Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead 2

Red Tide
Nicky Grimes 11 Jun, 2023 @ 8:41am
Nicky's Review of Red Tide: Anakin would be Pleased. Fun ride!
"I hate sand. It's coarse and rough."

It's about time this campaign got a proper review. By a proper review, it's time to list out the things that makes the replayability super enjoyable for me.

The transition from midnight to early morning is just that good! It wastes no time with urging the characters to hurry up as the military slowly purges a small coastal town before declaring that it's officially zombie territory. Your goal is to reach the helicopter before you're stranded on that island forever.

The environmental story is good and I didn't have a problem with the nighttime environment. There's items scattered around the levels and how frequently they spawn is up to the director. The placement is well done, and you don't have to travel too far off course to find medkits.

Once you're used to the pacing of the level, you can expect Tanks at the most inconvenient parts. Not inconvenient in a bad way, but one that can get your team squished in a small room if you're not careful. A useful strategy to beat the Tanks is to have someone draw the Tank out of the smaller rooms and into more bigger open areas to fight. You'll have a hard time beating them in a smaller room.

The environment itself doesn't feel repetitive, nor does it rush too fast. It's the right balance of being able to take your time to simply observe what needs to be done before moving into the next saferoom.

The car show is the most impressive feature of creativity for me. No one's done this before, and man, do I love a good car show. Keep it up!

When it comes to bot navigation, they had no problem going through the buildings in case I got lost. Your keys to navigating through the levels are super simple lighting cues and very large Tank-sized holes in the wall. The levels are linear from start to finish. There's not a lot of twists and turns nor puzzles that requires you to advance on.

The finale was awesome on the docks. Nothing beats the feeling of having to rush through a place of entertainment to get to the evac. That reminded me of what I enjoyed the most about the Parish.

NOW, while we're on the subject of the finale itself. Those two Tanks that you have to fight was a challenge in itself. The space may not be big enough for those who like open space with little objects that gets in the way. Goodness all around.

This is well done, and I loved the creativity put in the second half of the campaign. The most impressive segment of the campaign is at the start of the hospital and ending at the hotel where it seemed like there was a community gathering. Afterwards is just awesomeness.

I'm forever recommend this campaign and its replayability with friends. It's just that good. As a native from FL, I'm happy to see that this captured the mundane weirdness - car shows out in the open, lots of buildings, unfinished construction, etc - without it affecting gameplay. The unfinished construction really hammered it home with a beach comfort.

A final note: Whoever drew the infected and the tanks for the signs were super cute.

Well done, author! I've to learn a lot from you!