Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a new co-op third-person shooter from developer Cold Iron Studios based on the popular film horror/action franchise originally brought to life by director Ridley Scott. It?s the first significant Alien franchise game release since Alien: Isolation in 2014, and much like that unique survival horror experience, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a pretty good Aliens game overall.
I?m not quite ready to assign a score to this review, just because this game experience mostly revolves around online co-op play, and prior to launch there just wasn?t a lot of sessions I could pack in with other real players. I did end up playing through the majority of the campaign with bots, which worked well enough, but you ideally do want to fill out your three-party team with live humans instead. Once the game goes live tomorrow, and I?ve had a bit to see how well the matchmaking and network holds up, I?ll revisit this with a proper score.
Gunplay feels really great, the developers have absolutely nailed the sound of what a Pulse Rifle should be, and there?s a surprisingly large number of weapons and attachments you can gain throughout. Each class does feel distinct, consisting of 4 classes at the start and then an additional class that?s obtainable after completing the campaign. I played through most of the game as the Demolisher and Doc classes, but you?ll also have access to Gunner, Technician, and then Recon as the last unlockable class. Each class has two unique abilities tied to a cool down timer, along with another ability that generally causes some sort of passive effect. You can equip two consumable types, things like turrets or mines, and then also customize the look of your marine with a number of unlockable cosmetic options.
Visually, Aliens: Fireteam Elite does a great job of capturing the look and feel of the Aliens universe, and surprisingly incorporates a lot of Prometheus-inspired imagery as well. It also has a hefty amount of story content for an online focused co-op shooter, but a lot of that is packed away behind optional intel pick-ups that are hidden in each mission. I didn?t come across anything that led to any major revelations or tie-ins to prior Aliens media though, so maybe temper your expectations a bit if you?re hoping for something Ripley related or some other major film connection here.
As far as overall longevity goes, Aliens; Fireteam Elite is absolutely meant to be played through over and over again. It?s easy enough to revisit missions from your main pause menu, and the game incorporates both daily and weekly tasks to complete that will net you more consumables or in-game currency, which can then be used to purchase cosmetics, more consumables, weapons/attachments, or challenge cards.
So while I?m not quite ready to slap a score on this just yet, I will say I?ve had a lot of fun with Aliens: Fireteam Elite, and I?m hoping the online experience holds up really well at launch. As a fan of the films, I?d like to see this one do well, and it?d be neat to see what the developers could potentially introduce in future updates considering the foundation of the game is so solid at this point. So yeah, once I?ve had a few more days to play the game post-launch, I?ll have a few more final thoughts and a score to check out, so please revisit this space then.
Note: 20th Century Games provided us with Aliens: Fireteam Elite Xbox codes for review purposes.
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