Left 4 Dead 2 demo

I've been playing the Left 4 Dead 2 demo on 360, having pre-ordered the game from Game. They had offered a 7-day exclusivity deal for the demo, before it becomes available for Xbox Live Gold subscribers next week. I think there's a similar deal for PC on Steam.

The demo level (two chapters of a full level) is in the daylight, which is an interesting twist for a zombie game. Even without the darkness, it's a scary game but a different type of scary. Nighttime plays on primal fears of darkness - evolutionarily speaking, a fear of the dark is a good thing, unless you want sabre-toothed tigers in your near (and considerably fore-shortened) future. Daylight is another thing entirely. We live our outdoor lives, for the most part (goths excepted) in the daylight - a game that has zombies wandering around during the day plays on our own personal fears. I mean, who's never thought about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse in their town?

The game itself seems more of the same, which is no bad thing (sorry Internet petitioners). There have, of course, been updates and improvements - new special infected, the daylight, the - yes!! - melée weapons, new items - but the central idea of the main (and only part on the demo) game, for four survivors to escape the undead, remains the same. The controls are also unaltered - if it ain't broke, don't decap it with a shotgun shell.

I'd initially thought that the frame rate had been upped but a quick revisit to the first game indicated that it probably hadn't (both are very smooth). Even though the game is in daylight, you don't see vast panoramas - New Orleans feels claustrophobic and past mid distance, descends into a balmy Louisianan heat haze.

In terms of difficulty, I'd say it is a bit harder than the first game, which was hardly a cakewalk. The new special infected, particularly, add to the difficulty level and there seem to be even more (fantastic) horde moments to 'enjoy'. I couldn't really feel the much-vaunted AI director at play but reckon that will be apparent in the full game that, on the strength of the demo, I will be getting.