Crash Course is Valve's second and latest DLC (downloadable content) for its award-winning game Left 4 Dead. The new campaign features 2 new scenarios that can be played in singleplayer, coop, versus and survival modes. In addition to that, 10 new achievements have been added to keep replayability high for players that likes to get all 68 of them. Are two scenarios in a campaign plus the addition of 10 new achievements enough for the casual gamer?

Requirements

• Microsoft Windows XP and Vista
• Pentium 4 3.0GHz
• 1GB memory
• 128 MB with Shader model 2.0 (ATI 9600, NVidia 6600 or better)
• At least 7.5 GB of free space
• DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
• The original Left 4 Dead game

Installation

Since this is a DLC and I'm using the PC version, all I have to do is update my L4D installation through Steam and restart it. That's how easy it is with Steam. For XBox users though it'll set you back 560 Microsoft points.

First Impressions

I wasn't really expecting any 'whoa' moments for this DLC and I was actually disappointed that it only had two scenarios since Valve wants to focus on the versus mode aspect of this new campaign making it a fairly short campaign run for versus mode - I guess players get bored or leave when their team keeps losing to better and more organized players.

I like how they added a new main menu background plus a couple of new loading backgrounds.  The additional 10 achievements at least makes up for the replay value of this DLC so that's a plus. If you looked at the update notes/change log for this update, it says that Matchmaking has been improved. This way finding and joining games should be faster before the update.

Single-Player

I'm not going to talk much about single-player since it's just good for getting a couple of achievements or if you're tired of players that constantly spam the mic. There wasn't any improvement on how the AI moves (since it wasn't even mentioned in the update news/change log) and so it's still the same old Easy-to-Expert type of gameplay that you get from all the other campaigns. 

The writings on the walls have returned and there's a couple that are totally hilarious (e.g. the suvivor's last poem). I'm not going to spioil all of them for you but just try looking for them and read them one by one. One of the screenshots below contains some of them.

Multi-Player

I guess this is where Crash Course shines especially in Versus mode where players can choose between the Infected and the Survivors. Having only two scenarios in this campaign is actually a good thing for a couple of things.

1. You don't have to wait for a long time to finish the campaign. It's done within 4 turns (2 infected and 2 survivor). This gives those that leave (when their team is losing) at least some more time to think if they should leave or not (in my opinion that is).

2. CC delivers a full versus mode experience in less than an hour which gives players more options or make new games.

Of course there's always the alternative of just leaving and not minding the people that you play with if you don't feel like being a 'teammate' to them. But then again, having only two scenarios decreases the chance of the two I've mentioned above from happening.

Moreover, if you look closely at the Infected HUD, you can now see your teammates spawn timer. this greatly increases the efficiency of your team especially if you know who you're playing with and you're in Ventrilo or TeamSpeak. You don't have to ask them when will they spawn, all you have to do is look at the new display and change your strategy for the better on the fly without distracting your teammates too much by bugging them.

Final Thoughts

I could see myself looking back at L4D when Crash Course came out and playing it again from time to time while waiting for L4D2. And I know there's a lot of hate for L4D2 since some (not most) players think that they did not get their money's worth and considered themselves as beta testers for the real L4D which is L4D2. Replayability of this DLC solely depends on the player and his/her experience online. If he does not have enough friends to enjoy playing L4D in either co-op or versus mode then I could see him/her playing the new campaign until he/she gets all the achievements and finishes the map in all difficulties. However if you have a ton of friends that you could rely on to help you out and be a part of the team then the possibilities are endless and there will be tons of nights where you just want to play L4D again...

Ratings

Installer - I'm sorry but nothing beats Steam right now.

Graphics - Same old fantastic graphics...nothing new here.

Sound - Pretty much the same with graphics. It could still scare the crap out of people. But for returning players, there's really nothing new to talk about.

Gameplay - The new official maps gives each side several advantages and gives them a lot of space (or lack there of) to practice as either a Survivor or Infected.