Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop

Sometimes great games drop when you least expect it, and in many different shapes. Triple-A productions that should theoretically be held to much higher standards sometimes disappoint incredibly hard, so it’s difficult to truly get excited about games beforehand nowadays. Thankfully, some developers manage to deliver even when they do not have a huge budget at their disposal.

Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop is not exactly a sequel to the insanely popular top-down shooter released a few years ago, but it does bring exactly what the fans have been wanting all these years. Hence, it’s more of a standalone update that adds more enemies, more campaign missions, as well as a variety of new weapons to choose from.

The biggest disappointment in the original Alien Swarm was the fact that there was a single campaign, and it was fairly short. Hence, the whole thing was over very quickly, and there were not many ways to extend the experience. This has been resolved in this one, however, since you can play through multiple campaigns, as well as join multiplayer servers when you are done.

The gameplay is a lot more team-oriented this time around, since there are multiple characters to choose from, each one with their own specialty. Marines are obviously much better at shooting things, but medics and techs come in handy as well to deal with various obstacles. Up to 8 players can work together in the co-op mode, which should be loads of fun with the right crowd.

Not much can be said about the graphics, given the fact that they are basically the same as in the original. However, the level design is above the first part, especially since you get to explore much more interesting environments along the way. You can also tackle a variety of new aliens, which is especially exciting when you consider the fact that they all have different attack tactics and special abilities.

It’s fascinating to see that Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop managed to do so much with the elements provided by the original game, and it’s even more surprising to see that it’s free. Hence, the multiplayer component and the new content should be more than enough to keep you engaged for many hours.