.

This game is a co-operative single or multiplayer action horror FPS that takes you and your friends through the cities, swamps and cemeteries of the Deep South, from Savannah to New Orleans across five expansive campaigns.
You’ll play as one of four survivors armed with a wide and devastating array of weapons. In addition to firearms, you’ll also get a chance to take out some aggression on infected with a variety of carnage-creating melee weapons, from chainsaws to axes and even the deadly frying pan.

Getting the game

Left 4 Dead 2 builds upon the cooperatively-focused gameplay and Valve’s proprietary Source engine, the same game engine used in the original Left 4 Dead, so to get this game you have to buy it from Valve, in my opinion the best option it’s to get it via Steam (and perhaps it’s the only one).

The normal price of this game it’s 13€ but there is a summer sale until the 22 of July and so you can get it at the 50% of this price.
Once bought you’ll have to download around 7.6GB to start play, but believe me when I say that it is absolutely worth it.

I’ve played it on a Mint 15 without any problem with drivers or any crash of the software.

The Gameplay

Set during the aftermath of an apocalyptic pandemic, Left 4 Dead 2 focuses on four new Survivors, fighting against hordes of the Infected, who develop severe psychosis and exhibit zombie-like tendencies. The Survivors must fight their way through five campaigns, interspersed with safe houses that act as checkpoints, with the goal of escape at each campaign’s finale.

In the first maps of any campaign, the Survivors attempt to reach a safehouse, while the final stage requires the Survivors to call for rescue and either survive a prolonged onslaught until rescue arrives, pass through an especially challenging gauntlet of Infected to reach a rescue vehicle, or (in Dead Center and The Passing) collect and utilize fuel cans to enable their escape.

Characters

Left 4 Dead 2 features a new cast of human Survivors, which include: Coach (voiced by Chad Coleman), a portly high-school football coach with a bad knee(although it does not affect gameplay); Nick (voiced by Hugh Dillon), a rude and cynical gambler and con artist; Rochelle (voiced by Rochelle Aytes), a low-level production assistant reporting on the evacuation for a local television station; and Ellis (voiced by Eric Ladin), a friendly (and rather talkative) mechanic who often talks about his friend Keith and their many misadventures.

Game Modes

Campaign
This is the bulk of Left 4 Dead 2’s content. There are 5 separate levels, each of which will take up to 2 hours, depending on how often you die, the number of players taking part and the difficulty level.

Versus
An interesting take on the usual multiplayer from first-person shooters, Versus mode supports up to eight players. One team of four plays as the Survivors, much like in the Campaign mode, and tries to reach each safe-house and finally the end of the level. The difference is that the other four play as ‘Special Infected’, aiming to stop the Survivors from reaching their goal. Once all the Survivors are killed, or they reach the safe-house, the roles reverse and this continues until the end of the level.

Survival
Rather than a whole level, or section, the Survivors are placed in a restricted area (such as the extraction points from the Campaign) and must simply fight against hordes of Infected until they cannot fight anymore.

Scavenge
A 4-on-4 mode that requires the Survivor players to collect and use as many fuel cans scattered about a level to fill up a power generator, while the Infected players attempt to stop them.

Left 4 Dead 2 also features a Realism mode, which can be enabled at any difficulty for either Campaign or Versus. This mode removes some of the video-game aspects from the gameplay: Survivors cannot see each other’s silhouettes, and dead teammates can only be revived with defibrillators and will not respawn later in the level.

Conclusions

It’s a great game that has been ported on Linux and you can get it with an affordable price, so if you like Zombie Apocalypse games and movies, this is the time when you can be one of the heroes that fight against the horde..

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