
A flamethrower allows you to set aliens on fire. Once you shoot them, a large amount of green blood is spilled, but they fall to the ground and disappear after a few moments. The aliens are bug type creatures, and bear no likeness to humans. Your character will disappear immediately upon dying, and your team will continue. The marines are in hazmat like suits, so you never actually see human bodies. The strength and true value of this game, however, comes in the co-op mode rather than in the single player campaign.Īlien Swarm is a top down shooter, so it detracts from the visceral feel of a typical first-person shooter as you are somewhat removed from the fray, and control the character from a birds-eye view. They find the alien infestation, and the mission becomes an eradication of the creatures, then abandoning the colony. It is set in the future, and marines are sent to find out what happened on a colonized planet. The story in Alien Swarm is rather benign, and not that important. There are two modes of play: Offline Practice mode, and Online play. It takes a few playthroughs to truly internalize the controls, strengths of each character, and how each will affect the scenarios you play through in the levels. The learning curve is actually a tad high. Each has a unique set of attributes, including abilities and weapons. It uses a class based system, with the playable characters comprising of Officer (leader), Tech, Medic, and Special Weapons. But the numbers do not have to speak for themselves.Īlien Swarm is certainly a fun shooter. Here is a small idea of how popular it was: while downloading it the day it was released, I had to wait about an hour because the servers were so busy. The signature Valve shine we have come to expect and love from this company is still evident in this title. Do not let the words “free game” fool you, however. This is evident in the free game “Alien Swarm,” which was released on Steam as a download. Then there are times they almost seem to thank them for their support.


It seems that they always listen to and consider their fans for each title. They are the minds behind video game darlings such as the Half-Life series, Team Fortress, and Portal, all of which have garnered multiple awards and recognitions.


Valve Corporation is no stranger to the limelight when it comes to making hit video games.
