Hordes of hungry consumers formed un-orderly queues in order to have a quick snack on the brains of the forthcoming Left 4 Dead 2. The level on offer for Valve’s much discussed sequel was a Scavenge versus mode set in that seminal horror location; the motel. The survivors scour the level for 16 fuel canisters that they can feed into a motor in the motel’s pool, powering the distress signal it is attached to. The level features three new special infected types; the Charger, the Spitter, and the Jockey. I haven’t played much of the original, so I’m not the one to detail the minute differences between the two games, but the new infected are certainly a challenge, and pretty fun to play as. The Charger is a bit of a beast, with his oversized right arm and bursts of speed that can knock you off your feet. Good for taking out dawdlers who aren’t aware of their surroundings. The Spitter, curiously enough, excels in spitting plumes of toxic bile, over an area about 10 feet square. It works because it keeps the survivors moving, or gives them an area to avoid and the imperative to find a new route. The Jockey, brilliant, can leap from distance onto a survivor’s back, grabbing their head and leading them towards other infected or environment traps. Unaware, when I first found myself wrapped around the shoulders of one luckless human, I furiously rotated the left-stick in what looked like an attempt to rip his head off, but which turned out to be completely useless. So, don’t do that. The Smoker in the level is well placed, too; there are plenty of ledges to give survivors a literal tongue-lashing from, hanging them for others to claw apart, or even in an area of ooze created by the Spitter.

The motel offers some interesting level design. The pool is surrounded on three sides by two stories of rooms, the first floor with an open balcony that looks down on the courtyard. Some types of infected can also make their way up to the roof of this block, giving them access, via a large container, to the roof of a smaller building. At the back of the motel is a small section of abandoned highway. The cans of petrol that you ‘scavenge’ for are each given a halo, visible from anywhere in the level, so at first it’s a case of working out how to get somewhere – for example, up onto the stand that holds up the billboard in the corner of the map – rather than finding out where it is.

Time will tell whether Scavenge mode will have the longevity of co-op; the level has a relatively simple layout, and (when I played, at least) the petrol canisters seemed to be in the same places each round.  There also don’t seem to be that many environmental hazards, other than those created and exploited by the infected. Still, it’s a thrill to run into a previously unoccupied area, only to be attacked by a horde of commoners. Teamwork was largely non-existent on the Expo floor, but I’m sure more organised players would find ways of making the scavenging more structured.

With the demo out tomorrow (or today if you’ve pre-ordered), it’s the perfect time to try the game out for yourself; make your own mind up about whether Valve were correct to release a sequel so soon after the original.