By Reino "skillbill" Jansen Van Rensburg




The highly anticipated sequel to the most successful independent Half Life mod ever released is reaching the final stages of its completion. Come next week Monday, the 26th of July, gamers from all around the world will finally have a chance to sit down and play Natural Selection 2.

Although the game will initially be released in its alpha state, players have already been swept up into a frenzy of excitement, and for good reason as well. The original game set an immensely high standard for a third party mod, and truly revolutionized the way gamers viewed FPS titles.

For those of you who never got the chance to play the original, it combined FPS and RTS elements into one game. The game pitted a team of aliens against a team of marines to fight it out in order to take control of the map, with one team eventually wiping the other out to secure victory. What added a great twist to the game is that the marines had a commander, which was assumed by one of the players on the marine team. The commander would have a real time strategy (RTS) perspective of the playing field, could build structures, issue orders, and support his team by dropping ammo packs and med packs on his marines. If I had to summarize the game, I would say that it is a cross between Counter Strike, Team Fortress 2, and Starcraft - all combined into one game.

The original game was released in October 2002, and was supported for a long time by the developers. They eventually formed a new company called Unknown Worlds Entertainment (UWE), and over the past 4 - 5 years have been working on NS2.


The original Half Life mod pushed the engine to its limit, and beyond!


While I would love to go into more details about the original game, I am going to leave that for my next article. This article will mainly focus on why you should take interest to the new game, both from a competitive and casual gaming perspective.

Over the past year UWE has leaked various tidbits of information about the game through in-game videos, showing the various changes that have been made to the game throughout the development process. The first thing that will strike you when you see NS2 for the first time is simply how gorgeous the game looks. It really looks fantastic and I personally can't wait to experience the NS universe on an updated, custom tailored engine designed specifically for NS2.


NS2: In game footage

Earlier on in 2010, UWE released the development kit for NS2 pre-purchasers to toy around with. We have already seen a lot of custom maps being designed for the game, and some of them look absolutely fantastic. The Spark toolset is extremely versatile and allows for some real innovation and eye candy to be used throughout maps. It is also a lot simpler and easier to use than the Hammer toolset that was used for the original game, so we can expect to see a lot of third party content for the game.

A topic that remains popular amongst the community is the competitive viability of the new game. Obviously the game has not entered its testing phase yet, so we can't form opinions on initial balancing issues until we actually get our hands on the game. But what I can assure you of, is that if NS2 stays true to the original title in the series, then the game will be assured of a successful competitive scene, overseas and locally.

Competitive Natural Selection was played in a 6 vs 6 format, and I am pretty confident in saying that the sequel will most probably adapt the same numbers. This will put the game in familiar territory with gamers from games that used similar sized teams, such as COD4, CSS and TF2. Luckily it isn't any larger, as once you have to go over the 6 player mark, then managing a team becomes a real chore.

The original game had a huge following overseas for both competitive and public play. CAL and the ENSL hosted several seasons for the game, so did many other league hosts. The game drew huge support from many different communities, even if it wasn't mass marketed. The competitive scene for the game thrived for a good 4 to 5 years, with many successful competitions being hosted.

The problem that eventually saw the scene's demise, was that since mid 2005 the development team weren't updating the game any longer. This was because they started to focus on NS2's development, and there simply just wasn't any time to spend on an aging engine when there was work to be done creating their new game. This brings me to my next point which I want to make about the game, and any competitive FPS in general: FPS games need constant balancing and updating to ensure that competitive players stay interested in continuing their participation within the game.

Now what sets NS2 apart from any other FPS game released in recent times, is that the game is completely modable. In fact, the developers put 100% focus on this aspect throughout the creation of the new engine. The engine supports custom created mods through LUA coding, which is an extremely effective and easy way for 3rd party developers to get involved with changing the way we will play the game. This means that the competitive communities will not have to rely solely on UWE to develop competitive tools, or balance the game.

This is truly a competitive FPS player's dream come true. Shortly after release we will have mods available to ensure that the game is competitively viable. Tournament modes specifically designed for competitive NS2 can easily be designed and implemented by competitive communities to enable them to play clannies hassle free. Leagues will be able to run mods according to their own specifications to ensure that matches run smoothly. Balance changes can be made using community input, and then they can be applied in the competitive aspect of the game if needed.


More in game footage, created by a custom mapper.

Simply put, if you are looking forward to a new and exciting FPS, then I would strongly encourage you to consider Natural Selection 2 as your next gaming purchase. If the past is any indication to go by, then this game's success is virtually assured already. Even if you did not have a chance to play the original, you do not need to worry, as NS2 will be implementing new features into the fold that will change the game so much that veteran players won't have too much of a head start over you.

Speaking of which, a lot of the veteran players are returning for NS2, both locally and internationally. It will be great to see them all back in action in the new game, and hopefully we will see the return of some of the old teams to the competitive scene.

I would also highly encourage you to get the game, even if you are already committed to another title. NS2 will undoubtedly provide you with an epic gaming experience in pubs, providing hours and hours of the most fun that you can possibly have in a multiplayer game. The NS universe really provides a unique twist in the way that you will ever experience an FPS title, one which you will not forget for a long time to come.


The Onos - prepare to sh*t your pants!

The Natural Selection 2 Alpha test phase begins on 26 July 2010. Only gamers who have pre-purchased a copy of the limited Special edition will gain access to alpha testing. The Special edition is priced at $40. The standard edition of the game is priced at $20, and this is also a limited time offer, as from next week the Special edition will fall away and the limited edition's price will be higher (probably $30).

Head over to the NS2 purchase website to secure your copy of the game and join us on za.shadowfire.org in #natural-selection for NS2 related discussion and news!