You can barely hear Ellis shouting at you over all the screaming.  It’s echoing all over the room, spaced out with bursts of gunfire or the bass boom of the shotguns.  How did it come to this?  Coach is off grabbing pills, always complaining about that bum knee of his, and you can’t help feeling bad for taking a crack at Rochelle after she saved your ass from that jockey.

This could be any one of several scenarios you step into when you fire up Left 4 Dead 2.  While most people were complaining that Left 4 Dead 2 was going to be more like an addon to the first installment, I worried about whether or not I would like these characters.  So much of that game is stepping into the shoes of the people I control (that is, after all, a common theme in Valve games).  So it’s refreshing that these characters are likeable, believable and quotable at times.

One of the things I admire most is the way the dialogue changes depending on the situation.  Frantic screaming might accompany a huge flood of zombies breaking through a doorway, for instance.  Wisecracks add color to the world through the culture of the characters.  All of this adds up to you caring about the people you are playing through the eyes of.

The soundtrack, I’m thrilled to report, gave me more than enough banjo and accordion to satisfy my tastes.  I think a lot of it sets the mood; one of the more awesome moments in the game involves a rock concert finale with an audience that would just love to meet the band.  

The game play holds together nicely, no real additions to controls, but the new weapons and items should make for some interesting strategies.  For the human side, you should look out for Boomer bile, adrenaline shots and all of that sweet sweet explosive and incendiary ammo.  You usually get it during an inopportune moment, and you only get one clip of the stuff, but it can really come in handy.

The newest addition that has me giddy with joy involves melee combat.  There is nothing quite like finding a paddle and swatting an infected across the dome with it.  Squee with joy as you disembowel the infected with a swift swing of your kitana.  Revel in the glory of running into a group of them with your chainsaw.  The only thing missing would be a vehicle to drive into chunks of the meat sponge.

I happen to really enjoy the single player of Left 4 Dead in general, so I was excited to see more than just subtle hints of continuity between levels/movies.  Be ready for a more intense experience.  In the original, we experienced moments where we were hunkered down in defense for a few minutes, but this game gets down right ridiculous at times.  There will be moments where you won’t be able to see the Charger that is rushing toward you from behind a group of the infected until it bursts from the crowd to pick you up and slam you to the floor.

Most of the campaigns took me just under an hour to finish on single player, so multiplayer should be faster or slower depending on team cohesiveness.  Speaking of Multiplayer, what will be most interesting is to see how the infected team will deploy the new units.  The Jockey has serious potential to cause major problems for the survivor team, and the Charger is a lot like a mini tank.  The new game modes also add some great content to a solid foundation.  Scavenge is a round based chase for gas cans and realistic should really put the heat on players, especially when they lose site of one another.

Now some drawbacks…  While I think the music is great, most of you won’t.  Gone are the high pitched horror synth riffs and the iconic music that will signal incoming attacks.  The noises for the special infected have changed as well, except the boomer.  The game is a lot harder, so team work is almost forced on players.  There really isn’t a whole ton of time to break free and chase after extra stuff, but you’ll find it if you do.

There is no shortage of items for those who choose to look, but that’s one aspect of this game that may add up to unbalanced teams in versus.  The AI director attempts to compensate, and it can get ruthless, but if your team sticks together and searches the area you will be well equipped.  Be warned the uncommon infected mix things up a lot, especially swat and clown infected.

All in all, a lot of Left 4 Dead 2 is what you saw in the first, only deeper.  The new special infected bring interesting action to the table and the game feels more complete than the first one.  With a tie in story arc and likeable characters, Valve may have launched a new and exciting journey into zombie lore.