Alien Swarm

[Chaos]

I'm not going to jump on the rah rah rah Seifer bandwagon, but I will say that thus far I haven't been disappointed. It seems like a very fun game to play with a bunch of screaming friends, would be cool if we could get a game going with a bunch of stick online members.

Well, Steam finally wasn't "too busy" to let me download it, so I should be able to join in with ya soon.

Also, don't mind Seifer, clearly he has a stick in his pooper.

[Lingus]

Still haven't been able to get on this game. I have no time for games anymore... But it sounds great. Can't wait to play it.

[Seifer]

I have watched the videos. My issues with left for dead primarily revolve around being able to run at super speed, kill things with apparent ease, and general, all around lack on actual skill to play. Whereas say, Call of Duty requires you to truly think through what you are doing, play slowly, take cautioned steps, Left for dead rewards you for running ahead, at the super speed, and just holding the trigger and going nuts. Not to mention it seems to take a thousand and one bullets to die, and even then, you have your allies to back you up. Yet all the enemies take a bullet or two and they are down. Since I haven't played L4D in over a year, and even then barely, I really can't adequately describe why I dislike the game. None the less, this looks to feel the same. Their is utter chaos around you. It's all about moving around as quick as you can, holding down the trigger non stop and hoping like hell one of the thousand things around you doesn't rip you a new one.

Not to mention I don't have steam, thus it's not free.

[Scotty]

Steam is free, thus this is free.

It's a different style of game. Sure, I can appreciate the strategy behind not catching lead in your left ass cheek, being careful, and making well aimed shots, none of which L4D or this game is (or at least appears to be, haven't played it yet).  It's a whole different game, some like it, some don't.  I guess it can be summed up as a personal preference, nothing more.

[Lingus]

Not to mention I don't have steam, thus it's not free.

Steam is free, thus this is free.

Valve is awesome, thus bow to them. They do great things for the gaming community just because. Give them some credit for that.

But yea, you can download steam on your computer and just use it for the community features. You don't have to have a single game through the service. Not to mention there's tons of free content on it such as demos and what not.

Any case, sounds like your argument against L4D is the "it's not real enough for me" argument. In my opinion, that doesn't stand up. Games are meant to be fun. Given, if fun for you is strategy and timing and skill, etc... then obviously you will like more realistic games. But there's great fun to be had in running about shooting up stuff. But it's not like you can just go crazy... you don't have god mode or anything. There's friendly fire (from what I recall) and I believe you have to stick with your teammates to a certain extent (in L4D at least, not sure about Alien Swarm) so you can't just go running off. There's an element of team work in the coop mode. There is definitely skill involved which you can't deny if you've played the game at all. Certainly not to the level of a CoD game, but in my personal opinion I don't have as much fun when there's that much skill needed to last for longer than a minute in a match.

So in other words, like Scotty said... it's all preferrence. But still, you can't knock the game. It's freakin free. Like the old saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." This is a perfect example. If someone gives you something, take it for what it is.

[EpicPhailure]

Not to mention I don't have steam, thus it's not free.

Steam is free, thus this is free.

Valve is awesome, thus bow to them. They do great things for the gaming community just because. Give them some credit for that.

But yea, you can download steam on your computer and just use it for the community features. You don't have to have a single game through the service. Not to mention there's tons of free content on it such as demos and what not.

Any case, sounds like your argument against L4D is the "it's not real enough for me" argument. In my opinion, that doesn't stand up. Games are meant to be fun. Given, if fun for you is strategy and timing and skill, etc... then obviously you will like more realistic games. But there's great fun to be had in running about shooting up stuff. But it's not like you can just go crazy... you don't have god mode or anything. There's friendly fire (from what I recall) and I believe you have to stick with your teammates to a certain extent (in L4D at least, not sure about Alien Swarm) so you can't just go running off. There's an element of team work in the coop mode. There is definitely skill involved which you can't deny if you've played the game at all. Certainly not to the level of a CoD game, but in my personal opinion I don't have as much fun when there's that much skill needed to last for longer than a minute in a match.

So in other words, like Scotty said... it's all preferrence. But still, you can't knock the game. It's freakin free. Like the old saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." This is a perfect example. If someone gives you something, take it for what it is.

