FPS General

Good news for anyone who hasn't played Natural Selection 2, yet. Unknown Worlds, the studio behind the game, is making the game free to play in its entirety all weekend long, in honor of PAX East 2013.

This is a game that quite a few FPS General staffers have been completely in love with. So much so that James actually dedicated an entire piece to the game and how he should have picked it up earlier in his life. This free weekend is a great chance to see the latest update in action. The "Gorgeous" update brings a ton of upgrades to the game both in visual changes and gameplay additions. 

The best part is, if you like Natural Selection 2 you can pick it up this weekend for 50% off. That is $12.49 for the full game, more than a bargain for a game that is currently sitting at 80 out of 100 on Metacritic.

Check it out on Steam today to play it while it's free.

Somewhere in the dark recesses of my brain I knew that there was a “thing” called “Natural Selection”, but if you had asked me a month ago to elaborate I probably would have told you it was a fantasy novel or a SyFy original movie. So when the sequel Natural Selection 2 released on steam...I’ll be honest, it wasn't at the top of or even on my “list of things”.

But as the weeks following the inconsequential launch of the game breezed by, I was approached by co-workers and friends who attempted to convince me that the game demanded my immediate attention. I had seen the ads on steam and even clicked the game’s page once or twice but it did nothing for me, the name, the screenshots and even the videos screamed mediocrity.

But on one lonely Tuesday evening I decided that I was financially secure enough to make the twenty-four dollar investment and thus purchased the game.

After playing my first match and wrapping my head around the general concept I was immediately pissed at myself for not purchasing the title earlier. The game does so many things brilliantly; generates a steady supply emergent gameplay, creates tense atmospheres and then shatters them with “in your face” action, but most impressive of all it successfully blends the RTS and FPS genres. And not in some bullshit Command & Conquer: Renegade kind of way, this is legitimate, multiplayer-only, life sized RTSFPS action.

The game also borrows heavily from the 1986 film “Aliens”, but this isn’t as much of a problem as it is a total bonus.

A normal match consists of two teams of about ten or so players building resource extractors and other structures at various nodes around the map, I should also mention that one team plays as space marines while the other plays as... aliens. I bet you saw that coming, but what you won’t see coming are the enemies (if you’re a marine anyway). You feel a real sense of vulnerability at the start of a match, but as more resources and kills are acquired you become increasingly more powerful until you finally achieve one-ness with the universe and purchase the dual minigun wielding mech-suite. At which point your vulnerability is all but erased by your new identity as a bullet spewing demi-god.

Anyway the long and the short of it is that Natural Selection 2 is a total riot, and is worth much more than the twenty-four dollar price tag that I paid for it. Which is why I logged back into steam to upgrade to the digital deluxe edition, only to find that no such option existed. This depressed me to no end…and not just because I wanted the deluxe marine skin.

I honestly think the developers deserve more of my money, in an age where the mindless reiteration of modern military games seem to be dominating the FPS market it’s refreshing to see such innovation from a small development team like Unknown Worlds Entertainment.

Natural Selection 2 has only been available for one week, but already fans are checking in from every corner of the globe to experience what the game has to offer.

This is no ordinary first-person shooter, but rather a completely refreshing blend of real-time strategy mechanics and classic FPS gameplay. In Natural Selection 2, one player is designated as Commander of each team. This player experiences a top-down view of the real-time battle on the ground. Their job is to collect resources, research upgrades and build structures to lead their team to victory. Players on the ground, however, experience classic first-person shooter mechanics and are able to follow out orders assigned to them by their Commander.

So, what does one week worth of Steam sales and gameplay look like? Check out the infographic above to see some in-depth information from the first week of Natural Selection 2 activity. Make sure you click the image to view the full size infographic.

Check out Natural Selection 2 at http://store.steampowered.com/app/4920/!

Natural Selection 2, the sequel to Half-Life mod Natural Selection, finally launched last week, after a development period of at least 6 years. The game looks and feels great, and it is rapidly gaining steam on...Steam.

As more and more players discover the game, you're going to want to get yourself prepared to kick some serious ass. To help you do that, we're going to be putting together a series of visual guides surrounding Natural Selection 2.

First up is our guide on playing as the Skulk, when spawning as Kharaa. The Skulk is the simplest of Kharaa units, and as Small Kiwi points out in the video above, it resembles some sort of cross-breed between a dog and a rat.

Not something you'd want as a pet, at any rate.

The Skulk is very fast and has a couple very basic attacks. By default, your primary attack is going to be a bite. While it isn't devastatingly powerful, the Skulk is capable of killing an average marine with a few well placed bites. Their speed and agility are probably their best assets, as they enable the Skulk to travel up walls and flank their targets.

As your Commander unlocks further evolutions, the Skulk will be able to leap by pressing the right mouse button. This doesn't do any damage, but it will certainly help make you a very difficult target to hit. This does exhaust your stamina pretty quickly, so use it sparingly.

The Skulk is a formidable force on the battlefield and when led by a worthy Commander, your team will benefit from a well-versed Kharaa player.

For more on Natural Selection 2, visit FPS General on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/fpsgeneral.