Alien Swarm is built on the Source Engine and offers a menu interface is very similar to that of Left4Dead 2. It is inspired by the Alien Swarm mod for the Unreal Tournament 2004 and was created by the mod’s developers after they were hired by Valve.

You are given a choice of 4 distinct classes, with up to two characters for each class:

1. Officer
2. Tech
3. Special Weapons
4. Medic

The characters are marine members of the IAF (Interstellar Armed Forces), with each specializing in using different weapons; Some items are restricted to a single class, such as medic weapons, but most weapons can be used by all classes.

For the sake of forcing people to create a unique team, the game requires you to have at least one technician to hack access panels so you can progress through the levels, while some levels even require a certain type of weapon present, as it is mandatory to complete the objective. Because even the medic can use weapons like rifles and dual pistols there isn’t really any problem of the healer type feeling forced to only sit behind and heal everyone while they get to kill tens of aliens through each level.

The game requires quite a bit of teamwork on the last few levels of the campaign, as you end up having to fight multiple types of aliens at the same time, each with various weak spots. On easy and normal difficulty, the margin for error is pretty big, and it’s very easy to play with new players while they learn the ropes, while on higher levels you need to be more careful and you need to correctly choose your weapons as well as class line-up.

Some pretty cool elements I’ve noticed were the extinguishers which were made mostly to show off how you can interact with the environment and give map/mod developers a starting point for what they might be able to do. The mini games you play as a technician while hacking are a nice touch, as well as the Doom-style campaign progression map at the end of a level.

The game is great fun, both with friends as well as strangers; Because there isn’t much to be competitive about, there are very few “rage quits” and you can easily end up playing the whole campaign with the same people you started it. For those that don’t have online access easily available the game also includes an offline-mode.

I’d have to say that the only real drawback the game has is the fact that it only ships out with one campaign consisting of 7 maps. Because the game is free, they’ve fortunately provided an SDK(Software Development Kit) so that the community can create additional content which they might patch in at a later date, though I feel as though they could have looked at charging for additional campaigns, at a reasonable price. One other thing is that the game can be quite repetitive when it comes to alien spawns, and after playing a few times you can easily tell where and how many will spawn.

I’m going to give it an 8/10 for great graphics, good game-play and a somewhat unique concept. The game is definitely worth the 2 or so gigabytes it wastes to download.

In preparation for the launch of the game on Tuesday, July 27, the beta servers will be brought offline by Monday, July 19. At that time, all beta accounts and character information will be reset and the ability to create forum posts and comments on the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty website (http://beta-us.battle.net/sc2/en/) will be unavailable until launch. In the meantime, we still encourage everyone to stay tuned to the website for exciting news and updates regarding the upcoming release.

• Adds support for GeForce GTX 460.
• Adds support for NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology. Learn more about this technology including the hardware and software requirements here.
• Adds additional performance increases for GeForce GTX 400 Series GPUs in several PC games (these improvements are in addition to the previously reported Release 256 improvements). The following are examples of some of the most significant improvements measured with GeForce GTX 480. Results will vary depending on your GPU and system configuration:
• Up to 11% in Aliens vs. Predator (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
• Up to 7% in Crysis: Warhead (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF – Gamer)
• Up to 4% in H.A.W.X (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF – Very High)
• Up to 10% in Just Cause 2 (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF – Concrete Jungle)
• Up to 6% in Metro 2033 (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
• Up to 7% in Metro 2033 (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF – Tessellation on)
• Up to 10% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
• Up to 12% in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
• Up to 4% in World in Conflict (SLI – 1920×1200 4xAA/16xAF)
• [...]

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