If you have never heard of Zero Punctuation, you should do yourself a favor and check it out. Each week, Zero Punctuation – helmed by Ben “Yahtzee” Crenshaw – produces a five minute video review of the latest video games. The reviews are told in rapid fire sentences, detailed with amusing stick figures on a yellow background. The commentary is hilarious and often times, quite witty. Yahtzee has a gift for words and coupled with the attitude of a man with a constant head cold, he skewers everything with almost sadistic glee. Long story short, whether you like video games or not, you are sure to enjoy his reviews of them.

I gotta say, I was looking forward to his Left 4 Dead 2 review, but I didn’t quite expect him to shoot off the rails like he did. His complaint about the second game was that it really didn’t need to exist. In short, he retreads all the arguments that the boycotters were saying over the summer by stating the game was more of an expansion than full blooded sequel. He argues that the game, no matter how much it was changed, was essentially the same title as the first. He states that players still end up running from zombies and shooting them. This is a bizarre criticism that can be literally applied to every game with a number after the title. The reason the basic gameplay hasn’t changed is because it is what people like. Valve was not going to annihilate their audience by turning the game into survival horror. They built a new game on top of an old one, making a great game. No joke … after spending hours playing Left 4 Dead 2, the original game feels more like a prototype.

The best thing about the second game are the new choices. Do I forgo a health kit and take a defibrillator? Maybe I should lug the exploding ammo around instead of deploying it right away. Is the grenade launcher worth the price of not having a rapid fire weapon? Do I take the pills or the shot? The pills last longer, but the shot can make the difference between making it to the boat, or being served as the main course at zombie dinner party. These choices might sound trivial, but they dramatically effect the outcome of the game. The first game didn’t have such a selection. All the questions were answered with a simple affirmative. Find a health pack? Keep it. Find a better weapon? Upgrade.

The one complaint that did resonate with me was the lag issue. One day the game works like a champ, the next day, it’s run like Grandma Ethel on a slow drive to the store. If you happen to work at Valve and you are reading this … please stop reading right now, and kick your servers a good kick in the behind. It’s a mess out there. People are lagging out all over the place and as usual, your silence is creating more questions than answers.

Still, great game. Lame review.

Zero Punctuation: Left 4 Dead 2 & New Super Mario Bros Wii (escapistmagazine.com <- new window)