Good to hear this game is no longer DOA. Black Cat's site for the game has sort of gone dark for more than a year and I feared it might have become vaporware. That would've been sad because I really enjoyed the original Alien Swarm for UT2004.

I don't really like the fact that the camera is more isometric than top down like before but since its going to be free, I can't really complain much.

Hehe, time to fire up the smartgun

I can't remember specifics, but there were about 4-5 classes available. Each with their own customized loadout.
Soldier
- Assault Rifles or Shotguns, flamethrowers

Medic
- Had medkits
- Could get akimbo pistols later
- Could get upgraded medkits that can cure infestations (If infected, a marine will die after a short period. No other cure)

Gunner/Support (Dunno the name)
- Could equip the smartgun, that could autotarget enemies in the direction of where the marine was looking. Basically, made for a perfect pointman or rear guard
- Could deploy ammo boxes to resupply team

Engineer
- Could solder/unsolder doors to open up rooms or trap aliens in
- Deploy turrets to defend an area

Others
- Flashlight provides a small auto aim within the light area. Great for assault rifle users


Its a generally VERY unforgiving game since a close range shot from a shotgun pretty much gibs a marine and aliens can carve you up really REALLY fast (No respawns and you have persistent marine deaths between missions ala X-Com). Think Aliens meets Left 4 Dead. Very VERY fun.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Jul 19 2010, 03:18 PM

Nope. No relation whatsoever.

Hehe, just fired it up to see the game for a bit... Very nifty... and there appears to be a ton more weapons than before.

Also, nice to see that they brought the old squad back.

I <3 Faith.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Jul 20 2010, 04:15 PM

Yeap, in the original, many a marine was gibbed as the frontman (usually with shotty) panics, turns around and blows the techie/medic away.

Good times.

Despite the rather hefty friendly fire penalties, its a lot easier to play as a team compared to L4D, since you can clearly define roles and fire zones.

Just finished a PUG campaign just now and...

hmmm

Its not really very much like the Alien Swarm I remember... I mean, sure its very much a remake since almost all the missions are the same as the original (Yes, it even had that lame slowmo on the giant lift)... But its also a very much forgiving game.
The swarm aren't as deadly (Previously if you were infested, you were pretty much dead unless you had a REALLY high level medic, coz he was the only one that could cure it).
Friendly fire is too forgiving.
The swarm in general is too slow (Making the autogun's autoaim helpful but not a necessity like before).
Your marines are ridiculously hardy and I'm quite saddened that the persistent HP across missions didn't get carried over (Basically if your marines got injured in a mission, they'd be a bit crappy for the next until they recover).
Its quite bright (Yes, this is very petty, but considering how the flashlight was an equippable item, you'll understand why I felt it lost something by not having it)

Overall it feels very much like an overhead version of L4D2 with aliens... That's not a bad thing... Just that I was hoping it would've been harder as it kinda loses that "Aliens" feel when it no longer does.

Now I finished the game on Normal and it did get pretty dicey a few times, but on the original, I couldn't even finish on Easy.

I'll still be playing it (Lots of items to use which is great) but I'm still sad that this "remake" (I wouldn't be so mad if it was a straight sequel) isn't as faithful as I remember.

Now, here's to hoping they port the much harder Alien Swarm expansion (Whose name I can't remember at all now) and include a hardcore mode or something.

Its not really that its easy... Its just that its no longer scary.

Like how L4D isn't scary.

That's the whole point. They used to be instakill (Until you managed to get your medic to high enough level... Usually 1-2 missions AFTER you first meet them).

---

Added on July 21, 2010, 1:58 amHmmm, it seems you can both switch on the Director (Yes, that Director) and the engine can create randomly generated levels.

Aiks!

This post has been edited by H@H@: Jul 21 2010, 01:58 AM

Duuuuuuuuuuude, you're way off base here.

This was made by the same mod team that did the original mod for UT2004. They were originally planning to port it to Source many years ago and a lot of ppl thought that the mod team actually went AWOL, when in actual fact they were merely bought up by Valve. The game is essentially the same as the original mod with some tweaks here and there. The levels are roughly the same, the campaign follows the same route and even the basic loadout and marines are straight from it. I don't even see any direct influence by Icefrog at all... Lots of L4D influences, but non of the DotA kind.

This post has been edited by H@H@: Jul 21 2010, 09:18 AM

Or a mining one as well... hehe

The game comes with a deactivated Director and a Random Map Generator. The latter works similar to Torchlights method of randomly generating a map through judicious use of prebuilt tiles. But in this case, you can actually create custom tiles in Hammer and then dump it in for the generator to use.

Anyway, I've seen less content in a 1.5GB demo that only lasts 15 minutes compared to this.

You can assign some team members to carry ammo packs that can be deployed or be on the lookout for ammo scattered throughout the mission area.

The only difference is that you get more equipment and weapons. Everything else is the same.

I think its just a fast reload. Otherwise, it'd be pretty insanely OP for an Autogun with its really large clip.

Nah, I don't think Valve were really being 100% angels in this regard. I believe its mostly situational.

Its probably because, when they acquired Black Cat Games, the game was mostly finished, and then they realized that since its mostly a remake of the original (Which was free), was fairly short and for the most part was kind of in the same competitive field of L4D and other 4 player coop games, they probably wanted to rework the whole game using their standard "reiteration" procedure, but then decided not to waste all that work, so they went up to the Black Cat ppl and said "Hey, let's just mold this to fit our high standards and release it as a free game while you guys start on something completely new!".

Modders? They were actually planning to make a feature release of Alien Swarm: Source. I was looking forward to it a lot and then they went silent for almost 2 years (Even their forum was a deadzone... It was like the devs literally died or something).

I assumed it would be a whole new game. But since its basically just a remake of the original, I suppose I would never have bought it if they charged anything more than USD 10.

Therefore, I assume that Valve are making this free because it wouldn't work so much if they charged money for it and since all the work was already done, might as well just release it for free.

Hehe, just got an announcement that e-club's got 5 servers up for this. Sweet

That's why I said they can't sell it as it has exactly the same number of missions as the original mod. Nothing more, nothing less.

Its a lvl 15+ unlockable (Can't remember specifically).

The reason it appears sometimes is because some maps NEED the flamethrower as that's the only thing that can take out biomass.

Sorry dude, working now

Anyway, the "openserverbrowser" method works like in L4D. You can use that to look for low ping games.

That being said, you have to find games which are in the lobby or you'll just be stuck spectating.

Joine the e-club Steam group and it'll appear in-game under Steam Group Servers.