When comparing Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop vs Alien Swarm, the Slant community recommends Alien Swarm for most people. In the question“What are the best Online Co-Op games on Steam?” Alien Swarm is ranked 15th while Alien Swarm: Reactive Drop is ranked 22nd. The most important reason people chose Alien Swarm is:
The game consists of tried-and-true top-down shooter mechanics that will be familiar to most players; it is reminiscent of older arcade and console shooters.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro It's free
Pro Promotes human interaction and teamplay
Discussing tactics with teammates in lobby prior to mission in order to get best results.
Pro Doesn't require high performance machine to run it
Do you have a potato with download capabilities? Today is your lucky day!
Pro Has class system
The Officer - master of assault shotgun and explosives.
Special Weapons - master of minigun and autogun. The 'Heavy' guy.
Medic - heals team, supports with stun weapons.
Tech Marine - unlocks locked doors, hacks computers.
Pro Various challenging campaigns and maps
Pro Enforces aiming skills in order to avoid dealing damage to team members
Pro Highly customisable
Stating with difficulty, challenges and up to UI
Pro You can see your teammates all the time
Pro It's funny when you're better than your friends
You can see your friends dying on easier difficulties and it's a blast.
Pro Easy to pick up and play, even for beginners
The game consists of tried-and-true top-down shooter mechanics that will be familiar to most players; it is reminiscent of older arcade and console shooters.
Pro Anyone can download and play the game as it is free-to-play and open-source
The game is completely free and has no microtransactions or ads.
The source code is also free and accessible, so the game can be easily modded.
Pro Easily play with up to 4-players in online co-op
Alien Swarm allows for up to 4-player online co-op, which makes for an easy way to play with a small group of friends or strangers.
Pro Convenient offline LAN support
Alien Swarm offers offline LAN (local area network) support, meaning that the game can be easily played locally with each machine connected together in the same place.
Cons
Con The game itself is a bit clunky
Some mechanics feel a little clunky, such as the friendly fire mechanic.
Con Can get a bit repetitive
The gameplay doesn't change much from mission to mission; you’re generally just shooting aliens over and over again.
Con Gameplay is too short
The main story only takes about three or four hours to complete, which means you could beat the game in one sitting pretty easily.