Natural Selection 2 [Review]

[Dutchoper72]

The hallway seemed almost endless. As you walk down it, you hear the muffled sound of short controlled bursts, along with some unintelligible screaming. Soon the only sound you hear are your foot steps, and the scrapping of your armor rubbing together as you move swiftly, closer and closer to the Comm Relay Station. Suddenly a foul odor creeps up your nostrils as you enter the room. The communication consoles and other machines hum low in the dim light. The floor was no longer visible, covered by some organic growth. You grip your rifle even tighter. A noise comes from the other side of the room. You move into a firing position, one of the many consoles providing cover. You hear the sound again, but this time it seemed closer. You wait for what seemed to be forever, time having slowed itself to a crawl. A shadow appears, but whatever it was, this thing was not human. It slowly sulked out. The creature appeared to be almost dog like. It had yet to notice you. You remember your training, this thing could climb on walls and literally get the jump on you. As you're about to fire, another one appears. Finally your eyes adjust to the ill lit room. The lone sulk turned into a pack of four. Knowing that your life would soon come to the end. You quickly insert the disc, which contained the S.O.S message. The creatures turn towards you, however your rifle was already playing its sweet melody. The first two go down with ease. The other two scattered behind a console, missing the explosion left by your grenade.​

Catching your breath, after a fight in which you thought you would die, a loud stomping echoed from the hallway. You check your radio to see if anyone was nearby, but there was no answer. Knowing that another fight was upon you, you eject your magazine from your rifle and slap a new one home. Suddenly the main monitor comes to life in the middle of the room. You see your friends slaughtered and your base destroyed. Not even the mechs could stand against the waves of foes. You turn tail and run toward the hanger bay, just down the other hallway. The loud stomping was now accompanied with more, even stranger sounds. Dashing at full speed, you make it to the hanger bay, only to see that the shuttles were either too damaged to fly, or completely destroyed. In mere minutes the giant wave of aliens would crash in and devour you. The only option you had left, would mean certain death for you, but for them as-well. You take your repair tool out and start fixing the power node. The aliens burst in only seconds after the repair finishes. You pull the trigger and let your bursts take out the closest targets. Knowing you would not have enough time to reload, you pull the blast door lever. The next few seconds are a jumble, followed by the silence of Space.

Natural Selection 2 is a competitive Humans verses Aliens game. What sets Natural Selection 2 apart from other games is the fact it has a mixture of a real time strategy and first person shooter elements. Most choose to play the first person element, however if you choose to become the commander, you will lead your team using an RTS interface. Only you can't control your units, just support them. The Human commander will have to rely on the other human players to capture the zones and build the various buildings ranging from Armory, prototype labs and sentry guns. If you're on the alien team, the structures are different, but the goals remain the same.​

What makes Natural Selection 2 even more amazing is the fact that it is supported by the Steam Workshop, which allows for custom content like maps and skins. On top of this, Natural Selection 2 has many game modes which range from the Base vs. Base mode or even just Team Death-match. Other game modes pit humans vs humans or aliens vs aliens. Think you can rise to the challenge??​