Aliens: Fireteam Elite – Review

Games that are based on movie franchises are often games that are rushed in order to keep the rights of publishing a certain IP. We have seen this time and time again over the years, and often these games turned into something very mediocre and unlikable, on many occasions even disrespecting the source material. We feared the worst when we saw Aliens: Fireteam Elite being released for all major platforms, as this could have easily been one of those games. While basic at its core, we actually ended up enjoying Fireteam Elite quite a bit.

Story

The gist of Aliens: FireteamElite‘s story is that you’re being sent on rescue missions to extract high-profile people from dangerous locations which are infested by the Xenomorphs that we have come to know from the Aliens franchise. You soon uncover experiments are being done on the race of hostile aliens, making them into something even more dangerous.

Truth be told, the story takes the backseat for most of the game, and that’s not a bad thing considering the fact you’ll play through the same missions over and over again to gain more experience. The overall framing of the story is fairly okay, and it does give it a proper Aliens vibe, which is certainly appreciated. If you’re looking for a narrative-based experience, you might end up disappointed though. There is some lore to read up on in-between missions, which does flesh out certain story components of the game.

Graphics

Graphically, Aliens: Fireteam Elite has a lot of interesting design choices. Overall, the game oozes the Aliens atmosphere when plowing through massive sci-fi hallways, as well as dark caverns and other places that might be suitable for creepy crawly creatures. The overall texture quality on PS5 is actually quite good, and for the most part, the game performs quite well when a lot of monsters are spawning during the many battles you’ll face. That being said, it’s clear that this is a multi-platform release, as the game feels like a late PS4 entry due to the very small levels, limited enemy models, and even very limited customization options for your personal avatar. We also encountered a lot of clipping issues, and the developers didn’t even bother to add lip-syncing to the dialogues, resulting in very creepy mission briefings. It’s quite offputting to have a fully rendered character talking to you (with actual voice acting) for their face to remain static.

Sound

The sound design is actually quite nice for the game. The voice acting is well handled, and this adds to the charm of the game, especially seeing you get a lot of comm feedback during your missions. The music is very cinematic in nature and is also clearly a labor of love, but it often doesn’t completely match what is happening on screen. You’ll sometimes have a very eerie backdrop when just walking through a corridor that is clearly not programmed to have any monster spawns. At other times you find yourself in a heated battle only to get the feeling Harry Potter is going to Hogwarts, rather than possibly being eaten by alien monsters.

Gameplay

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a fairly classic third-person shooter that sticks to the genre’s foundations from start to finish. You’ll be able to play through four different story scenarios, which are all unlocked in sequence. These chapters all have three levels, and depending on your skill level (and that of your party members), you can beat a level in about 25 minutes. This makes the game itself quite short, but leveling up the different classes might take some grinding, and it’s fun to actually slowly increase the difficulty level.

As stated above, the game allows you to pick from different classes, ranging from the typical all-round Gunner, to supportive classes like the Technician and the Doc. Each has its own useful skillset, and finding a proper balance may help you tackle more difficult levels. On top of finding new gear, which levels up your combat rating, you can also equip passive abilities in a small grid, which gets bigger as you level up your respective class. The skills you can equip here are presented as small blocks, which you’ll have to arrange in a Tetris-like fashion on the aforementioned grid, making you think about the skills you really want to use. It’s a fun system, but the game’s UI was clearly made for PC, which results in a lot of the menus feeling a bit clunky. We also encountered a few lag spikes when playing online, even to the point that doors would not open, forcing us to restart certain missions.

The game puts you together in three-man parties, be it with AI or other players when playing online. We do suggest playing online, as even unskilled players are often better than the AI. Nonetheless, the AI is actually not that badly programmed and they actually do an effort to resurrect you when you are downed by the enemy, so it’s still playable for those who really don’t like online gaming. The game’s content is a bit limited, as it only has those previously mentioned twelve levels, as well as an endless wave-based mode, in which you try to survive as long as possible. That being said, it’s fun to mess around with the different classes. We would have liked a bit more enemy variety, but given the source material, it’s normal that the enemies are not that diverse.

Conclusion

Even though the game sticks to the basics of the genre, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a very fun game to play together with friends. It’s fun to see your progress and to try out the different classes, while slowly ramping up the difficulty level. We do have to mention that as a single-player experience it falls a bit flat, as the AI isn’t that skilled to help you through many of the harder levels. The game is quite fun but a bit short and is best enjoyed together with other people. Those who can immediately dive into the experience with a full party will very much enjoy this game. Those that are looking for a single-player experience, or cannot convince their friends to join the battlefield, may want to wait for a price reduction. All in all, we enjoyed our time with the game.

Ibuki

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Aspiring ninja.

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