Rob reviews Aliens: Fireteam Elite on Xbox Series X...
When it comes to video games the Alien/s franchise is more miss than hit. Where titles like Alien Isolation are a rare breed of being "quite good", there's also the terrible Aliens: Colonial Marines. With Aliens: Fireteam Elite developer Cold Iron Studios has attempted to bring something new to the franchise whilst also trying to remain faithful to the series' roots. It's an action-packed, frenzied third-person co-op shooter that's certainly more Colonial Marines than Isolation. But is it any good?
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is best described as a mix between Gears of War and Left 4 Dead - two very different - yet phenomenal video games. Its swarm-based gameplay has hints of both games as you'll be defending choke points, and sprinting from cover to cover. It's certainly different to what we've seen before however, it has a very middle of the road feel to everything - even on the Xbox Series X!
The story centres around a generic rescue mission of a Wayland-Yutani scientist. As you can imagine it soon goes to hell as the Xenomorph gets involved. The whole campaign is played out across four chapters that feature three missions each. These take place across settings that'll be familiar to anyone who's seen any of the films - even Prometheus. There's plenty of dark corridors, strange ancient temples, and destroyed Wayland-Yutani bases. While the settings look the part, they're very flat and extremely linear. You're never given any scope to branch from the path, it's just a simple "go here", "defend this" style of game. Each location certainly gives off a claustrophobic feeling, but it would have been nice to explore a little more.
Even as you attempt to take in the sights, the Xenomorph isn't far behind you - or above, underneath - and you'll soon be up to your neck in acid and body parts. The Xenomorph move like an incredibly coordinated mass. It's great to watch them react to the fireteam as you try to thin the horde. Even on the standard difficulty setting the Xenomorph's take a real beating. It's very easy to get overwhelmed which considering the source material - it's a welcomed sight. There's also an abundance of different monsters to shoot such as the tank-like Warrior, or a ranged one that spits acid. It's a nice touch that sort of taps into the Xenomorph's biology rather than just sending countless drones our way.
Each mission also features your traditional "press this button, alert the horde" moments. Each of these moments is a tense affair as you'll attempt to defend against a constant mass of Xenomorph. It's a great survival experience as you'll be setting up drone turrets and mines, whilst your team huddles behind their makeshift cover awaiting the inevitable. When your defences do fall - which they will - combat becomes a frantic game of Whack a Mole. The enemies are semi-intelligent in that they'll attempt to dodge your shots and use the environment to their advantage. The larger, more capable enemies will often linger in the background just waiting for the right time to pounce, pound, and straight out destroy any Marine who gets in their way.
There are several playable classes to choose from with each defining a particular role. Each class will generally utilise the same weapons aside from one or two unique ones to their class. The Marines also have a few skills at their disposal such as firing micro rockets, overcharging weapons, and placing healing drones. Having team synergy is certainly important if you're to succeed on the higher difficulties, as you'll certainly need to utilise each marines talent.
Weapons can also be upgraded with various attachments and cosmetics. A good thing is that these unlock to the gun rather than the class. This means you'll be able to switch class and retain your unlocks. These unlocks come from various sources such as the armoury in between missions, or via secret boxes hidden on each stage. Weapons all have that Aliens feel to them and classics such as the pulse rifle and the smart gun feature throughout. Considering Fireteam Elite takes place a few years after Alien 3, there is the odd "exotic" weapon, but each retains that classic James Cameron element - this bleeds to the vehicles and locations too!
For those looking for a greater challenge, there's the added inclusion of challenge cards. These optional challenges add a modifier to the chosen mission. They range from locking certain guns, to adding more specific Xenos to the stage. They're often tough to finish but will net you a healthy balance of credits and character XP. Each player is also able to add their challenge cards so you can stack up to three for each playthrough. This often leads to some chaotic scenarios as the shit hits the fan.
As touched upon above, Aliens: Fireteam Elite supports up to three players co-op. With games of this nature, co-op is the optimum way to play. It allows for some tactical gameplay and plenty of "water cooler" moments - when it works. The problem at the time of writing is that the servers can't seem to handle the number of online players. As such matchmaking will attempt to put you into already full lobbies, or just not find anyone. The game can however be played as a solo player, but it's not the same. Solo players lose the human element as you'll be teamed up with two voiceless combat synthetics. They're capable of shooting the odd enemy but they often blunder into traps and are incapable of utilising any skills or equipment. If anything these drones is much like Isolations Working Joes rather than Aliens Bishop.
Even with these shortfalls, Alien: Fireteam Elite is a decent game. It captures the action movie essence of James Cameron's movie with all the chaos and bro-Vado. Those of you looking for an in-depth intimate Alien story won't find any of that here. What you will find is a guns-blazing co-op experience that's very close to being a great alternative to Left 4 Dead...well until Bound 4 Blood comes out.
Rating 8/10
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is out now and can be purchased via the Microsoft Store by clicking here.
Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev
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