Valve's free game Alien Swarm to introduce new features

[FTM0305]

I read an article today featured in Yahoo! news (Yeah, I know, but its one of the few sites not blocked at work) that went into the details to the new Alien Swarm boost.

For those that haven't played, Alien Swarm is a four player top view alien survivor game. The story is a misfit group of space marines investigating a mining colony. While looking for survivors they discover the alien infestation has grown so rampant that the likelihood of any survivors is unlikely. The mission turns from recon to rescue to all out alien extermination.

The max level is 27 which once reach could be traded in for a medal and restarts you at level 1.

It doesn't take long to memorize Alien spawn points in the half dozen stages, but Valve has put an end to that. The same AI Director which makes every horde attack in Left 4 Dead 2 unique is being introduced to Alien Swarm. This means that the experience of each map will never be the same twice!

On top of these they have added addition medals, a new Brutal difficulty setting (its reported that no one on the Alien Swarm's dev team as completed a mission on it), and a hardcore mode that has friendly fire giving full damage if you are trigger happy enough to open fire on your comrades.

I've shelf Alien Swarm for other games, but with these changes I'm sure to take it up again as soon as I get home!

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

The ai director can definitely surprise you. I tried the first map on brutal with a decent squad and we almost beat it. The hardcore mode + brutal is a pretty crazy combo.

I posted in the other AS thread but there are some decent custom maps available for the game. Surival and regular mission style maps. Fun game.

 

[coloumb]

Free is nearly always fun.

 

[Zenoth]

The A.I. Director is great, it could be used it so many other games out there, not all of them of course, it wouldn't fit in all situations and contexts, but for action-oriented games it certainly helps reduce obvious forms of linearity, of course the best example being Left 4 Dead (and L4D2). The levels are linear, no problems with that, but items that can be picked up and enemies' numbers, types and spawn locations amongst other events are dynamically generated (or randomly so), and that surely makes each and every single games play differently.

If they could make something along those lines for their next Half-Life game it would be epic, in my opinion, imagine an Half-Life game as we've always known, with a solid linear base to tell the story, with scripted scenes and character interactions, but in between those necessary linear moments you'd have the A.I. Director deciding if in the next room you'll face either three Combines equipped with SMGs, or two elite Combines with Pulse Rifles, or one Combine and an automated turret, we'd never know for sure, and that would do miracles for the franchise.

 

[zerocool84]

The max level is 27 which once reach could be traded in for a medal and restarts you at level 1.

It doesn't take long to memorize Alien spawn points in the half dozen stages, but Valve has put an end to that. The same AI Director which makes every horde attack in Left 4 Dead 2 unique is being introduced to Alien Swarm. This means that the experience of each map will never be the same twice!

These are the two reasons why I stopped playing it. It got too boring but I didn't know you could trade it in for a medal and start all over again.