Valve are to release a Source Engine port of the Unreal Tournament 2004 mod Alien Swarm, via Steam, absolutely free.
Alien Swarm started life as a Total Conversion for Unreal Tournament 2004 – turning that First-person Shooter into a top-down squad based tactical game. The mod proved popular and remained a fan favourite even as UT 2004 faded from view.
Valve hired the coders responsible for the mod – they called themselves Black Cat Games at the time – and set them to work on Left 4 Dead. Now Left 4 Dead and its sequel are out of the door, the team had a bit of free time and Valve has let them create a proper Source Engine version of their mod.
Brilliantly, Alien Swarm will be available for free from today – you just need to fire up Steam on a Windows PC and download it. Up to four players can play in co-op to take out hordes of alien beasties in scenarios not unlike a certain sci-fi movie (and with more than a nod towards Left 4 Dead). The game is class based and despite being a freebie comes stuffed with unlockables and achievements.
Out Now | £Free | Valve Software (via CVG)
