When comparing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive vs Left 4 Dead 2, the Slant community recommends Left 4 Dead 2 for most people. In the question“What are the best LAN party PC games?” Left 4 Dead 2 is ranked 3rd while Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is ranked 15th. The most important reason people chose Left 4 Dead 2 is:
Left 4 Dead 2 features a co-op versus mode that pits two teams against one another. One takes on the role of survivors, which is very similar to the normal campaign. The other team, however, plays as the infected, opening up a whole new play style and set of strategies.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Driven by tactics and cooperation
Each round of CS feels more like a game driven more by careful tactics than a frivolous fast-paced and lethal paintball arena of which too many modern First-Person Shooters are guilty of.
Positioning, timing and thinking are key ingredients of a successful game and cooperation is crucial if you want to win.
Pro Runs well on most hardware and even on older hardware
It's a very optimized game and runs smoothly on even outdated hardware.
Pro Carefully-executed changes to existing maps
The updates and improvements made to existing maps have been pretty clever and useful.
For example, cracked glass is more opaque, making it harder to go on a sniping rampage. Or the stairway which was added to the bottom of de_dust made the route more viable for the Terrorists, while keeping the original purpose of that area serving as a bottleneck.
Pro Will be familiar to CS 1.6 and CS: Source players
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive builds on the strengths of its predecessors, even though those predecessors have been constantly improving for over a decade now.
Nonetheless, Counter-Strike veterans will feel right at home in Global Offensive, albeit with some minor differences. The MP5 is now the MP7, The TMP has left its place to the MP9 and you can't attach a suppressor to the M4.
Pro Turn the gameplay upside down by hunting the hunters in a unique co-op mode where you play as the zombies
Left 4 Dead 2 features a co-op versus mode that pits two teams against one another. One takes on the role of survivors, which is very similar to the normal campaign. The other team, however, plays as the infected, opening up a whole new play style and set of strategies.
Pro Invigorating cooperation based survival dynamic
Left 4 Dead 2 requires players on the same team to cooperate to survive. This makes for an interesting dynamic for teammates, as it will be increasingly difficult to make it through a level if any one player decides to go off on their own.
Pro Highly improved over Left 4 Dead
Those who loved the original Left 4 Dead will find this game even more enjoyable. Almost everything has been improved, including the AI. Other additions to the game include new enemies and melee weapons.
Pro AI teammates work great in single player gameplay
For those that prefer to play with AI, this is one of the best co-op games for offline bot play.
Pro Low Spec
This game can practically run on a potato.
Pro Melee weapons have the best visceral experience
Left 4 Dead 2 includes melee weapons for the player to use during the game. These allow for not only more graphic violence, but also a more personal and visceral experience.
Cons
Con Has a large skill gap
Since it's a pretty old game, most players are veterans at this point and have been playing for a long time. This may make it hard for newer players to jump in and play.
Con Can have a bad community
As it is a large game, it should come as no surprise that the community just won't be up to par. You may be kicked for strange reasons (like bottom scoring or the all too common random hacking accusation) and many could give you a 7 day ban. It can be very frustrating as missions in the mission system require you to play certain things while crossing your fingers.
Con New maps and modes feel pretty mediocre
Even though old maps have been revisited and improved by a wide margin, new maps and modes released with CS:GO are pretty mediocre.
Half of the maps available are locked under Arms Race (which is a re-imagining of the original community-created GunGame) and Demolition (GunGame without insta-respawn and bomb defusal) modes.
These game modes feel pretty safe and unimaginative, especially for veterans who have played their predecessor.
Some of the new maps are pretty compact and designed to act as instant-action meat-grinders akin to modern FPS (like Call of Duty) instead of requiring any tactics to win.
Con Hard to see if you are hitting someone
One of the things that were changed in CS:GO is firing feedback.
When someone is shot in GO, they don't wince, there's only a small amount of blood and audio that conveys the information that you are actually hitting someone. But omitting wince animation from character models makes it harder to see if you are actually hitting another player, especially at distance.
Con Less time spent playing a game
This is a feature that makes kills and hits (no health regeneration) more impactful, but also a lot less time is spent playing the game, especially if you die early to a sniper peek. Newbies will be playing a lot less of the game than more experienced players.
Con Very difficult without team engagement
For those looking for a casual co-op experience, Left 4 Dead 2 probably isn't the best option. Without a good sense of teamwork and focus, this game can get very challenging.
Con AI not the smartest
The AI has a tendency to make ridiculous choices that can screw up what players are doing. This can become a big problem when relying on AI teammates in order to get through a level.
Con There is no variation of gameplay
Making it very boring after a few hours of playing. Slaying zombies is fun and all, but it gets exceptionally dull once the "wow" effect of blowing zombie's brains out wears off.
Con More of the same
While the game has been improved compared to the original, there are no wildly different game mechanics. If you did not have much fun with Left 4 Dead, you will probably not get much enjoyment out of the sequel. Some have gone so far as to complain that it feels like a large DLC update rather than a discrete game.