Aliens is a major franchise whose impact on the media is undeniable and video games are no exception which makes you wonder Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it? The game is different than other Aliens games we have seen recently. It does not follow the pattern of both Aliens Colonel Marines and Isolation but rather follows the concept of classic Aliens games. It is a round-based shooter with intense combat sequences. There are different classes and weapons that players have to use to their advantage. These weapons and class abilities are an important part of the game. As players progress they will get new weapons and items that will help them perform better in combat. The core concept of loot is not new and we have seen the same concept in other games as well.
At its core Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a co-op game that is one of its main focuses. The game plays better when played with friends. It has chaotic combat that is thrilling and fun at the same time. As part of the Fireteam, players have to use everything in their arsenal to survive. The setting is good and perfectly replicates the environment from the movies. Movements are clucky and there are not a lot of options when traversing the environment. The base is devoid of life and feels empty. Characters do not feel realistic and act as general props. The game has its fair share of problems but it has good aspects as well which makes you think, Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it? Let’s find out.
Premise
Aliens: Fireteam Elite takes place 23 years after the Aliens trilogy movies. You create a generic character since there are not many options for customization. The game will start with a cut scene that could hardly be called a cut scene. That is the only cut scene that the game has since there is no other cut scene. It has a generic campaign that hardly has a proper structure. Most of it just revolve around getting to different locations extract a person or item or destroy something. Future Corporation is a major part of the plot and you are part of it. There are talks of creators of humans and there is a fair amount of reference to Prometheus movie.
Characters deliver their thoughts through voiceovers as they don’t deliver any dialogues. You will see them move their mouth but there is no voice animation and all of their thoughts are delivered through a commentator. It is not the only game that has done it as some other games follow the same pattern. These characters would just stand and tell you different stuff without even moving. They won’t even use body language while talking.
There is only a small number of characters on the ship. All this makes the game seem devoid of life. This shows the limitation of the budget since it is not a triple A-game. Talking to a different character on the ship will also give you an idea of what is happening in the world. It will reveal some lore of the world and about colonel marines as well. It makes you wonder, Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it? There is more to it.
Setting
Different missions take place in different locations. There are 4 chapters in the game and each chapter has three missions that also act as checkpoints. Locations of the missions include scientific facilities, alien ships, ancient caves full of alien tech, and infested underground sites. All three missions of a chapter take place in one type of location. So if the locations are dependent on the chapter, not missions.
The setting takes a lot of inspiration from Alien movies. It does justice to the movie and perfectly portrays the environment from some of the most iconic scenes. There is also a Dead Space vibe to the game. The art design of levels is good but their structure is pretty straightforward. They follow the same pattern when it comes to the structure of the levels as their structure is pretty much the same. Levels are straight lines with some extra line protruding from it here in there. That is the simplest explanation of the Aliens: Fireteam Elite level design.
The base is a major location in the game but it is devoid of any life as explained earlier. There is a small crew that does not have a lot to offer. On top of that, the crew would just greet you and give you briefings. None of the crew members will give any missions as they are just there for the aforementioned purpose. The base seems hallow and devoid of any activities. Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it for its level design? Well, let’s discuss some more aspects of it before concluding.
Mission Structure
As mentioned earlier, there are four chapters and each chapter has 3 missions. So the total number of missions is 12. That’s all that the game has to offer as there is no other content in the game at the time of this writing. There are no side missions so, 12 missions are all you get. The only other piece of content is Horde Mode. In the Horde mode, you need to survive waves of Xenomorphs. It is similar to the horde mode of Gear 5. Horde mode will unlock once you complete all the missions. You can play the same missions on higher difficulty once you get better gear. In the beginning, there will be only three difficulty settings but more will unlock when you complete the game.
