7 Hours Later II

Title: 7 Hours Later II

Links: http://www.gamemaps.com/details/2688 
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=283329040

Author(s): Agressor (author), Gemini Saga (porter)

Survivors: L4D1

Notes: N/A

I'm going to start this off with a good campaign. 7 Hours Later was a campaign originally for Left 4 Dead 1 (you can find the link to the original here), released in 2009 by Agressor. This same author later went on to make Surrounded by the Dead. In 2010, it was ported to Left 4 Dead 2 by Gemini Saga under the title 7 Hours Later II. It received a few updates since then, and the newest release is dated 2014. It features L4D2 items, such as melee weapons, adrenaline, defibrillators, and bile jars in wide supply.

7 Hours Later II is a five-map campaign and feels very much like a standard campaign that could have come along with L4D1. It is very clearly influenced by the standard vanilla L4D1 maps and in fact, it is in my opinion to L4D1 what Cold Stream is to L4D2. If it received the same kind of Valve polish that Cold Stream got after getting submitted to L4D2, there's no reason this couldn't be included as free DLC for L4D1. From a visual standpoint, it looks most like the first two maps of Blood Harvest throughout. The survivors travel from a small bunker along some dense forest and wooded areas through industrial areas and through some caves until they arrive at an outpost where a plane awaits them. While passing through the maps, I saw things that looked slightly recognizable from other campaigns. For instance, one area looked inspired by Death Toll, the finale area looked very similar to the finale area of Dead Air, and lots of areas were inspired by Blood Harvest throughout. In fact, the campaign also uses the Blood Harvest color correction.

One aspect that contributes to this campaign being very fun is that while it's linear for the most part, it disguises this by having creative and well-developed paths. The light direction is usually very clear and spot-on. For the most part, there is a very good distribution of creative and diverse events. Aside from a long and fun gauntlet run in the fourth map, they are all brief holdouts. I felt there was just one too many, specifically the one after the gauntlet in map 4. The environments vary from feeling to very lived in to others that feel merely adequate or par for the L4D course. I especially liked the abundance of side areas and rooms that contained helpful resources.

This campaign had two very interesting things. The first was a divergent path system in map 3, which allows the player to choose a left or right path, both which wind up at the same place. One path will continue through some woods while the other takes you through some caves and a tunnel. The other interesting part was the long gauntlet run in the fourth map. This is very well done and the campaign does a good job of making it feel like there's a lot to go through while also leading the player well with light direction.

The weakest part of this campaign is the derivative and predictable finale. It feels ripped straight from Dead Air and breaks up the flow of an otherwise fairly original campaign. The area, however, allows for different vantage points that can create different experiences during alternate playthroughs. Another thing that I thought could be improved would be to remove the false door textures, which simply look fake and can convey the same thing more elegantly by adding in regular locked door entities. Also, I think that while the campaign does a good job developing something out of the Blood Harvest wood motif, it could use a bit more diversity with locations. Lastly, I wasn't sure what was going on with some rolling barrels, which I suppose could screw first time players if they shot them.

Difficulty: This campaign is about as difficult as a standard L4D1 campaign. Tanks are in normal abundance, and even though they appear in the same map as occasional witches and events, nothing feels like it goes overboard. The campaign is at a standard length (38-42 minutes). Experienced players with friends might feel comfortable starting immediately on Advanced, while Expert players may find it enjoyable to jump right in to Expert difficulty.

Verdict: This is a campaign straight out of the L4D1 world, done with a good attention to quality, pacing, and events. It feels very well-balanced on the whole, as tank, witch, and special infected spawns, as well as horde locations, never pose an unrealistic problem. The only issues I had were that it lacks that extra bit of originality that would keep it from being a bit derivative and generic, as well as some environments being overused and there one too many of the same events. Otherwise, it's definitely worth playing. Thankfully this campaign has seemed to have earned the recognition it deserves and can be found on a number of dedicated servers specializing in custom campaigns.

Rating: 4.13/5

82.6 fun industrial gauntlets out of 100.