Aliens: Fireteam Elite is safe to the point of being forgettable
Before I started the second mission of Aliens: Fireteam Elite, I activated an XP multiplier card that guaranteed that a special alien would appear at least once. This gave me an XP multiplier in exchange. Unfortunately, I misread the second part of this mutator. My squad was terrorized by the Drone every 10 to 15 seconds. It is a Xenomorph that can pin you down, similar to the Hunter in Left 4 Dead. It became a joke, and we eventually failed the mission. In retrospect, it was a great moment. I wish aliens: Fireteam Elite had more of them.
Cold Iron Studio developed this game. It is the latest in an ever-growing number of Left 4 Dead-alikes. Online multiplayer allows you and two players (or AI teammates in the form of androids) to join forces to defeat Xenomorphs in four campaigns. Each campaign has three chapters. This is 23 years after the original trilogy.
This space mission is not about choosing from a group of charismatic marines. You create your own. You can choose from five classes, including your standard archetypes but with Aliens twists around their weapons and abilities. After a short cutscene, you are thrown into the space station that acts as the hub. You can exchange a few dialogue screens and be ready to go.
All of this is very familiar to many other games in practice. Recent examples includeOutridersShowcased classes with otherworldly talents and back 4 BloodIt is trying to shake up its card system.Aliens: Fireteam EliteIt feels trapped by the ideas it gets from other co-op shooters. Both are honoured by it.AliensAndLeft 4 DeadIt doesn’t take either of these influences in new or interesting ways. It’s almost to it is not respectful and ends up being forgotten table.
Classes are very simple and lack creativity. My
Squadmate chose the Demolitionist because it is the only class that can carry heavy weapons such as the Smartgun or flamethrower. As a Technician, I could carry only a pistol or a shotgun. My abilities included the ability to throw an EMP bomb and use an auto-turret. After a few missions, I switched to Gunner, which can fire assault rifles in place of pistols. It became my favourite class. This ability temporarily increases the squad’s fire speed and reload speed. It was very helpful in pitched firefights. Although there are no microtransactions available, it can take some time to level up, and a grind is required to purchase attachments or new weapons.
Although abilities can be upgraded and even swapped for other abilities, this progression system is too complicated. Instead of skill trees, you are presented with a grid. Each upgrade and modifier occupies a specific number of slots on the grid. You can increase your class rank to get more space. This can be a long of grinding. The campaign was over by the time I had the grid unlocked. Fireteam Elite is a game where you have to throw a bunch of unneeded progression blocks.
