The missions themselves are all pretty straightforward - get from point A to point B, survive along the way and complete an objective or two - usually involving hacking. Leveling up unlocks all those items that become so critical to mission load outs. And by “go smooth” I mean not die in the first 30 seconds.Īs you play through the game you’ll earn experience points which scale based on difficulty, they in turn are then used to level up your overall profile. Along with all of this, players will need to decide if they want to carry extra ammo crates to support their team, a hand welder to seal doors shut from oncoming aliens, and dozens of other tools and weapons that make their mission hopefully go smooth. Laying down fire, setting up turrets, providing tactical bonuses to the team all become the momentum of the mission. The leader class and the heavy gunner are your offensive power. Technicians are required as well, their skills at hacking panels and downloading mission data become essential to completing missions. Medics become the glue that holds the squad together, able to dish out health in a glowing area within the levels - in a limited capacity. Instead players are required to pick classes of characters before a mission, choose a weapon load out carefully, and communicate with their team to decide just how they are going to survive the upcoming onslaught. This isn’t just a simple top down shooter where every player has a “gun” and you can hold the fire button infinitely. One thing that will surprise most people with Alien Swarm is the tactical and cooperative depth the game requires. Regardless of what Valve’s plans are for Alien Swarm, the game is here, and it won’t cost you a penny. What trickery was Valve trying to pull here? Surely they have other motives?

A free game is a free game, but the promise of a quality product with full development tools included from a major publisher is almost unheard of. When Valve suddenly and surprisingly announced that it would be launching a four player co-op top down shooter based on an Unreal Tournament mod of the same name, Alien Swarm, for free - most people were pretty excited.

Alien swarm steam download free