Combat
Combat is chaotic, messy, gory thrilling, and fun. Enemies will come at you from all sides and you have to fend against them. Weapon mechanics are solid but they are not the best. The feedback of the weapon is good and the way enemies react to each shot is also interesting. Enemies can splash around and then finally goes limp. The dying animation of enemies is pretty good and different enemies have different dying animations. Synths and Xenomorphs both have good dying animation. There are different such animations so even two similar enemies could have different dying animations. Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it for the combat? There is way more to the combat.
The sound effects of weapons are also good. Especially the pulse weapon which has a unique sound that is different than any other game. Shotguns are one of the most ingesting weapons with the best gunplay among all weapons. The sound, after effect of shooting, and the way enemies, react to shotguns is better than any other weapon. Using a shotgun feels similar to Gears of War as it blasts enemies away just the same. You will also have the option of shooting aim downside but not all weapons have this option. Combat is not that smooth and it can feel clucky. It is not as responsive as other games which can even put you at a disadvantage from time to time.
Waves of Xenomorphs
The way the radio says they are coming is pretty ingesting. Xenomorphs will come for you from all sides. They will come at you from vents, upside, and downside which can feel overwhelming at times. The clucky nature can get in the way and can even result in death. There is a decent amount of fun in the game when you play it with friends and I cannot stress it enough. The game is a co-op at its core which, I will explain later on.
There are a couple of different types of Xenomorphs with different abilities. The most common types of Xenomorphs are weak but stronger Xenomorphs will be part of every Xenomorph group that attacks you. You have to worry about runners, acid throwers, heavy enemies, and other types of Xenomorphs. This keeps on the same throughout all the encounters. Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it to you based on what you know so far? The other aspects of the game also need discussion.
There are not many bosses encounters as most of such encounters include being attacked by several bigger enemies. Boss encounters could have made the game harder but at least there would have been something more than random encounters. So in the end, it is all about surviving waves then move to a second location and surviving a wave of enemies once again. This cycle repeats throughout the game in every single mission.
The Uncertainty of Combat
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a good shooter but its presentation is not good. I mean the essence of chaotic combat is there but other than that it is all generic stuff. There is a cover system in the game which is not very useful most of the time. The cover system is useable only when you are fighting against synths. Even while fighting synths you have to leave cover to get close to them since there is no cover to cover transversal. So you will occasionally have a chance to use high walls as covers. Since you will be fighting Xenomorphs most of the time, cover mechanics are useless most of the time.
Occasionally you will have to fight both synths and Xenomorphs. Such encounters are rare but are more fun than any other type of encounter. The feeling of being overwhelmed by enemies is fun since the attack pattern of synths and Xenomorphs is different. You won’t know which enemies are going to charge you now which makes it better than a normal encounter. You have to use cover mechanics as well as hit-and-run tactics to survive. Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it to you? There is still a lot more to it.
Characters
There are four different classes and a fifth class will open once you complete the game. These classes include Doc, Demolisher, Gunner, Technician, and Recon which are the final calls that unlock after completing the game.
Every class has special abilities and they can only use certain types of weapons. Depending on the class, players can throw grenades, shock grenades, deploy turret, unleash a barrage of mortar, scanner drone, medic station, and so on. Each character has two skills that they can utilize in combat along with a passive skill.
Each character can only carry two main weapons and has a pistol that has infinite ammo. Some can only carry heavy weapons and assault rifles and rifles. Others can carry heavy pistols or compact shotguns and shotguns or SMGs. Depending on the class each of the four characters carries a combination of these different weapons.
General Gameplay
Music is an important part of any medium and video games are no different. Alien’s Fireteam Elite has good music that sits well with what is happening on the screen. The music of the game also shares a resemblance with the music of Aliens movies. Even the dresses of characters share a striking resemblance to that of the movies. So the game is trying to get it as close to the source content as possible. Once you start playing it with friends it seems more like a looter shooter. The game is more fun when played with friends.
Consumables are one of the most important parts of the game as they can help you survive even the most intense situation. Before each encounter, the game will give you a chance to prepare for the ambush. You can lay different types of traps and deploy different types of turrets. There is also a choice of using different elemental ammo types for more damage. Elemental ammo types act as consumables and can do a large amount of damage. Even the best-laid plans can become a mess so there is always a chance of chaotic combat.
