Alien Swarm: Free, fun, and full of violence

To those involved in the first person shooter “modding” scene, Alien Swarm should sound familiar. Black Cat Games released the first Alien Swarm game, an Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, to a warm reception. Their success translated into jobs at Valve and an opportunity to create a full, “real” game, now on the Source Engine.  Enter Alien Swarm, again.

Alien Swarm plays like a top down Left 4 Dead with aliens instead of zombies.  In a similar construct to L4D, four people team up and complete mission requirements before completing a level.  Breaking from the L4D mold, Alien Swarm adds the Modern Warfare-like abilities of character leveling, varied classes, and unlockable items. The development team was keen on making new equipment easy to obtain, and it’s a pleasure to see an appreciation for the difference between “leveling” and “grinding”. The formula is pretty simple: beat a mission, gain a level (usually), and get an item.

Leveling up and progressing in the game is fun, but hampered by the scant amount of content. At the current time there is only one “campaign,” consisting of 7 levels. The levels tie together with a thin story: there are aliens, they are bad, kill them. It’s a Michael Bay story, not Christopher Nolan.

If all you need for a plot is indiscriminate violence towards aliens, then pack your bags, because Alien Swarm offers it by the hive-full. As creatures pour into the room from all angles, the necessity for teamwork becomes critical. Understanding the maps, chokepoints and alien positions is vital to  staying alive, both from improved tactics in fighting the aliens and reduced friendly fire incidents. There’s no better way to spread love on the Steam servers than accidently taking a flamethrower to your squad mates.

On the topic of flamethrowers, weapon load outs consist of two primary weapons and an inventory item. Primary weapons range from bland assault rifles to more entertaining options like Tesla cannons and chainsaws. Inventory items play a crucial role, and include welding torches (for sealing doors and cutting off alien entrance points), explosives, armor, and time-slowing adrenaline. While most weapons unlock at higher levels, they aren’t necessarily better. Weapon selection falls on the current mission being tackled, keeping things fresh. There is no ultimate build, just builds that work better for each level.

Besides weapons, players can choose between eight personalities across the four classes of Officer, Special Weapons, Tech and Medic. Officer provides passive bonuses to the team that nobody seems to ever care about, Special Weapons can carry a giant chaingun, Medic graduates to a healing gun without an ubercharge, and the Tech gets to play hacking minigames to open doors and work computers in the game. Techs are absolutely necessary for getting through many levels, and if you get caught with a parasite without a Medic on your team, you’re toast.

Currently, with the limited choices of campaigns, difficulty settings offer the most lasting appeal. On Easy and Normal, novices can hone their skills and acclimate themselves to the maps. Hard provides a bit of a challenge, and Insane mode is where the men are separated from the fodder. Tactics start to stand out and Rambo’s on the team become totally useless. Some areas require clearing rooms, while others require making a break for the exit and welding it shut before the aliens reach you. There isn’t any mercy at this difficulty; if you dawdle, that door will get welded shut with or without you on the right side of it. After all, 1 dead squad member is better than 4.

For you die hard marines who have mastered the art of carnage, do not despair at the lack of content just yet.  There are two good indicators that more content is on the way: the company’s history and the game’s Source Development Kit (SDK).

Valve is no stranger to providing free content. Robin Walker, Minh Le, Jess Cliffe, Adrian Finol, and Erik Wolpaw may not be recognizable names to gamers, but their games are. Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Defense of the Ancients, Frontline Force, Narbacular Drop (you know it as Portal) and now Alien Swarm add to the growing list of free games now-members of Valve created. Not paying for gaming is not a new idea for the staff of Valve, and it sure hasn’t gotten old yet.

The Alien Swarm SDK is available alongside the game itself, letting amateurs and enthusiasts create their own content for the game. The door is now open for the Steam community to bring us the next round of enjoyment and, perhaps for a few, the next round of employment. Valve has put together an impressive crop of developers by picking some of the gaming community’s best modders, and the Alien Swarm SDK seems like an informal invitation for aspiring coders.

Even if you hate Left 4 Dead, you should give Alien Swarm a try. It’s free and offers a great, exciting co-op experience. Sure, it has its faults, but it’s a fun experience and Valve’s decision to make the game’s SDK available means fresh, user-generated content can’t be too far behind. If you enjoy character development and arcing plotlines than read a book – If you enjoy mindless mayhem dispensed through the barrel of a shotgun, download Alien swarm.