Valve have the chance to do doing something very unique with this DLC, by bringing together the worlds of Left 4 Dead and its sequel, Left 4 Dead 2. But they had to be careful as these four original characters are cherished by the fans, each having their own personal favourite – mine being Louie. And with the news that only three were coming back, well, let’s just say some of us were nervous.
Crash Course, the DLC for the original, was honestly a little weak, and with that in mind I was a little skeptical about this DLC. Hopefully it would be better and not cheapen my memory of Louie and company. Safe to say it is good, but they have missed some great opportunities with the original characters.
The story starts immediately with a startling, nostalgia feeding shot of an original survivor. For me it was the wonderful Zoe, getting chatted up – badly – by Ellis. Other noteable interactions include an argument between the cheery twosome, Nick and Francis. You have to try and cross the river to help them power one of those oh-so-annoying generators so they can drop the bridge for you to drive through in the car you got from the mall.
Through this journey you will be treated to some nice locations, new weapons and a new enemy – who is a complete pain. The first section you walkthrough is a busy street filled with nightlife, and zombies of course. Notable areas include a tattoo parlour and a pool hall, which spawns a funny anecdote from Ellis. What’s great about these areas is the graffiti – as expected from Valve – filled with witty arguments and even a few references to zombie based popular culture; Dead Rising, 28 Days Later and even PopCap’s Plants Vs. Zombies: I’ll let you find them yourself though, more fun that way.
Other than that it is standard fair, using the new meaty M60 machine gun and the golf club, you rip through waves of zombies eventually ending up in a really claustrophobic sewer level. I know, I know, a sewer, how exciting. And I do agree. To be fair though, it is a pretty good sewer, probably one of the scariest I’ve played. At one point it literally is a wave of zombies rushing you and forcing you to just knuckle down and push through. The one zombie that will slow you down is the new Fallen Survivor, who comes equipped with molotovs which he apparently throws at you, although this has never happened to me, so far. All he does is show up then run off, causing you to waste far too much ammo trying to take down this armoured, equipment dropping little pest.
The last level is where you get to come face to face with the surviving survivors. Sadly it’s a few quick lines of dialogue – depending on which character you’re playing – and then they give you covering fire from the rooftops as you do the mad dash to collect fuel cans. Would it not have been more exciting if a zombie attack caused the survivors to split up and form mixed squads. Then you would have some great situations for some classic L4D dialogue. I just feel that there was so many opportunities that surpassed the quick exchange that Valve opted for.
That aside, the campaign is good, although not ground-breaking. The majority of the pleasure comes from the interactions, clever achievements and the little hidden Easter eggs. But what the Passing does bring is Mutation mode, a very clever addition to the multiplayer, and a little akin to Bungie’s weekly double EXP playlists. Basically, every week Valve will be adding a new Mutation mode, this week it’s Realism Versus which is just not fun – for me, anyway. But there will be others I will like, such as chainsaws only, among the many other fun possibilities.
The promise of something new every week, as well as the “play 6 mutations” to unlock the gnome avatar award, will see me sitting on the dash every week with baited breath. This is the kind of thing that multiplayer games need, continual support to keep things fresh. Well done Valve.
VideogameUK verdict: 7/10