In addition, I believe the atmosphere for L4D was to be fighting billions and billions of zombies, yet each zombie doesn't take 50 magazines to kill. It was supposed to give you the actual sense of being a survivor and surviving for as long as you can until you find help.

The same goes for Alien Swarm. The name is all you need to think "Okay, so in this game I'll be fighting off SWARMS of aliens and trying to take down as much as I can while trying not to get killed by them".

[Torch]

I have watched the videos. My issues with left for dead primarily revolve around being able to run at super speed, kill things with apparent ease, and general, all around lack on actual skill to play. Whereas say, Call of Duty requires you to truly think through what you are doing, play slowly, take cautioned steps, Left for dead rewards you for running ahead, at the super speed, and just holding the trigger and going nuts. Not to mention it seems to take a thousand and one bullets to die, and even then, you have your allies to back you up. Yet all the enemies take a bullet or two and they are down. Since I haven't played L4D in over a year, and even then barely, I really can't adequately describe why I dislike the game. None the less, this looks to feel the same. Their is utter chaos around you. It's all about moving around as quick as you can, holding down the trigger non stop and hoping like hell one of the thousand things around you doesn't rip you a new one.

Not to mention I don't have steam, thus it's not free.

All Call of Duty requires you to do is go to the very back of the map, look up the in the sky with a grenade launcher, one-man-army, and danger close, and just randomly fire off your infinite grenade launcher ammo. Hell, why not put down some of your infinite claymores just in case? Just be sure you don't make the mistake of actually moving, or you'll be at the mercy of teleporting knifers, assault rifles that have 0 recoil and kill in 2 bullets, and best of all, other people taking advantage of the infinity ward actually lets you refill your grenade launchers.

Yep, call of duty sure does require a lot of skill and strategy. >.>

[Cactuscat222]

To me, it involves alot more strategy, and I haven't played a single match yet where we just blindly ran to the end. I was playing with a group last night, and we had to do a lot of planning because we got stuck on one level - we tried bringing 2 medics instead of one, changing up and using freezing explosives so we could stop the big guys, try flamers to bring down the small ones - you can even draw on the map to plan your moves, just like John Madden. The game does have a fast pace, but you also find yourself having to have stand offs just about everywhere. Its just like the movies having to defend against the swarm as your tech guy is desperately trying to hack the system. There is lots of communication that needs to occur in order for a team to be successful, and I love it. 

[ARTgames]

@Seifer
I don't think you should just judge a book by its cover. Check it out. You got nothing to loose. :D Its free and Steam is free also. But if you don't like top down shooters then yeah its not for you. :/

[Lingus]

you can even draw on the map to plan your moves, just like John Madden

That sounds like an awesome feature!

[Cactuscat222]

you can even draw on the map to plan your moves, just like John Madden

That sounds like an awesome feature!

Its nothing fancy, but during the game you can bring up the map and draw in yellow. That then also shows up on your mini map, so you can follow the drawing you made.

[ARTgames]

Lets say other things than plains get drawn on that map... >_<

[Lingus]

you can even draw on the map to plan your moves, just like John Madden

That sounds like an awesome feature!

Its nothing fancy, but during the game you can bring up the map and draw in yellow. That then also shows up on your mini map, so you can follow the drawing you made.

Oh ok. So your teammates don't see it? I thought it would be an interesting way of communicating with your team.

[Titan]

you can even draw on the map to plan your moves, just like John Madden

That sounds like an awesome feature!

Its nothing fancy, but during the game you can bring up the map and draw in yellow. That then also shows up on your mini map, so you can follow the drawing you made.

Oh ok. So your teammates don't see it? I thought it would be an interesting way of communicating with your team.

I'm pretty sure you can see it.
I had a game where a teammate drew a penis on the map.

[Chaos]

you can even draw on the map to plan your moves, just like John Madden

That sounds like an awesome feature!

Its nothing fancy, but during the game you can bring up the map and draw in yellow. That then also shows up on your mini map, so you can follow the drawing you made.

Oh ok. So your teammates don't see it? I thought it would be an interesting way of communicating with your team.

I'm pretty sure you can see it.
I had a game where a teammate drew a penis on the map.

And THAT is why I usually only play multiplayer games with people I know.