Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing Review

By Quintin Smith Published 26 April, 2010

Torchlight.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Two Tanks at once! Two of them! I understand that a word like "overkill" could never have a place in a horror game that's always taken pleasure from pitting players against harrowing odds, but still. I'm surprised Valve didn't go the whole hog and layer both Tanks' signature horn music over one another, very slightly out of sync, to create a horrible, unlistenable cacophony.

So, Left 4 Dead 2 add-on The Passing boasts at least one exciting new way for you and your team to get massacred. More appealingly perhaps, it also features a new gun, a new uncommon infected, a new Mutations menu option which offers a different game mode every week, and a brand new campaign with cameos from three of the survivors of the original Left 4 Dead. In case you hadn't heard (brace yourself), the upcoming downloadable content for L4D1 requires a player to sacrifice himself or herself for the group, and The Passing reveals the canonical version of who dies.

All this makes The Passing a nice surprise for the PC gamers who this morning received the content for free, but the question remains of whether it's worth the £5 (well, 560 Microsoft Points or £4.76) it will cost Xbox 360 owners. Let's take a look.

The new campaign itself is set between Dead Centre and Dark Carnival, and follows the L4D2 survivors as they ill-advisedly leave the stock car of Jimmy Gibbs Jr to lower a bridge manned by what's left of the L4D1 team. At just three levels in length, The Passing might be longer than Crash Course, but it's still the shortest campaign in Left 4 Dead 2 by a long shot.

'Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing' Screenshot 1

Left 4 Dead campaigns would be better if they ended with someone saying their name. "Phew! We only just got out of there without paying... the Death Toll."

It's also a touch indecisive. On the one hand, you get the impression that the scenic town you're shooting your way through managed to put up more of a fight against the infected than most. Protective barricades are everywhere, and the new Fallen Survivor uncommon infected are people who got turned after gearing up to defend themselves, meaning they're basically zombie piñatas, and drop useful items like pipe bombs or pain pills when you gun them down. The town's also scattered with footlockers containing an infinite amount of one kind of item.

On the other hand, the big set-piece of the first level is a completely untouched outdoor wedding complete with a Witch in a tattered wedding dress. The town itself is also far too pretty to be the logical home of a last stand, and the winding, cobbled streets seem at odds with all the Hamburger Hill footlockers. And as long as we're asking questions, what on Earth are the original game's survivors doing horsing around on a bridge in the Deep South?

'Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing' Screenshot 2

Your homework for the weekend is to figure out what Left 4 Dead Rising would play like, and how awesome it would be.

But this is all so much nitpicking. For its short length, The Passing feels less padded than other campaigns in Left 4 Dead 2, and the new additions all work cleverly. That the Fallen Survivor infected run away, rather than towards, you is a devious way of luring players away from the group, and the single clip you get with the M60 means anyone who excitedly snatches it up gets stuck with their secondary weapon after about 60 seconds of excited spraying. Even finding a fixed box containing dozens of molotov cocktails is a mixed blessing- the temptation is to linger next to your new-found armoury, when really you need to plough onwards and use the wealth of flames to quickly cover your back.

The finale's an interesting one, too. It's another gas can collect-a-thon ("Why does nothing have any gas in?", screams Nick, securing my love for him), but this time you're doing it to power the bridge's generator under the watchful eye of the original survivors.

The twist is that the first game's survivors actually provide serious support with high-calibre, laser-sighted weaponry, but they only cover the area immediately surrounding the generator itself. Gathering the 16 cans required to power it becomes a matter of launching miniature expeditions out to collect them, then hoofing it back as fast as possible either with either a can of gas in your hands or a surge of infected at your heels. If two Tanks do attack (did I mention you can get attacked by two Tanks at the same time?) your only chance of survival is to flee back to your new friends for some help. There's actually an achievement for letting them bring down a Tank alone.

It's a characteristically dramatic ending, but in terms of straight horror the campaign peaks with the Historic River Tour that sees you hiking through a couple of massive, water-filled chambers. There's no cover and no holding back as you push through the stagnant lagoon, zombies surging in from every angle, and on Realism mode you're especially screwed since you can't see more than fifteen feet in any direction. Pro tip: turning flashlights on and off is a good way of signalling your position.

The new campaign's a solid enough addition, if a brief one. The new Mutations mode is a little harder to judge. As I said before, each week it's going to change into a new game mode (the previous game mode being lost to the ether), and there's a special achievement for playing six different Mutations. So, something to encourage players to drop into L4D2 at least once a week.

This week's mutation is Realism Versus, giving you the chance to try L4D2's Survivors Vs. Infected mode with all the masochistic twists of Realism mode. To recap, that means Survivors get no indication of each other's locations, items don't get an outline and zombies are tougher to kill without a headshot.

'Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing' Screenshot 3

There's an achievement for killing 15 zombies with the M60 without taking your finger off the trigger. Yes, that means everybody online currently sprays it like a fire hose.

The weird thing is, I'm sure a lot of people are going to prefer Realism Versus to Versus mode; the survivors are forced into playing a much more close-knit, careful game where even Rambo players can't afford to go off by themselves, and the Infected team get a more satisfying time of it too. The fact that the survivors don't have their trademark ESP means that rather than adopting damage-focused kamikaze tactics, you can bide your time before launching an attack on the last player to, say, round a corner.

And yet, Realism Versus isn't going to be here in six days. It'll be replaced by something else, maybe the Chainsaw Massacre mode Valve has mentioned and that we know nothing about. Mutations might be a great way to get people talking and have them coming back at least once a week, but I'm not sure it's the cherry on the cake that The Passing needed to be a must-buy add-on.

7 / 10

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About Quintin Smith

Read more articles from Quintin by visiting the Quintin Smith archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Pinky_Floyd #1 2 years ago

    Braaaaaaains!

  • TheApologist #2 2 years ago

    xbox 360 owners smell.

    Make them paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy.

    At least that's the theory expounded on RPS: [link url=http://www.rockpapershotgun.com /2010/04/23/past-it-l4d2-the-passing-dlc-released/
    ]http://ww w.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/04/...[/link]

    It is fascinating to see the PC and console markets diverging in this way.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 07:27

  • TelexStar #3 2 years ago

    Nice review. Although personally for me it's an 8. I'm not sure why the review highlights fighting 2 tanks at the same time as a new addition... Swmp Fever sees you fighting 2 tanks simultaniously too.

  • Bloodhunter #4 2 years ago

    I found the campaign really short on advanced, will try on expert though, need to complete parish and dead center onexpert too...

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #5 2 years ago

    Theres valve in it - it's a shame the 360 lot have to pay for it, pc side i'd say it's 8.5/10 at least

  • George-Roper #6 2 years ago

    PC game's free, innit :) 10/10

  • GamesConnoisseur #7 2 years ago

    X360 owners who downloaded can be said to be subsiding PC owners's as they are the one most hard up after all the upgradings and constant patchings!

    Kidding aside, interesting to see what is the result going to be of this unequal service to fans of the excellent game. Scoring for free dlc marked 7/10 seem not so generous when it's for nowt but markedly different meaning when you have to give over a fiver for the privilege.

  • lucky_jim #8 2 years ago

    I bought this for the 360 as soon as it was available, and think it was well worth it. Pretty much anyone who has L4D2 is a big fan of the series and this will be a must-buy for them too.

    @TheApologist- Yeah, it sucks that MS are screwing over 360 owners this way, but there are plenty of good reasons why I prefer to play games on consoles: do we really need another PC/ console slanging match? A fiver is hardly a lot of money.

  • TheApologist #9 2 years ago

    @lucky_jim

    The comment was made in jest, as it was on RPS.

    I was just pointing out that the response to the differential treatment will be interesting, and to alternative PC-centric coverage of it (also by Quins).

    I live in a happy multi-game machine household :)
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 08:28

  • Widge #10 2 years ago

    Looking forward to trying L4D2, steam was chuffing this down yesterday. £13!

  • tomrobinsonz #11 2 years ago

    I'm sorry but 560 points for all this content is fantastic and shedloads more substantial than crash course (8/10 on this very site) when you compare that to pricing for the stimulus pack I'd give this 9/10 for a damn good time.

  • Zerobob #12 2 years ago

    I'd say the PC is the only thing to play this game on, which is unfortunate as a 360 owner.

    Did literally nobody else find Left 4 Dead 2 low res, jerky as hell, and full of the blandest textures since a bowl of porridge? I found it almost unplayable the frame rate was so low.

  • Beano #13 2 years ago

    I just ordered L4D2 for my 360... hopefully people are still playing it :)

  • agparrot #14 2 years ago

    Also, in the picture caption it says that there is an achievement for killing 15 infected with your finger on the M60 trigger, but I believe it is actually 25.

    Anyway, it's pretty easy to do: Even easier if you have explosive rounds, save the M60 until the tunnel crescendo, run ahead of your team mates and spray like a bast.

  • sanctusmortis #15 2 years ago

    This may lead to my re-purchase of L4D2...

    Rest in peace, you mad old coot.

  • geeza2020 #16 2 years ago

    sounds good, just gotta wait a couple of months until i get Live running again :(

  • MikeN #17 2 years ago

    Anybody else disappointed in how the original survivors interacted with the L4D2 group? Their demeanour really gave no acknowledgment of having lost one of their number - they might as well have been replaced with generic npcs such as the gun store owner.

