Aliens: Fireteam Elite is easily the best cooperative Alien game in years, if not ever. Cold Iron Studios has worked through the source material with an incredible amount of respect and adoration, delivering a game that's every bit a part of the Alien franchise as any film. Players will find Alien's world readily lends itself to the co-op survival shooter genre, carving out its own fun experience without compromising any of the thrills or atmospheric moments the franchise is known for.
CBR was able to go hands-on with the game last month and found there was a lot to be excited about. After playing the final version, our opinion remains intact: Aliens: Fireteam Elite is great. Of course, there are some flaws, but they amount to minor grievances in the wake of all the things the title does well.
A:FE revolves around the law-heralding exploits of the UAS Endeavor's Colonial Marines. Players create a Marine and become wrapped up in a classic Alien narrative, either with bot companions or up to two other players. There are four Campaigns to play through at launch, each containing three Missions. There's also a Horde mode available once all campaigns have been cleared. The Campaigns all connect linearly, and Missions take around 20-40 minutes each, making the game feel a lot like an episodic mini-series spotlighting the Colonial Marines. The game's length is enough to quell players' thirst but will still leave them longing for more.
The campaign offers a wide array of enemies and locales, weaving a narrative from various elements across the entire Alien franchise. The story is told via dialogue on the Endeavor, NPCs chatting on comms and what the player sees during Missions. The delivery suits the genre, only rubbing elbows with gameplay moments when something needs additional explanation or generates a reaction.
Between Missions, players can soak in the more informative lore dumps while aboard the Endeavor if they want. That's the great thing: there's a lot of fabulous extra narrative for players that want the nitty-gritty, but for those uninterested, the need-to-know flows naturally with gameplay.
As the title that's finally bringing the Alien franchise's timeline forward, fans need not worry. A:FE is made by a team that loves Alien as much, if not more, than the average fan. The game is filled to the brim with references to the movies, books, games and other media that make up the franchise. It's all handled with the delicacy fans would expect. Best of all, A:FE isn't afraid to leave its own mark on Alien's mythology. The advances Cold Iron makes to the overarching narrative are all well thought out, faithful additions.
The game feels like something out of the Alien universe, not only because it's steeped in callbacks to previous entries but because the atmosphere is right. There's an eerie sense of dread in between encounters. Players skulk around dark corridors and creaking facilities, checking every corner for a potential ambush, ravenous for the next ammo crate. The tension is right at home in A:FE.
Credit must be given to A:FE's stellar soundtrack. During exploration, slow, curious tones give way to gradually increasing rapid beats as a horde of enemies draws near. Even with an entire team of human players and all the weapons, abilities and snarky comments at the ready, everything goes quiet when the music changes and the Motion Tracker lights up.
Visually, the title's use of light and shadows play to marvelous effect, and environments are thoroughly detailed, sometimes to tremendous scale. That said, the title doesn't bolster a super high level of overall graphical fidelity. The game looks as good as it needs to. Efforts spent on great lighting and environments are far more important than making every character and NPC look hyper-realistic. Still, it'd still be nice if player characters looked less like toss-bin action figures. Going further down that rabbit hole, character creation and physical appearance options are somewhat limited, with only a handful of possible faces or hairstyles.
Regardless, playing A:FE is a treat, and it has enough separating it from competitors like Back 4 Blood and Left 4 Dead to establish its own identity. Unlike other titles in the genre, A:FE uses an over-the-shoulder third-person perspective and a squad of three. Missions can be augmented by playing Challenge Cards, introducing drastic modifiers into Missions whose effect varies in proportion to its reward.
Players can choose between five available classes (though one must be unlocked) and swap between them at any point before a Mission. The classes each have their own preferences for the weapons they'll use and combat style. The Demolisher class, for example, uses the iconic M56 Smart Gun and Pulse Rife, best suited for area denial to hordes. Classes are also supported by a host of abilities that further promote their playstyle.
Characters are highly customizable after creation. While aboard the Endeavor, players can change their appearance, customize their weapons and augment their skills. Appearance alterations are purely cosmetic, letting players change their clothing, including headware. Weapon customization allows for both superficial and functional modifications. Decals and Paints will make a weapon look different, but adding a new muzzle or clip will change its stats.
If this was as basic as simply increasing how much ammo or how fast the gun could be readied, that would still be neat, but stats can range from those to other effects of interest like stagger rate. Some of these effects simply add a flat bonus to the weapon, while others involve generating powerful buffs for a limited time after achieving a requirement. It's a nice touch that opens the door for different playstyles.
The skill system A:FE uses is nothing short of genius. There is no skill tree; instead, it features something akin to a skill circuit board players will build to suit their needs. Each class has three Abilities that can be modified with skills. At level one, each class will have a limited amount of room to slot skill modifiers on their grid. As a class is leveled, players will gain additional skill modifiers and extra space to slot them. Some modifiers need to go in specific places, turning the whole system into a pleasant puzzle diversion.
Playing the game generally feels good, with some slow-downs and performance hiccups aside. A:FE feels tight and responsive on both a controller and with mouse and keyboard. The cover system is a welcome addition and generally works quite well, but in some instances, cover can get in the way of targets in close proximity or in awkward positioning. Weapons feel like they've been touched up since our last rendezvous with the game, responding with a little more pop that's especially evident on controllers.
Enemies are a formidable threat in A:FE, with even the lowest of Xenomorphs able to bring low an unsuspecting Marine. Swarms of Xenomorph Runners come at squads, accompanied by Spitters performing the role of artillery and the occasional Drone popping out from hiding to perform a hit and run. There are also Xenomorph Warriors, Bursters, Prowlers...there are a lot of Xenomorphs. Each variant has its function. Runners are weak but vast in number, Bursters rush in and explode, Warriors are tanks and on it goes. Of course, the Xenomorphs are the stars, but there are other enemies encountered throughout the four campaigns with their own variants.
We did encounter some issues in A:FE, namely, some crashing when loading into Missions with a full squad of players. The game will stutter for a couple of frames fairly consistently during some of the larger, more hectic action sequences. There's also the fact that none of the NPC's lips move when they speak. It seems like an intentional choice rather than an issue, but it's still awkward to watch. Additionally, having access to the Horde mode from the get-go would have been a nice treat for players who want a break in between Missions, and new areas could have served as a nice reward for players as they clear the story.
All in all, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a AAA experience in a AA package. The game is a blast to play and remains stalwartly faithful to the Alien franchise, even adding to its mythology. It's not going to blow players away with its visuals or overflowing wealth of content, but it will impress both Alien fans and co-op shooter players. At the moderate price of $40, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a bargain for any player with even a drop of interest. They'll be sure to get more than their money's worth in enjoyment -- especially considering the recent announcement of free Season updates.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is developed and published by Cold Iron Studios with help from Focus Home Interactive. The game releases on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S on August 24. Review copies were provided by the publisher.