I wrote a longer review of L4D2 than the Straight had space for, so here’s the longer piece for posterity.

The conceit of Left 4 Dead 2 hasn’t changed: up to four players take on the roles of survivors of a zombie apocalypse in a game presented like it was a Romero film. But this sequel, which was released on Nov. 17, improves on the first game in almost every way. And while it might be built on the same technology as the first game, the fact that this was developed in only a year – the first game launched on Nov. 18, 2008 – is astounding.

The new stars are Coach, a high school football coach, the mechanic Ellis, Nick, a professional gambler, and Rochelle, a TV news producer. They travel from the empty streets of Savannah, Georgia, to the frantic chaos of New Orleans, fighting zombies through five “campaigns” and in a variety of locations including a shopping mall, swampland, a carnival, and a cemetery. There is a greater range of lighting, too, as much of this game takes place during dusk.

At Valve’s studio in Bellevue, Wash., Chet Faliszek, the game’s writer, told the Straight that the intent was “to tell the story not just of their journey, but of how the world reacts to the infection” that has turned humanity into vicious creatures. “Left 4 Dead 2 is what happens when the infection happens outside your window,” Faliszek said, “when you weren’t expecting anything to happen.”

The narrative is subtle. Faliszek said he didn’t want to “bog players down with details.” But CEDA, the Civilian Emergency Defense Agency, a mix of CDC and FEMA, is omnipresent and ominous.

Players can now wield a primary and secondary weapon, and melee combat has been introduced, so you can use cricket bats, chain saws, katana, and even electric guitars when in close. During a gaming session, level designer Kim Swift told the Straight that the new wound system includes dismemberment, so be ready to lop off arms, legs, and heads. “There are now 40 different ways to kill zombies,” explained Swift.

New items include a defibrillator, which regenerates a dead player, adrenaline injections, which give a temporary boost to health and increases a character’s speed, vials of boomer bile, which when broken attract infected, and a laser sight attachment for guns.

New special infected creatures include spitters, which project acid, jockeys, which climb on the shoulders of players, and chargers, which tackle and pummel players. And each campaign has an uncommon common infected that isn’t quite as dangerous as a Witch or a Tank, but is more difficult than the average zombie. In the game’s first campaign, for example, are infected that wear Hazmat suits and which are impervious to fire.

There’s also a new versus mode, which pits humans against zombies. Scavenge is a faster and more compact competitive game. The objective is to collect gas tanks to fill a generator. A game, which lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, includes three rounds in which you play as humans or infected, then switch sides with your opponents. The team that gets the most gas into the generator wins.

Playing Left 4 Dead 2 gets you up close and personal with all manner of horrors, but rarely gives you a chance to breathe. Make sure you’re playing with friends you can rely on, because without them, there’s no hope.

Left 4 Dead 2 (Valve; PC, Xbox 360; rated mature)