Grab your frying pans and AK-47′s. It’s time to face the zombie apocalypse again in our review of Left 4 Dead 2.

Since announcing Left 4 Dead 2 at E3 back in June, Valve’s shooter has been something of a lightning rod of controversy. First there was the much ballyhooed boycott threat from some gamers who felt that one year was too quick a turnaround time to release a full sequel to the original. Then there was the claim by one industry analyst that the game was racist due to the fact that “some” of the zombies were black. So when the game was finally released on November 17th, it was somewhat of a relief to actually get our hands on it. What we found was that while it’s still a very solid game, some of the shine of the original has come off.

Make no mistake, Left 4 Dead 2 actually has more content than the original game. Shipping with five full campaigns straight out of the box as well as new muliplayer modes makes this game feel somewhat weightier than the original. The addition of melee weapons more or less replaces the push-back option for crowd control. While all the new melee weapons can get the job done, there’s no doubt that the katana and chainsaw are by far the best of the bunch. However for pure comedic effect, we recommend trying to get through a full campaign using nothing but the frying pan. Read more