  • Widge #18 2 years ago

    Well, Valve aren’t exactly good at storytelling. Luckily L4D is more about Gauntlet style japes than an actual story so it doesn’t matter. The little bits of story you do pick up on are nice, but not a focus of the game.

  • Hantheman #19 2 years ago

    Great for PC owners. It was freeeeeeee :)

  • Yossarian #20 2 years ago

    Well, Valve aren’t exactly good at storytelling.

    Uhhh, what?

  • MikeN #21 2 years ago

    @MrMarc yeah, it's not like I expected the L4D1 crew to be weeping & sobbing but their light hearted banter with L4D2 group seems really at odds with the fact that the body of their companion (who has presumably sacrificed themselves) is lying nearby within walking distance. It makes the L4D1 survivors look like douchebags and these are characters I had grown to love in the first game just on their dialog.

  • Boomerang #22 2 years ago

    "Well, Valve aren’t exactly good at storytelling."

    This person has no idea. Or is a troll.

  • Widge #23 2 years ago

    Actually Portal told a good story, but Half Life 2 was woeful, a shame after such an atmospheric introduction. I don't classify running between checkpoints as storytelling.

  • TheJuriel #24 2 years ago

    I'm sad the Mutation modes aren't available as you want. They might splinter the player base too much among them, but stiiiiiill.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 10:34

  • leafmulch #25 2 years ago

    Well, Valve aren’t exactly good at storytelling.

    Uhhh, what?

    +1

  • UncleLou #26 2 years ago

    but Half Life 2 was woeful, a shame after such an atmospheric introduction

    Not the biggest fan of HL2 when it comes to a few things, but the story-telling is fantastic. Subtle, unobtrusive, and building a complete universe around you without you even noticing. I hope more devs would learn from Valve how to basically unify gameplay and story-telling and do away with lengthy cutscenes.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 10:45

  • sfp_noodle #27 2 years ago

    the is far better than crash course which was released for the original. theres one bit in the dlc where there are an infinite number of zombies chasing u and on any difficulty above normal it is one fucking scary as hell experience! its frantic, tense but very exciting, especially when played with some mates.

    now EG, plz have some integrity and give uncharted 2 MP some love. both map packs offer incredible value and variety yet neither have been given any sort of review. the fact tht 80,000+ ppl still play it must surely mean its still quite awesome. more people playing it and buying the map packs is only a good thing
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 11:08

  • psychokitten #28 2 years ago

    Wait, is the Half Life 2 story bad because it didn't have hour long cutscenes?
    It told a story in a different way than a lot of other games, a more subtle way, but if you rush through any game without paying attention at all then they're all just point and click games with no story.

  • Shinetop #29 2 years ago

    Is this out? Good. Now you can get back to working on Episode 3.

  • Yossarian #30 2 years ago

    I'm always sceptical about Eurogamer reviewing the multiplayer of any shooters, as it just seems none of them are the kind of guys who play these games past the first week of release. A lot of their reviews of shooters or shooter add-ons list things as features which aren't actually new.

    Like the two tanks!! in this review.
    Edited by 1 at 26/04/10 @ 11:03

  • Les #31 2 years ago

    "I hope more devs would learn from Valve how to basically unify gameplay and story-telling and do away with lengthy cutscenes."

    +1

    And I really love the way they construct levels. Unlike e.g. Killzone 2, Resistance, Call of Duty, there's a sense of a big world being out there. The architecture of the levels feels organic: there's rarely the feeling that the big boulder in front of you was put there specifically to make it impossible for you to advance in that direction.

  • asphaltcowboy #32 2 years ago

    Despite the brevity of The Passing, for me it's taken pride of place as the best L4D2 map (I'm really not a bit fan of the L4D2 maps... not compared to the awesomeness that was L4D1)!

  • Yossarian #33 2 years ago

    Is this out? Good. Now you can get back to working on Episode 3.

    Different teams within Valve (although there is some fluidity for staff about which projects they choose to work on). If we could stop people bitching about Episode 3 in every L4D-related article or news item, that would be sweet.

  • Yossarian #34 2 years ago

    Also, there are in-game explanations for why the original survivors (and the new survivors) are heading south. In fact, the original survivors were already moving southward in the first game. So it's not "nitpicking" to ask why, it's just uninformed.

  • sfp_noodle #35 2 years ago

    @brotherbob

    i agree completely. dont get me wrong, some games are better for the fact tht they make their games more movie like with the acting and direction. the original metal gear solid on ps1 was the best example of this. however, after re-playing perfect dark on XBLA i relly miss the techno soundtracks of yesteryear. even the cheesy voice acting adds a lot of personality. and whats with silent battlefields in MP games these days? it gets boring with jus the sound of gunfire. again, playing perfect dark online to a custom soundtrack is one adrenaline pumping ride! bring it bak devs!

