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Alien Swarm
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Publisher Region Released Valve NA 07/19/2010 Valve EU 07/19/2010 |
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Systems > PC > A > Alien Swarm > Staff Review
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Review by Mike Suskie
July 25, 2010
In many ways, there isn’t much more to say. Alien Swarm has drawn numerous comparisons to Left 4 Dead, and not without reason. They’re both products of Valve, and they both place four players in the situation of having to fend off waves of very ugly (and very mindless) enemies, often to satisfyingly gory results. But whereas L4D’s team dynamics were its selling point, there really isn’t much more to Alien Swarm than what’s on the surface, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Sometimes it’s fun to just arm yourself with a giant minigun and pretend you’re a marine from Aliens. Sometimes it’s fun to go on a simple bug hunt.
It’s telling that of the dozens of people I’ve played Alien Swarm with, only two or three of them have ever used a microphone. It’s not that teamwork isn’t an integral part of the design – it definitely is – but the game and its accompanying joys are too inherently simple for excessive communication. Your objective is never in question: Stay together, move through levels quickly and steadily, and shoot anything that doesn’t have a face. Of the four classes, only the Tech is absolutely essential to progression. The other three – Officer, Medic and Special Weapons – each have their own perks and add to a strong team dynamic that, again, is incredibly simple. When someone is hurt, the Medic heals him. When a particularly large enemy approaches, everyone hides behind whoever's carrying the autogun. Everything is presumed, and in an odd way, the cooperative play is strong enough that a large amount of communication between players isn’t necessary.
As of now, Alien Swarm only has one campaign, consisting of eight missions. I’m sure that’ll change with time, especially considering that the SDK is available, but you’d be surprised just how much you’ll get out of what little is here. Much of it plays out in the manner of your typical alien infestation sightseeing tour, taking you through your standard dank sewers, abandoned office buildings and wintry outdoor locales. Thanks to Valve’s typically strong production values, however, the simple firefights and generic environments are elevated to something more. Through the use of cinematic slow motion and an energetic (yet, at the same time, somewhat restrained) score, moments that should feel decidedly ordinary are, well, pretty friggin’ awesome instead. Surviving players will breathe a sigh of relief upon clearing any of the game’s climactic sequences, while dead players will feel sorry they couldn’t get in on it.
What impresses me most about the campaign, however, is how well it’s paced, how Valve consistently bumps up the stakes throughout. The first few levels assault you with just the basic enemy types, and then you're gradually pitted against bigger, more fearsome creatures, such as the arachnid-like aliens with shielded legs, or the wobbly quadrupeds that drop exploding spores when killed. The campaign’s second half nails you with a rather brutal difficulty spike as you’re introduced to the parasites, which latch onto your face, drain your health and will kill you almost instantaneously without the assistance of a Medic. I note that while the game’s last couple of levels are easily its most intense, even the common alien types can absolutely rip you to pieces if your team isn’t working efficiently. All characters come equipped with a melee attack, but good luck using it effectively on more than one enemy at any given time.
Unlike the zombie hordes in L4D, the waves of critters in Alien Swarm aren’t randomly generated, though I only know that from having completed the campaign numerous times and, in many cases, memorized enemy movement patterns. Each level is so thoroughly peppered with crevices and ventilations shafts from which aliens can emerge that it’s impossible to feel at ease when playing the game for the first (or second, or third) time. Alien Swarm’s top-down perspective even works to the player’s advantage since it limits their vision, and seemingly tired level design tropes, like defending your Tech while he’s working a terminal or fighting off swarms of monsters while riding down a very slow-moving elevator, are riveting when the game’s design principles are so unpredictable. Plus, in typical Valve fashion, the sound cues are so excellent that you’ll often know which varieties of alien you’re up against before you even see them.
I’m in danger of overhyping Alien Swarm, and I don’t want to do that. It’s a simple game of simple pleasures, and most players will reach the level cap (sorry, I forgot to mention that there’s a level-up system) within only a few hours. It’s important to remember, though, that the folks at Valve probably could have slapped a price on this game – even a relatively small one – and made a steal, and the fact that they didn’t is one of the reasons why you need to get on Steam and download Alien Swarm right now if you haven’t already. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.
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