Fear and Loathing in Space: Naural Selection 2 Review

by Dayv

I am a huge supporter of modders (Mod Spotlights coming soon), who invest considerable time to improve and diversifying the games we already love, and generally without any chance of making money from their work. So it's always awesome when a mod does well enough that the modder can turn Indie dev and create an independent title from it. The original Natural Selection was a mod for Half-Life, pitting space marines against the Kharaa, your typical consume-everything-in-sight-and-use-it's-DNA space alien. It's creator, Charlie Cleveland, through his Indie company UnknownWorlds Entertainment, created Natural Selection 2 independently.

In space

NS2 is a team-based battle for control of the map, but unlike a lot of other team-based FPSs, Natural Selection is much less linear, incorporating RTS mechanics and allowing for territory to be taken and lost all over the map at any time, heavily encouraging strategy and co-operation. This concept is stressed even more by the team commanders, a player that views the battle from above and, optimally, coordinates their team's actions. The commander is also in charge of building vital structures and selecting upgrades, whether they be increased armor and firepower (marines) or evolving camouflage and thicker skin (aliens).

Shooting at the darkness

I'm not really a graphics junky, so I'm not sure how all the visuals of Natural Selection 2 stack up against other games, but one thing NS2 seemed to do really well was atmosphere. Depending on who controls a zone, the look of the area changes. Marine control is largely based on whether a room has power, so areas they control are well lit and offer little space to hide (guerrilla tactics being a mainstay of the Kharaa). Alien-infested areas are dark, not to mention generally coated in a layer of fleshy slime. Wandering into them as a marine can feel a bit like you're walking into the gullet of some massive creature, so it's good preparation for when you are eaten by something which is likely to occur any minute.

The light/dark feel is enhanced even more by the abilities of each team. Marines have flashlights to help them in dark areas, but their little light circles are really nothing compared to alien dark-vision. 

Power node never saw me coming

Aliens also have limited attack range, usually needing to get close to bite or claw their victims, while marines have all the firepower one would expect. This means alien tactics revolve around ambushing or swarming, while marines are happier with a little distance. Range is of little value when your enemy can sneak up to you in the dark, but likewise aliens need to be pretty crafty in brighter areas or the marines will gun them down before they can crawl out of the vents.

The differences between teams is far more than moody lighting, though. Aliens are highly mobile, with their basic 'class', the Skulk, able to climb walls and ceilings and scurry through vents. The Skulk can also be evolved anywhere or anytime, activating new upgrades or even changing into four other species, such as the support-y Gorge to the flying Lerk. Marines on the other hand have to be at the appropriate building to upgrade their equipment, which are a little more straightforward: shotguns, jetpacks, flamethrowers, massive gatling-gun-armed mechsuits.

I feel safe here.

Lost in space

The biggest problem I had playing Natural Selection 2 was, well, just getting started. It's a problem that exists with any team-based multiplayer game, being a noob is kind of rough. Learning the lingo and what's expected of you or having your every move seen by a bunch of strangers as you attack aliens with a blow-torch.

No that's not a pistol...or even a weapon technically

But learning the basics of NS2 can be a pretty daunting task and the main reason I think is just the complexity of the game. When I first played Team Fortress 2, now a favorite of mine, I had that old noobish feeling as well, but even if you can't hit a Heavy at 3 feet with a scattergun your goals are always pretty obvious: stand on the big glowing point (King of the Hill), stand on some points (Control Points), stand near a giant bomb-cart (Payload), or steal a briefcase (CTF). Winning may take a deal of strategy, but the basics are pretty...basic. Natural Selection, however, is not your standard team shooter, and it's goals are much less clear and linear, not to mention all the upgrades and abilities both teams have available.

While the game does come with a Training menu, it's only offers a free-roam mode, (which allows you the chance to walk around and look at things), and several tutorial videos, but just the first introductory video is 7 minutes long and that barely got me past how to bite things. I'm not sure about you but when I start up a game I really don't have the patience to watch 2 hours of video of other people playing it. I've been playing for a couple weeks now and I'm still not sure what all the buildings my commander is creating do, even after spending a night roaming the wiki.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing though is just figuring out the layout of each map. There is not a single map that I feel entirely comfortable on, and I finally just rebound my map key to Q so I could check it at every intersection. While I understand the large maps are part of the feel of the game, allowing for give-and-take of territory and that feeling of being behind enemy lines (pissing yourself in the dark), it hampers my excitement a bit when my commander yells for everyone to get to Core and I then have to spend 30 seconds just finding it on the map, and then another minute figuring out how to get there.

'Back to Generator'?...but I just...screw it, I'll just relog

During one game our commander, having been asked several times for assistance in Exchange, got so flustered that he just started screaming, “There is no goddamn Exchange! Guys, I have looked all over this map and I do not see 'Exchange'!” (admittedly he wasn't the best commander).

While I respect NS2 for trying with the tutorial videos, I'm just a hard believer that you shouldn't need to sit through an hour of videos or hit up the wiki to figure a game out. And my god, the maps!

Work together or die alone (repeatedly)

Natural Selection 2 is a complicated game, though, and wiki or no, I understand a complicated game takes longer to learn (though an in-game manual would be nice). Perhaps it's a more limited playerbase, or maybe it's the desperate need for co-operation (versus the lingering possibility of it in TF2) if you want any hope of success, but the NS2 community didn't seem quite as hard to connect with as I've experienced elsewhere. 'Rookies', as the game is nice enough to call us, have their names highlighted green in the player list, and while I was at first wary that this would draw unwanted attention, it actually seemed to encourage other players to help me when they saw I was wandering off in the wrong direction or trying to take down an alien gorilla-rhino (apparently called “Onos”) with a pistol.

Here's two in our base

And honestly, I found that a lot of the details weren't overly necessary to enjoy the game (though maybe if you want to be good at it), so long as you had a decent commander willing to point you in the right directions (and easy access to the map key). The game stresses teamwork like few others I've played and it's a great experience if your team is ready to listen and work together, and if you're cynical like me it's still kinda fun. While I recommend giving it a few days, or weeks, before jumping into the commander's seat/pod, Natural Selection 2 is a great change of pace from other, more 'simple' shooters, and if you're willing to take the time to figure it all out, and don't mind looking like a noob as you frantically spray bullets into the darkness, Natural Selection 2 is a hell of a good time.

Originality: 2/5

FPS/RTS is not exactly a new concept, even if it's a pretty polished version of it. Likewise the space marines and aliens are both pretty cookie-cutter ideas, with the Kharaa's designs very reminiscent of Starcraft or Aliens. The overall concept is not a new one.

Atmosphere: 5/5

It's the feel of NS2 that really makes the game. Running along the floors and through vents at high speed as a Skulk, or whipping your flashlight around at the first sound of footsteps. It was all very exciting, but in different ways depending on what team you were on.

Potential to Shit Your Pants in Space: 3/5

It's not exactly Dead Space, but NS2 does manage to keep you on your toes, and if you're playing a good group of opponents, wide-eyed and trigger happy.

Fun: 4/5
If you have some patience and are willing to learn the ropes, NS2 can really be a step up from other team shooters.  Winning (or even losing) a long drawn-out battle against a competent foe can be pretty satisfying, and quite a complicated territorial dance.

Overall: 4/5