Weapon Drop: Left 4 Dead 2′s Chainsaw

Care for ketchup?

Weapon Drops are short, sharp homilies to new, old and upcoming FPS weapons. If it blows shit away plenty good (and sometimes even if it doesn’t), you’ll find a corresponding entry here.

There’s a certain psychology to playing a survival horror game. It’s not enough merely to kill your foes – you have to truly butcher them, dispose of them in a manner vastly more unpleasant than the manner in which they might dispose of you, and thus in some way “cancel out” their scariness.

Good workmen shouldn’t blame their tools, but not every weapon is up to the task. Pistols are like little ice picks upon the alpine cliff of a zombie’s horribleness. Shotguns are agreeably messy, but it’s over in seconds. Sniper rifles are far too detached. Chainsaws though? Chainsaws fit the bill nicely…

Unlike most digital homages to Bruce Campbell’s spine-severer of choice, Left 4 Dead 2′s chainsaws actually have drawbacks. In a game which makes such tactical play of audio, brandishing a noisy internal combustion engine isn’t always the wisest move. You might have marginally more chance of taking down a Witch up close, but you’ll be less likely to detect the eerie little vocal sample which heralds her presence.

These home improvement tools cum massacring implements also take a few seconds to start up, so don’t swap to one when there’s a Charger inches from your nose. Although if you pay close (well, closer attention) you’ll notice that good old Valve has “accidentally” built in a work-around – melee attack while hefting the ‘saw to skip the warm-up period.

Best used when defending a doorway or other chokepoint. Just hold down the trigger/button, sit back and watch the guts spatter till the fuel runs out.

Video tutorial below. Review this week.

Got a gun, machete, shark-crossbow hybrid or other weapon you’d like to see featured? Let us know. Thanks to John Walker over at RPB for the pic.