Natural Selection 2 [PC]

Natural Selection 2 is an FPS with a twist, you have your standard shooting but there is also a commander. One commander per team is playing an RTS instead of an FPS and this makes for quite an interesting game. It was originally a mod for Half-Life but has become a stand alone game with it's own engine no less.

The game consists of two sides, the aliens (also called Kharaa) and the marines and they are quite different to each other. The marine players have to build the buildings that the commander creates, whilst the aliens can help build a building faster it is unnecessary. Extra abilities, weapons, classes etc. will need to be researched by the commander before you can use them. Aliens evolve into completely different lifeforms and can have a choice of what upgrades they take as these lifeforms. The basic alien unit is a dog like creature that can climb up walls and is primarily a melee unit. In addition to this you have a support class, a flying alien, a stealthy (and very deadly) one and the massive Onos which is a powerful meat shield.

The marines handle upgrading differently. Firstly there are universal upgrades that apply to you no matter what, which go straight to your weapons and armour. Then you get to choose what weapons and gear you take from an armoury or prototype lab. The armoury gives you access to the shotgun, grenade launcher and flamethrower as well as the welder (which lets you repair structures and your teammates armour) and mines (which blow up stuff). The prototype lab gives you access to jetpacks and the powerful Exosuit. The Exosuit is a robotic suit of armour that comes equipped with a minigun and can be upgraded to wield two miniguns making it hugely powerful.

Whilst balance is a contentious issue and the developers are constantly tweaking it in general I felt the game was quite balanced and either side could win it despite the large differences between them. Team work is something that is very much required and a good commander makes a huge difference too. Not only does a good commander build the structures you need in the correct order but they'll also tell you where to go and who needs help. Another issue the developers have just addressed is that of getting new players up to speed. They have included tutorial videos that play whilst you are waiting to respawn  that tell you tips and tricks. Accessibility was something the game was criticised about by a lot of reviewers but it has become much less of an issue now.

It's frustrating that the game needs to pre-load shaders and precache all the freaking time but once you are in a match it runs quite smoothly. In fact the engine appears to me to have become a little more streamlined enabling me to turn up the graphics settings. I found the world to be quite detailed, beautiful even and extremely atmospheric. What really adds to this though is the sound. I recommend playing with headphones on to truly be sucked into the world and you will need to be anyway. When playing as the marines you can hear the aliens crawling around in the vents or when you are an alien you might lay in wait, listening for the footsteps of the marines. At times this really had me on the edge of my seat, I could hear the aliens crawling all around me, then suddenly they drop from the roof and attack me! I think this truly is the successor to the Aliens Vs. Predator franchise and whilst those games are floundering, this is the place to be.

Whilst FPS fans are going to love this game, due to the commander and building aspects, you don't have to be a straight up FPS fan to enjoy it too. From shooting/biting, healing, building and just being a nuisance there are plenty of things to do in this game. The standard game can get a little repetitive though after you've played for some hours but there are some mods out and others on the way that will help relieve this a little. Plus the game is only $25 USD which for a title of this quality is pretty cheap 8.5/10.

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