Tactical ramifications of new features of L4D2

[CrashFu]

Let me begin the discussion by talking about the Spitter. I trust most of you have looked up the concept art for her? It's absolutely terrifying, and you will never be able to Un-see it. It's so gruesome as to be the entire topic of a recent strip of VG Cats.

It turns out that what the Spitter does is, for all intents and purposes, is toss molotovs. In terms of visuals and flavor (... eeeeeew) she's hocking up some kind of biological agent, but like a molotov it sails through the air and then any survivors who remain in the area in which it lands will take some serious DoT.

So, she's not just some simple projectile-shooting form of infected; she has the power of AREA DENIAL. Where in the original L4D the entire goal for surviving an onslaught of zombies was to choose one good area in which to defend yourselves, she makes this difficult! Everyone huddled together in a closet? She hocks a big flaming/radioactive/acidic/whatever loogie right into said closet and now you have to leave it! She could also spit in front of the survivors' path in a narrow hallway and voila, they're either forced to wait for the way to clear, run right through it and suffer some damage, or find another way around!

Of course, you could just proactively make sure to kill her before she can cause her damage, but you won't succeed in that every time. Her presence marks a radical effect on gameplay which I feel will be very positive to the overall theme of "We're in a zombie apocalypse and we are FUBAR'd!"

[JimmyChopblock]

Ah...so is L4D2 going to be > 20 dollars because otherwise it's a rip off...

[Wulfie]

[Mr. Munchlax]

Because money is GOD!

/sarcasm

The spitter does some like a rather interesting new special infected. I'd like to see her in action while actually playing though, you really can't get a good feel for it just by watching other people play.

[CrashFu]

How about the new "Common Uncommon" infected, as they like to refer to them as?

Basically each stage is supposed to feature a type of infected that is somewhere between common and special. For example, one stage was supposed to have Hazmat-suit wearing infected who are immune to fire. The Swamp was supposed to have "mud men" who run around really fast on all fours.

[Ayeaka]

I like the inclusions. That, plus new director, and talks of using a different, updated source engine, make the game more attractive to me, honestly.

It's pretty clear at this point that it's going to genuinely be a whole new game.