Left 4 Dead 2

Infected zombie-like creatures roam the bayous, backwoods, streets, and parishes of a distinctly Southern United States in this first-person shooter set in the aftermath of apocalyptic pandemic. Groups of one-to-four players (i.e., the "Survivors") work cooperatively to battle the "Infected" zombies and reach safehouses at the end of each round/chapter. Player-Survivors use realistic pistols, submachine guns, shotguns, and assault rifles to kill hordes of zombies throughout the game; chainsaws, machetes, axes, and baseball bats can be used in frenetic close-quarter combat (i.e., melee attacks). In most cases, large sprays of blood shoot out of injured zombies, and they can stain the ground, walls—players' screen; for example, the "Boomer"-Infected explode in a shower of blood and bile when shot, which clouds players' view of the impending zombie swarm.

Bladed melee weapons and direct hits from rifles, shotguns, etc., cause decapitation or dismemberment; intense depictions include: piles of the Infected in a pool of blood along the roadside; intestines spilling out of abdominal wounds; zombie gibs shooting in all directions; charred innards; and skeletal bits and unclaimed torsos. While the litany of somewhat "gruesome" depictions attests to the Mature rating, the over-the-top onslaught is, in some ways, mitigated by the exaggerated menacing evil (camp?) of the drone-like zombie horde; the genre homage (horror, zombies, . . . cricket paddle) is palpable. Consumers might also wish to know that the game includes profanity, such as "sh*t," "a*shole," and "b*tch"; however, it is the intense violence, the blood and gore that are the primary factors for the Mature rating.