In Alien: Fireteam Elite, you play as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit that is responding to a distress signal from LV-895 in the outer colonies. The game takes place about 20 years after the movie Alien 3. On your journey through this 3-player cover-based co-op shooter, you will encounter various types of Xenomorphs and uncovering other secrets that I will leave for you to discover on your own. You will be able to create your marine, customize your loadout and perks to serve your needs as you fight through hordes of enemies.
The story of Aliens: Fireteam Elite encompasses aspects of all of the movies and lore from the Aliens universe. Through different dialog within the game and collectibles found around the various maps, you learn a lot about the Xenomorphs, the military, and other organizations from the other games and movies. Your created character doesn’t have too much of a back story but there are tons of options to make them your own. If you are a fan of the Alien films and the surrounding lore, you will find a lot of cool information and easter eggs hidden throughout the game. A good portion of the storytelling happens via collectibles. You will not encounter too many cutscenes while playing Fireteam Elite. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing since it helps to keep you in the action.
Initially, the game and its environments seem a little repetitive but once you make it past some of the initial maps, the environment opens up and the enemies are more varied. The different classes and customizations become a little more useful as these changes happen. Many of the missions are structured similarly. Make it to through a few corridors, set up defenses, and fight waves of enemies. Even though the structure is predictable, there is still a good level of challenge and fun. I have had many situations when I have started to run low on ammo and had to run to the next point of interest. These situations add a lot of tension and fun to the normal stop and pop gameplay that Aliens offer. Once you become more skilled, you can start to experiment with challenge cards. These add cool variants to gameplay and give you the ability to earn extra XP.
This game is made for co-op gameplay. There are four different classes available when players start the game. Classes can be switch between freely in the hub area and upgraded the more you use them. You can choose between the Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, and the Doc and once you complete the game for the first time, Recon becomes available. If you are playing solo with bots, I suggest trying out the technician or the doc for max survivability. There is an online matchmaking component for this game so that opens up different strategies for your team. If playing with bots, they will always be Gunners by default and are really only suggested for early game missions and lower difficulties.
Overall, Aliens: Fireteam Elite looks good. It won’t be the best thing that you’ve ever seen but the character models, guns, accessories, and environments are very detailed. There was really only one thing that bothered me when playing the game. When talking to the different characters between missions, their mouths don’t move as they talk. This may be a bit nitpicky and this might not bother others who are playing the game.
Aliens: Fireteam has a lot to offer while also cutting a few corners. I think that the 40-dollar price tag will make people a little less hesitant to jump in and try the game. It may not be the most visually striking game but it in no way looks bad. Initially, it looked like the game was going to have a lot of the same environments and enemies and that opens up a decent amount after you get out of the first missions. The game world expands and starts to incorporate lore and enemies from all of the movies. There are even some new enemy variants that have not been seen before. Aliens: Fireteam Elite is being released at the right time. We are in the lull before the crazy season when it comes to game releases. Cold Iron plans to support this game for the foreseeable future with seasonal content, and free and paid DLC. I am excited to see what the DLC packages have to offer in the future.
