Alien Swarm: Infested

From a preview at http://pc.ign.com/articles/608/608624p1.html?fromint=1 :

<DIV class=quote>
<DIV class=quotetitle>? quote:</DIV>
<DIV class=quotetext>(It) features "a unique blend of co-op play and squad level tactics all in an overhead view." Players will take on the mantle of a commander in the Interstellar Armed Forces, leading their squads through a variety of missions, battling the swarm infestation throughout the colonized galaxy.</DIV></DIV>

Their official website is at http://www.blackcatgames.com/swarm and comes with some screenshots; however despite the lovely screenshots it reminds me of something else, and isn't the first game to have overhead-squad management against aliens (the marines even look like Games Workshop's!). Apparently there's a free version that us HL2 owners will be able to download, so we'll have to wait and see what this turns out like.

I have had this game for sometime now.. Its really cool.

EDIT: I also have every game you listed in the other links too.. I have a yahoo group just for everything XENO ( Alien - Buggy ) like that.

However, many of the screenshots suggest that it's going to be more
like a RPG/strategy game than a shooter. I typically don't care
for that types of gaming, as I stick strictly to FPS's. I am in
it for the immersion experience. Strategy games just feel like I
am playing a board game somehow.

That's my personal bias, as I know there are plenty of strategy games
that do fairly well in the market. So they must have their fans
too.

One game I cannot stand is Myst, or the sequel Riven. It's
beautiful allright, but I only get to see one halting screenshot at a
time. And the puzzles are impossible--too slow for my taste.

Looks kinda cool to me, but for some reason I can imagine myself
preferring it on a console. No idea why, since strategy games are
generally far easier to play on the PC, but it gets me thinking of Full
Spectrum Warrior more than a typical strategy game, as it looks to
focus on small squads. It also reminds me quite pleasantly of Alien
Breed, a series of old top down shooters on the Amiga :smile:

I like FSW :biggrin:

Yes, it looks exactly like NS, but apparently it's an overhead squad management thing only, not first person.

Yeah, it's really not a good comparison at all, save for the marines vs. aliens thing. You're controlling an AI squad much like the Full Spectrum Warrior comparison Reno mentioned. It's pretty cool, actually.

It's already available for UT2K4 and was one of the top places in the Make Something Unreal contest. Why they're switching engines, I don't know, as I imagine it's hamstringing their content and programming, but meh. Will be interesting to see how it ends up.

Did you look at any of the other games they are making, like the Thievery one where they took the idea behind Thief and made it a Multi-Player game?

The Other one they have, has a nice make your own map kit with some really nice textures that can be ported over to Hammer for Steam games.

The game is a FPS ( More 3rd person ) as well as a Tacticle game. And its quite a challenge to boot. And you get a real in the middle of the sheet feel.