Aliens: Fireteam Elite Review

The Aliens series has been fairly hit and miss in the gaming world for what seems like forever. With Cold Iron Studios throwing their hat into the ring with Aliens: Fireteam Elite, is the latest entry a hit or a miss? Check out our review and find out.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite Review

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a co-op third-person survival shooter where you try to survive in the Aliens universe. Most of the game consists of going from one defense point to another, defending the area from swarms of enemies. It is repetitive and tiring, but is it any fun?

When you first start, you make a marine and are tossed into the hub. Here you are introduced to a few other characters and get a handful of story bits. Unfortunately, the extra character’s mouths don’t move and there are no cutscenes, making it kind of jarring. Still, the story is fine if you are an Aliens fan. The planet has already been lost, and your first objective is to retrieve a doctor from a planetary refinery. Each mission only lasts about 20-30 minutes, but they feel longer due to the tension of each fight. Overall you’ll get around seven to eight hours out of the campaign.

With the crux of the game being its combat, how does it actually stack up? To be honest, it feels pretty good. Killing the Aliens is satisfying, and the guns have a solid pop to them. I’m a pyro guy, so I usually use flamethrowers anytime I can. Once I unlocked it here, I used it the whole time, and it was easily the most devastating weapon for average enemies. I would have to switch when the bullet sponge enemies came, but those instances were few and far between. Fans of the flamethrower will be welcome here.

You aren’t just fighting the basic Aliens during this game either. They have evolved ones that run at you and explode, spitters, and giant warriors and praetorians. The game nails tension and seems to know just when to hit you with the more brutal enemies. I can’t tell you how many times a warrior rushed us and dropped one or two of us just before we won. It isn’t just Aliens you fight either; there are synths and other enemies as well.

So the core gameplay loop is fun; what about progression? Aliens: Fireteam Elite has classes and weapons to upgrades, as well as challenge cards. I played the heavy guy who got shoulder rockets, while our Editor-in-Chief Blaine Smith played the average soldier, who buffed us and had a grenade. Each of them had different skill upgrades, different perks, and could use other weapons. Challenge cards can make a level much harder, but net you more rewards and loot. The cards can’t be used in survival, but we’ll get more into that in a moment.

I mentioned tension and how the game nails it, but it also nails the atmosphere of the Aliens franchise. You are constantly on edge, and always looking over your shoulder. The motion sensor has a beep and works perfectly. The Aliens scream and groan as they die. The pulse rifle sounds like you’d expect. Defense points have turrets for you to set up, so you can feel like you are in the movie. The package combines into something quite fun for Aliens fans – but there are some huge problems.

The AI companions are garbage. You will not get out of the first campaign with just them; you need players to progress. There are no checkpoints either. If you fail a mission at the end, you are replaying from the start. Survival mode is your reward for beating the game, and as far as I can tell, it only has one level at the moment. The biggest issue is the fact that you can’t use your challenge cards in survival. So one of the game’s biggest boons is rendered useless in the mode that is supposed to keep you playing for a long time. It seems like a massive oversight, and it really kills the longevity of the game.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite does precisely what it sets out to do: letting players kill Aliens and defend hallways. Expecting anything more is only going to lead to disappointment.

This review of Aliens: Fireteam Elite was done on the PlayStation 5. A digital code was provided by the publisher.

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