So you’re probably approaching farmville with a cautiously optimistic mindset. It’s totally understandable. The past major Aliens games which have come out like Isolation and Colonial Marines were barely above okay (though our overview of Isolation says otherwise). They also didn’t obtain that sort of stamina either. For whatever reason, it just doesn’t appear to be the game adaptations have the same charm such as the films starring Sigourney Weaver.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite can alleviate some of these worries; it’s a game title that does much better than these two. It will better tremendously within the gameplay, but lacks in narrative and longevity.
It’s a three-player, cooperative, third person shooter set 23 years after the original Alien trilogy from ‘79 to ‘92. Have fun with two others whether it’s through matchmaking or with friends; addititionally there is an option to experience solo with two AI-controlled teammates.
To get the best Aliens experience, it is recommended to have fun with others. The AI fill-ins for teammates within this game are barely serviceable on the Standard difficulty. The game doesn’t even suggest that you have fun with them in your party on anything harder than Standard.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite does a fantastic job in delivering a visually stunning and badass Alien hunting experience. The game plays phenomenally; the gunplay is solid, the customizations and courses are unique, and also the enemy varieties force players to play in different styles with respect to the threat levels. Unfortunately, while anything else is smooth, the coverage system is one of the weaker facets of the gameplay.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is another cover shooter. Think of games like Outriders or Gears of War. It’s a passable system when it really wants to work correctly, but many of the time, it’s much more of an obstacle than anything. The cover system would actually be really useful in coping with projectile-based enemies like Spitters and the Weyland-Yutani Synths with guns. Also, deploying certain abilities with your characters awkwardly removes you from cover. It defeats the objective of deploying abilities while remaining relatively safe.
There are a few additional problems while taking cover too. It makes clambering over certain walls very cumbersome. There are walls or bits of cover that appear as if you can climb over, but just wind up dodge rolling into. Sometimes, your character can just miss latching onto a wall for canopy entirely, exposing you to definitely enemy attacks. Hopefully this system could be tweaked a bit more because it’ll definitely ensure defensive tactics much more viable.
As for that shooting feel and customization, Aliens: Fireteam Elite delivers this perfectly. The guns are smooth and responsive. Plus, there is a healthy selection to choose from, giving players more tools to quell the Xenomorph threat. The customization choices for each weapon also adds for more build diversity and playstyles. It’s just like a looter shooter, but without the annoying RNG grind. Every class will have different weapon categories like hand guns, heavy weapons, CQW (SMGs, shotguns, flamethrowers), and rifles. Some classes will overlap in terms of weapon selection, however they really differentiate in terms of abilities and perks
There are five classes— the Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc, and Recon. The neat thing is that players aren’t tied to one specific class in their playthrough. Roles can be switched anytime beyond a mission. Leveling, though, is separate with each class, so you’ll have to replay some missions to reach a mission’s recommended Combat Rating.
While the gameplay and combat systems are extremely solid, the mission variety brings them down. With regards to this review, spoilers should be mostly avoided, but every mission has the same structure. Visit an area, upload something or install something, and take down a horde of enemies in an onslaught that follows. Rinse and repeat. The mission variety becomes too predictable and monotonous.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite also doesn’t possess a large amount of content inside it. It has a short story mode with 4 sub-campaigns within them. There’s the Horde mode unlocked after beating the campaign, but it’s just a never-ending mode with progressively harder enemies until your team is destroyed. As of penning this too, there is just one map available for this mode.
Most from the replayability will be searched for in finding all of the collectibles (intel), opening hidden caches, playing on higher difficulties, and using challenge cards to complete missions. The sport does get absurdly challenging at later levels, making for some interesting, higher level play.
What doesn’t assist the game either is the story. There are no cutscenes, but there's lots of dialogue via NPC comms and interacting with them back at base. You’ll obtain a lot more lore on the way, but it just seems like an afterthought. It’s no bad thing that there’s more dialogue and interaction, but the way farmville delivers it breaks away from the immersion from the game.
The sad part, though, may be the lines were delivered beautifully by the voice actors. The characters have a lot potential in them and they were sidelined as chatty NPCs. You could literally go through the game without having to really interact with them apart from benefiting from main story banter. Not to mention, there is a diverse cast of characters of numerous nationalities, creating an all-star cast. It’s a pity, really. If the characters have served more prominent roles and were actually more involved in such things as cutscenes, this installation of the Aliens game franchise might have overwhelmingly destroyed its past iterations.
The Verdict
Aliens: Fireteam Elite does a lot as soon as you are looking at the core gameplay experience, but lacks in the narrative. It adapts all of the good parts of a looter shooter and a zombie-like shooter experience at the cost of some repetitive mission objectives. It’s an enjoyable time to be had, especially in a cooperative setting. The game has an interesting enough gameplay loop to help keep players engrossed in its beautifully rendered atmospheres. It offers a more hardcore experience for seasoned players who are searching for tougher challenges, as well as a more casual experience for newcomers.
If you’re looking for a game with an enriching story, you might want to look elsewhere. The inclusion of 1 doesn’t really do much for that game other than adding new tidbits of lore for the popular Alien franchise.
