Everyone knows of the Aliens film franchise, some of you may have even heard of the Alien: Isolation game. The next installment in the franchise is Aliens: Fireteam Elite. A three-person multiplayer third person shooter, set 23 years after the original films. A small group of elite Colonial Marines answer a distress call aboard the USS Endeavour to rescue a sole survivor, Weyland-Yutani scientist Dr. Timothy Hoenikker. The rescue mission takes a dramatic turn when the fireteam discover that the Endeavour has been overrun by hundreds of Xenomorphs.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a classic hoard style shooter and reminded me a lot of the zombie games I have played in the past. You have the choice of five classes: Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Medical, and Reconnaissance. Each class has their own special abilities and limitations with weapons. There are three main missions to select from and each contains three sub missions. You can also load out your team with three party members with the option to play on your own with added AI Bots or link up with two other friends and take on the hoard. Unfortunately, you will need to all be on the same platform as Fireteam Elite does not support cross-play.
Each mission has a set of objectives to reach and their own challenges as you progress. The ship seems seemingly quiet when you first enter. However, to anyone that has seen the films, noise is bad news and draws the Xenos to your location. The Xenos attack in waves, similarly to your classic zombie shooter, and generally you cannot progress until that wave is complete. There are also plenty of loot to collect and skills to unlock as you play, such as weapon upgrades, skin customisations and special abilities.
So, how does the game play? Initially, it was very overwhelming with the class choices and customisation options that are available. However, as I took time to understand what each loadout option was and the changes that I could make, things became easier to understand. There are almost endless possibilities for each class type, and I feel the developers at Cold Iron Studios spent a lot of time building this section of the game to balance out the repetitive gameplay. Honestly, I didn’t expect much, as Fireteam Elite is a classic hoard shooter. It is the nature of these games to be somewhat repetitive.
There is plenty to love about Aliens: Fireteam Elite. The world design is very accurate to the Aliens franchise, from the sound of the weapons to the level of detail in the environment, I certainly felt like I was part of the Aliens universe. The music is also just as good as it is in the films and the Alien Isolation game. The tempo and volume changes as you enter and leave battle areas and when the music hits those dramatic tones, you know you are in for a fight!
Overall, the game is fun but I did get tired of it quickly. I think I played for almost three hours, and I am not sure if I would pick the game up again. One of the biggest disappointments is the lack of cross-play. I played this on the PlayStation and have a few friends that have it on PC, but I was unable to hook up with them. This makes the playability of the game extremely limited and playing with the bots just isn’t as much fun as it is with two other friends in a party chat.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite could have been a great game. I feel it has appeal to those gamers that enjoy the hoard style shooters. If you have played games like COD Black Ops Zombies or Left 4 Dead 2, then this game might just be the one for you. However, in this day and age, there shouldn’t be an excuse for this style of gameplay not have cross-play.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available on all platforms (PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows), just make sure you do your research with your mates first before you buy it. You don’t want to be left alone on PlayStation when all your mates have it on PC.
A copy of this game was provided on PlayStation 5 for the purpose of this review.