Graphics are not that impressive but they are good enough for the types of game it is. You can earn currency and then use it to unlock different items at the base. These items include weapons, attachments, mods, consumables, and cosmetics. There are no microtransactions so the only way to get currency is through playing the game. Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it for its general gameplay? There is some more to it.
Customization
As you level up and earn currency you will unlock different items. When you play in a certain class then it will level up. Each level up will unlock new upgrade slots that will let you squeeze more mods into the slots. You will need to squeeze different mods into a box that is similar to Resident Evil Village’s suitcase. So depending on configuration, the result can be better or worse. Perks, cooldown time of abilities, weapon damage, etc. are all part of these mods. These mods can also help you focus on a specific aspect of the character.
Weapons and Exploration
The situation is the same for guns, the more you use a gun the better it will become. With each level, a new attribute of a weapon will unlock. At max, level a perk will get unlocked that will give you a direct advantage in combat. Attributes and perks of a weapon might seem insignificant but they make a difference once they are properly combined with similar mods of a character. You can use different attachments with weapons that can increase different attributes of weapons such as weak point damage, accuracy, stability, etc. You can also change the weapon cosmetically by applying different colors and stickers to it.
Exploration can be rewarding since there is a hidden cache in every mission. These hidden caches include weapon attachments and consumables. Some of the weapon attachments found in these caches cannot be found any other way. You can buy weapon attachments but some of them are exclusive to these caches. The location of caches is random so they won’t always appear in a single location. However, there are only a few locations where players can find caches. So it is not very hard to find them each time since most of the levels are straightforward. All this makes you wonder Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it? Let’s discuss co-op before concluding.
Coop At Its Core
At its core, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a coop game. There is no other way to explain it since the game truly shines when you are playing it with friends. The game feels hollow as mentioned earlier since there is not much focus on the quality of life changes. To make up for the lack of such things, teammates play an important part. When teammates talk to you during combat it feels more intense. You can cover more ground and the game becomes a lot easier.
There would always be two AI teammates with you but they are silent and cannot even come close to match human teammates. If you want to experience Aliens: Fireteam Elite at its full potential then co-op is the way to go. The flaws of the game will still show themselves but it will be a much better experience. Covering each other’s backs and telling each other where the enemies are coming from making it way more fun. Even some of the character abilities are way stronger when you are with friends since they are for the entire team. Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it to you now? Let’s discuss that in the verdict.
Verdict
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a good round base shooter with chaotic and intense combat sequences. Weapon mechanics are well made and support the intense combat of the game. Each weapon has a good sound, feedback and enemies react well to the damage they inflict on it. Using skills and class abilities in combat makes encounters fun. Playing it with friends is always better as the game is meant to be played with friends. Using different classes to support teammates or destroying enemies with intense damage is always fun. Through its clunky movement can get in the way, it still has good combat
Despite having good combat and co-op nature the game does not have anything else to offer. There are only 12 chapters in the game and a horde mode. There is nothing else in the game because these are the only available activities. All players can do is keep on playing the same chapters on a higher difficulty. There is no focus on the quality of life as everything seems hallow. The base is nothing more than a prop that serves as a camp.
There are a decent amount of customization settings but these customization settings are useless if there is no content. By the time players upgrade all their characters, they might be bored with the game. It needs more content but developers won’t support it for long since there are no microtransactions.
Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite Your Type Game?
Now let’s answer the question “Is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth it? If you are looking for a game with fun co-op and decent combat then Aliens: Fireteam Elite could be the game for you. In case, you a fan of the Aliens series and want to experience a good shooter then it is a good catch for $40. If you expecting a grand triple-A experience then don’t get your hope up. It is a game for players who are looking for a fun game and are coming at it with mediocre expectations. Let us know in the comment what you think about it.
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