Trendy Entertainment reveals Monster Madness Online, Alpha now online

Trendy Entertainment in conjunction with Nom Nom Games is inviting everyone to come participate in the open alpha for their upcoming cooperative shooter Monster Madness Online. Best known for their work on the Dungeon Defender series, Trendy has taken the skills they've honed while making third-person tower defense games and focused that talent towards making a new third-person experience, except this time there aren't any towers, just a town overrun with invading aliens, zombies, and gargoyles. You know, the usual.

Naturally, Monster Madness Online moves away from the defensive playstyle of Dungeon Defenders, and more towards an offensive one. According to the official website, players control one of several high school teens. You see, during the alien invasion, all adults were sucked into a void, but it was found only those under 18 weren't affected. It's not clear why they aren't, and the game's introductory trailer does little to explain the setting further. Given the trailer's attempt at a humorous tone, its best just to not ask questions and instead focus on the gameplay.

Speaking of gameplay, Monster Madness Online features 4-player co-op with procedurally generated objectives, enemy encounters, and items. Each mission will have players advancing block by block, pushing the enemy invasion forces back and eventually, bringing the fight onto the enemy's mothership itself. Trendy says Monster Madness will come chock full of over 70 enemy types including boss fights. As players clear each mission they will collect loot including blueprints which can be used to custom build gear for the next assault. For an extra challenge players can opt to play the game in hardcore mode which features character permadeath.

Because no shooter can be PvE only, Monster Madness Online also includes 16 player battlegrounds with multiple modes of play. There's quite a lot of additional intriguing features like support for player-hosted local or dedicated servers; Steamworks integration which allows players to build their own levels and mods; and the fact that the game can be played on pretty much any platform including iOS, web, Android, Linux, Mac and even Steam.

Interested?