Way too many bugs (literally); minimal crashes

Original review (19.2 hours)

After investing some time into this game, the amazing visuals and the smooth gameplay is all this product really has going for it. The story does not seem all that interesting (at least not so much so as to justify devoting time to reading all the collectibles to actually understand what's happening), and the gameplay gets very repetitive very quickly.

I've placed enough time into this game to where I may just go ahead and finish the story since I'm already on mission 8, but man it feels more like a chore than anything to play this which should not be what a video game feels like. I'd only really recommend this game if it were on sale; I'm glad I didn't pay anymore than $10 for this.

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Update: I poured another 75 hours in to the game since my initial review. Finished up the story and all the DLC. The game gets way better in the last half as you gain access to the full arsenal of Jesse's abilities and experience some of the most unique moments in all of gaming within the first DLC. The story is also naturally more fleshed out, and the plot begins to make sense... especially if you dedicate a session like I did to going back and re-reading all the collected documents along the way.

Overall, I've changed my opinion in that I would recommend the game to other players (previously did not) but with a notice that the gameplay does not really shine and reach its full potential until the late stages of the game. Unfortunately, the story or game design could be a major turn-off for players who may not be willing to have patience and watch the game (Jesse's abilities) evolve over time.

I won't forget the feeling of this title feeling like a hassle to play through in my first few hours as the player is limited to only what few powers the protagonist has + has to deal with going past lots of locked items that you must backtrack to unlock later when you have the necessary upgrade. The game gets exponentially better later on, but I'm not sure I'd say I'd do it all over again if I had the choice.

I leave off on being hopeful that with Control 2, players won't have to deal with these restraints as she'll be accustomed to her power by that point in the story. For this game, I can understand the decision, story wise and game wise, to lock some of her abilities away until later on, but it really hurt a lot of the potential fun that has yet to be seen by casual players who may not stick around stubbornly like I did. Levitation, for instance, was a huge game changer for me, but I would have personally preferred to have unlocked it earlier.

Lots of solid and creative wallpapers. Highly recommend for the ease of use and the variety of options that one can have towards designing a unique and captivating home screen. The price is worth it considering you won't find many of these great, dynamic wallpapers as easily or as safely when surfing the web.

Great game. It kinda lacks the horror of the original Left 4 Dead game and the characters are rather more humorous than serious, don't know if I should consider that a con or not nonetheless.

Aside from that genuine opinion of mine, the game is much more entertaining and is a fun co-operative experience which is highly preferred over the original, and I can see why. All the game modes are perfectly balanced and this game will keep you lasting for quite a while (since 2011, I started playing L4D2 on Garena, then transferred to Steam and bought the game because of the lack of servers on Garena in 2012).

Overall conclusion and opinion

- Very Fun (+5)
- Will keep you entertained for a long duration of time, longer with friends by your side (+2)
- All game modes are perfectly balanced and competitive at the same time (+3)
- Left 4 Dead 1 Maps added (+4)
- Lacks the ideal horror level that the original had (-3)
- The zombie models in this game weren't as thrilling as that in the original (-2)
- You won't get the fun and thrilling experience if you're alone so needing friends to experience true glory in this game is a must-have (-1)

8/10
Great game I would always play if I wasn't so dang addicted to Team Fortress 2.