Key Information
Alien Swarm is being released for free by Valve.

Is a tactical, 4 player co-op action game with a top-down perspective.

Complete game code and mod tools available to the community.

The SDK is separate from that of other Source games.
Features 4 unique classes.

Over 40 weapons and equipment with many configurations.

8 unique characters.

Has Easy, Normal, Hard, and Insane difficulties.

Features only Campaign Mode and Offline Practice Mode.

Uses L4D2 style add-on system for custom campaigns.

Much less randomization than L4D so players can observe, learn, and overcome challenges.

Uses a modified Source engine between the L4D2 and Portal 2 iterations.

Supports dedicated and listen servers.

Contains Valve game easter eggs.

64 achievements

Does not currently support Mac or controllers.




Game Overview
Alien Swarm is a game and Source SDK release from a group of talented designers at Valve who were hired from the Mod community.

Available free of charge, the game thrusts players into an epic bug hunt featuring a unique blend of co-op play and squad-level tactics. With your friends, form a squad of four distinct IAF Marine classes. Plan your attack using an unlockable arsenal of weapons with countless loadout configurations against a wide variety of aliens. Blaze your way through an overrun, off-world colony, eradicating the alien infestation in environments ranging from the icy planet's surface, to a subterranean lava-flooded mining facility.

Along with the game get the complete code base for Alien Swarm that features updates to the Source engine as well as the SDK. Alien Swarm adds 3rd person camera, depth of field, improved dynamic shadows and a wide variety of gameplay additions to the Source engine.



Classes and Characters

Technical Specialist
Capable of hacking into computers and supporting the party with ammo they fill a vital role in your group. On some maps if your Tech dies you will automatically get a game over due to being unable to finish the map so it's a good idea to keep them safe.

Officer

Officers are great for taking charge of the party and dealing out some serious damage. They have a valuable leadership ability that ups the effectiveness of the whole party.


Special Weapons
These guys are great at dishing it out, reloading fast, and using autoguns. They're pretty much made to just kill like crazy.


Campaigns
The game comes with one campaign, Jacob's Rest, containing seven maps for players to battle their way through, we'll see what we get in the future through updates and community content. Here is a list of maps and their objectives.



System Requirements
OS: Windows® 7 / Vista / Vista64 / XP
Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz
Memory: 1 GB for XP / 2GB for Vista
Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible video card with 128 MB, Shader model 2.0. ATI X800, NVidia 6600 or better
Hard Drive: At least 2.5 GB of free space
Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card