Reviewed by Brandy Shaul
For fans of Left 4 Dead 2, the Passing is more of the same, which is definitely a good thing. Valve’s newest DLC pack sees our heroes having a run-in with the survivors from the first game, offering fan service to franchise fans, and an interesting new chapter in the story which takes place directly after the Dead Center campaign in the Left 4 Dead 2 timeline.
Our survivors are trapped in rural town in Georgia, their passage blocked by a raised bridge, which so happens to be guarded by three of the survivors from L4D1 (you’ll find that the fourth, whom I won’t name here, has fallen victim to the undead scourge). You’ll play through two chapters, taking you through and under the zombie-infested town, which culminates in a truly intense third chapter that sees you rushing to gather gas cans to fill a generator to lower the bridge (thus allowing your car to pass), while special infected spawn frequently from every direction, and the L4D1 crew fire on your enemies from nearby balconies.
Playing through the DLC on your own, and on the easiest difficulty setting will take around 30 minutes. Add in other players, or play on the harder difficulties, and you can take 45 minutes or more, due not only to the increased difficulty, but the inevitable re-starts that take place due to run-ins with multiple Tanks or other special infected simultaneously.
While the basic gameplay structure is unchanged, there are two new weapons to watch out for – an M60 which is incredibly powerful, but unable to be reloaded, so should be saved for dire emergencies, and a melee weapon, the Golf Club. Both have achievements associated with them, offering added incentive to try out the new variety here.
Additionally, a new uncommon infected has been added to the game in the form of a Fallen Survivor – a zombie that once walked in your shoes, and carries all manner of supplies from Health Kits and Adrenaline Shots to Molotovs and Bile Jars, which can be picked after you kill them. However, killing them is easier said than done, as you’ll need to either randomly run into them in an enclosed location, or deal with them quickly, as they will attempt to run when attacked. Again, there is an achievement associated with killing the Fallen Survivors, giving you all the more reason to do so.
Foot lockers are also now available to raid (they spawn in different locations during each playthrough), containing a mass amount of one particular item, whether it be Pipe Bombs or Pills, and so on.
One final addition is perhaps the most noteworthy. Mutations are exclusive to owners of the Passing and they see weekly changes being made to the game’s traditional rules. For the first week, as an example, players were treated to Realism Versus, which applied all of the rules of basic Realism to the game’s Versus multiplayer mode.
All told, the Passing campaign is far from revolutionary, but it didn’t need to be. It’s a downright fun experience, even bordering on addictive, especially when it comes to earning the slew of new achievements, or repeatedly playing through the third chapter of the campaign, which is some of the most fun you can have with the entire title, in my very humble opinion. Do yourself a favor – grab a few friends and 560 Microsoft Points and download the Passing. You’ll be glad you did.
Special thanks to Katie Casali and Valve for providing a code for this title.