Alien Swarm Review

What if Aliens was a top down shooter? It would look and play a hell of a lot like Valve's free co-op shooter Alien Swarm. The basic concept is very simple: a team of four space marines must battle their way through hordes of aliens using an array of different weapons, including flame throwers, automated sentry guns and auto-targeting machine guns. The various alien foes come thick & fast, and clever team work is a must if the marines are to survive.

Alien Swarm began life as a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004, and it was on the basis of the mod that the team behind it were hired by Valve a few years ago. Now, it has been recreated on the Source engine, and released for free download via Steam. Even without making any allowances for the blank price tag, the graphics, sound and production values are all of an excellent standard.

Just like Valve's other co-op game Left 4 Dead, Alien Swarm is multiplayer-focused. There are four classes of marine to pick from, each with their own unique abilities: the Officer, the Weapons Specialist, the Technician, and the Medic. The Officer grants a passive bonus to nearby teamates, the Weapons Specialist uses high-yield weapons to mow down aliens, the Tech hacks computer systems to open doorways, and the Medic heals fellow marines. The most effective teams are the ones that bring a balanced group, and solid team work is of critical importance at higher difficulty levels – players who run off to play Rambo will rarely last very long.

There is a wide range of weapons and gadgets to be unlocked by levelling up; the starting equipment is however perfectly respectable, lacking only in variety. One of the most important phases of a round of Alien Swarm is the pre-game loadout screen, where the team must decide on what pieces of equipment they will bring with them on the mission. Each player has three inventory slots, two for weapons and one for special items such as armour, health packs, damage amplifiers, welding tools or night-vision goggles. Quite apart from picking a balanced group of classes, it is also important to bring a balanced selection of equipment – you don't want to get two-thirds of the way through another bug-hunt only to run out of ammunition because everybody in the group wanted a backup shotgun instead of a spare ammo pack.

There is only one campaign, which features seven fairly short levels - it is very well put together but ultimately will become repetitive. Valve have released an SDK for the game though, so the stage is set for an influx of fan-made maps and mods, which could extend Alien Swarm's lifespan significantly.

Valve could quite justifiably have charged money for Alien Swarm, such is its quality. The appeal of it is simple: it's you and three other marines, covering each other's backs and blasting apart vicious space bugs. It works very well, and bar the lack of campaigns, has no real shortcomings.

3.5/5

PLUS
-It's free
-Simple, fun design
-Good production values

MINUS
-Only one campaign