Review: Alien Swarm

For a number of years now, debate has raged on whether or not PC gaming is doomed. And much like the ‘debate’ over Barack Obama’s religious affiliation (he’s Christian), the mere fact that there is a debate at all is a loss for those, like myself, who believe that PC gaming is as robust as ever. The perception that PC gaming is struggling, regardless of the validity of that belief, will scare off gamers from investing in their machines, developers from creating new games, and the media from dedicating resources to covering the platform.

Alien Swarm should arrive as a rebuttal to detractors of PC gaming. Developed by a team of modders working for Valve, Alien Swarm is a free download available through Valve’s digital distribution platform, Steam. That’s right – free. How amazing is that? And because the source code is provided along with the SDK, I expect the mod community to release more great (and free) content to provide hours of entertainment on top of what Valve has already given us.

And Valve has certainly packed lots of entertainment into Alien Swarm. You play as one of four space marines sent on a search and rescue mission on a colonized planet facing infestation by aliens. The squad-based play is best compared to Left for Dead, but the various classes (leader, soldier, medic, and tech) make teamwork even more essential. Much like Left for Dead, keeping your teammates alive and choosing a good balance of gear is essential to surviving the swarms of alien enemies (get it?) that the AI throws at you. Unlike Left for Dead, Alien Swarm is a top-down shooter, which makes the gameplay feel retro (in a fun, nostalgic way). Keyboard controls move your marine up, down, left and right on the screen while the mouse controls the direction the marine faces and where he shoots. Laser sights on your weaponry assist in aiming and navigating.

Various gameplay elements keep the action varied and exciting. Doors will occasionally be locked, requiring a tech to complete a hacking mini-game while his teammates provide cover. A motion tracker, with beeping effects lifted straight from Aliens, provides tension as you explore dimly-lit environments. The combat captures the spirit of action games before the first-person shooter genre dominated the video game market.

Yet there is nothing old-fashioned about the graphics. This mod looks good. Sure, the Source engine is over six years old at this point, but touches like the way my laser sight casts a wobbly reflection in the sewage as I splash through it make a good impression. The level design deserves accolades for creating a three-dimensional feel despite the birds-eye view. Enemies leap down from buildings above you and others bombard you from below. Nowhere feels safe; even after you have welded a door shut behind you, the sound of aliens pounding through it will echo down the hall after you.

Unfortunately, the game does have its flaws. Because enemies spawn continually, your squad must keep pressing forward. In online play, this means a slow or lagging player becomes extremely frustrating. Additionally, PDAs dispersed throughout the levels provide background story about the alien infestation. Sadly, in the fast-paced multiplayer, no one can or will stand around while you read them. This wouldn’t be a problem if the single-player game allowed you to play more than two levels, but for some reason single-player stops after two fifteen-minute missions. Huh? Why go through the trouble of programming AI players to fill out your party only to use them in two levels? Also, AI players cannot fill out a multiplayer party, so you’d better be able to find three other people to play with if you hope to complete the game.

Ultimately, because this is a free title, the real question is whether it’s worth your time. It is. Alien Swarm exemplifies the robustness of PC gaming. On no other platform would a game this involved be available for free download, and as fans create more content using the provided code and design tools, the value will only improve. So thank you, Valve, for another release that demonstrates the potential of PC gaming.