Alien Resurrection

Recently I had a go at Alien Swarm.

Anyone heard of this? It's one of those free games that have crept into Steam. I went into it with three friends as we were all after something new to play. And why, who can say no to free stuff?

Upon playing Alien Swarm, we were faced with four character options: Officer, Special Weapons, Medic and a Tech. Predictably, both Special Weapon characters were pounced on quick leaving a Tech and a Medic included as a matter of necessity. I can understand, in retrospect, that having one of each character is key to success but two Special Weapons? It's possible that it can be done but somehow I'm not sure that's what the designers of this game had in mind.

In researching this game it becomes apparent that it's a remake of the Alien Swarm mod from Unreal Tournament 2004. That means little to me as I've never played any games in the Unreal franchise. So, I approached this game as someone unaware of it's origins. After all, it may yield a different perspective, no?
So what we have here is a scenario taken from the movie Aliens: A group of human marines are going into enemy territory where the enemy in question is a swarm of ugly, alien nasties that outnumber the marines several times over. It is then up to the Marines to get through a series of missions, achieving a set task and, hopefully, surviving to the end.
In playing Alien Swarm, I found there are moments where the action is intense, being attacked from all sides. There are equally nerve-racking moments when my guy (the Tech) is trying fanatically to get into a computer system while the aliens are all around me. There's the despair when one of your team mates bites the dust (especially when you need them to complete the mission). There's the necessity of sharing ammo and health and working together to stay upright. And there's always the last minute dash to safety in order to seal the success of the mission.

So really, Alien Swarm does all the things that we expect from Aliens. It's the movie adaptation that never was. And perosnally,, is all the better for it.
Play it again? You bet!

Just a Girl

A story:

I was ten years old. I was attending a super-session at my local arcade parlor (Time Zone) where people could have unlimited credits on any game for a limited time period. I decided I wanted to play the Terminator 2 arcade game so I headed for the machine and I teamed up with someone else. That someone else was a female: she looked several years older than me (mid-to late teens) but we both had a go at blowing away the T-800 Endoskeletons.
Thing is, I didn't discriminate, I didn't make fun of her because she was a girl, and i didn't it think it unusual for a girl to play games. No, I was just glad that she could blow away the Endoskeletons with ease.

I've heard stories in the present of all women are discriminated against because they show an interest in a field that is, traditionally, a male-dominated field. But I have never done such a thing. i could've at the young age of ten but I didn't. And I, into adulthood, have played with female gamers but never once been horrible or discriminatory.
If anything, all i ask of any female gamer is that they have my back.