  • FogHeart #36 2 years ago

    Yup two simultaneous tanks in the finale of Swamp Fever. And that time there's no assistance or nearby petrol (will not say gas!) tank to light them up with. Just the perennially useless mounted gun.

    An interesting fact is that it's possible to set up Realism Versus by cvar manipulation of the server. That may be true of all future mutations, in which case there could be scope in future for voting for a mutation once a few have been cycled- that's not much code to write. In any case the most popular mutations would get cycled back in, so you'd get your favourite sooner or later. Chin up Mr Q Smith!

  • Yossarian #37 2 years ago

    The first time there were two simultaneous tanks was in the Survival Pack for Left 4 Dead 1.

  • FogHeart #38 2 years ago

    Yeah, I thought of that, but Mr Smith could say to that that he meant in the context of a campaign.

  • Spekingur #39 2 years ago

    To people saying that the survivors don't have any feelings... would you really dwell on that for long when you have killed hundreds or thousands of zombies and seen death all around you?

  • monkeywithnoeyes #40 2 years ago

    does take the piss blantently placing a charge on one platform and offering it free to the other. Theres always the arguement valve can rely on that evil nasty microsoft forces them to charge and accept the money this will bring in.. that removes nothing from Valve offering something extra to their 360 install base to make up for that charge

  • psychokitten #41 2 years ago

    And if they did that, the PC users would go mental because they weren't given the something-extra, and eventually they have to cave and give it to them, placing us back at Square 1.

    It's a lose lose situation.

  • Yossarian #42 2 years ago

    360 has avatar awards, if that counts.

  • PlugMonkey #43 2 years ago

    "Let's be clear about this - in no way is it Valve's fault that 360 owners have to pay for this. The blame for that lies entirely with M$. "

    Even if it wasn't, what exactly would be wrong with Valve offering an incentive to using their own digital distribution system?

  • geeza2020 #44 2 years ago

    Its not an incentive if i have no choice in the matter. Im not going to splash out on a gaming pc so i can "experience" steam.

  • PlugMonkey #45 2 years ago

    "Its not an incentive if i have no choice in the matter. Im not going to splash out on a gaming pc so i can "experience" steam."

    It is an incentive. I can tell it is, because it's one of the reasons I buy Left4Dead games on the PC instead of the Xbox.

    And you do have a choice, because you could in fact splash out on a gaming PC so you could "experience" (what an odd choice of wording) Steam, but you choose not to.

    The fact that it's not a big enough incentive to get you to do that does not stop it from being an incentive, owing to the universe and all of it's contents not revolving around you.

  • HoriZon #46 2 years ago

    Not this old chestnut again PC vs Xbox 360.

    How many times now? yes it costs a bit on the 360 thats life and most 360 owners expect it so its not a problem.

    Reason i play it on the 360 is cos everyone i know plays it their and all have mics and we have a laugh at the end of the day thats what its about on which ever system you play it on.

  • MisterJim #47 2 years ago

    surely the rating of a DLC depends on how much you love/play the actual game it is additional content for? The reviewer obviously doesn't play the original game that much (two tanks comment), however it never leaves my xbox and I love The Passing. Like everything it comes down to opinion ultimately and ours differ, sir.

    Pfffft. 7/10 indeed.

  • Zaiz #48 2 years ago

    Yep, since it needs to be said again:

    Microsoft isn't letting Valve give out "premium" DLC for free, as it would be "unfair". Aka, Valve makes awesome games, tons of money, then supports them for free so people go out and buy their games more, and the free DLC gives them extra publicity. It is a killer business model overall. I can see why Microsoft wouldn't let it fly on their home console, because the other devs probably screech and run in terror when they hear that a company can make money by making insanely popular and excellent games.

  • penhalion #49 2 years ago

    I seem to stand alone in thinking the passing was pure meh. More so because they killed one of the original cast and not the much less likable new bunch. I played through twice and then simply didn't want to play it anymore as I'd seen everything.

  • Goodfella #50 2 years ago

    I'm in total agreement with penhalion here.

    Playing the PC version and The Passing was a big fat 'meh', compounded further by another finale consisting of 'find 16 gas canisters' scenario.

    Still, it's free for us PC players so I'm not complaining.

  • arnottfigaro44 #51 2 years ago

    Nice review. Although personally for me it is great. I am not sure of the reason to shed light on the review 2 battle tanks at the same time, which is a new addition. Swmp fever see you fighting Leopard 2 simultaniously too.
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