Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 features the same deluge of Xenomorphs being torn to shreds by a competent team of Colonial Marines. The addition of a fourth player slot means more friends can come along, ensuring the somewhat repetitive loop is entertaining enough.
Alien is a franchise that has done an admirable job at staving off multiple disasters.
Say what you will about about Alien 3 or Aliens: Colonial Marines, there’s always going to be missteps and complete faceplants. But over the decades, 20th Century–and now Disney–didn’t flood the market with Xenomorphs. Regardless of your opinion on the franchise’s direction since Prometheus, it could be a lot worse. We could be waist-deep in Aliens vs. Predator drivel or a reboot of the original film, or Alien: Earth could have been absolute nonsense.
Over the years the cadence of video games releasing under the Alien or Predator banners have been surprisingly limited considering their critical and financial popularity. I could count the number of games I’ve played based on these two franchises on a single hand. Of course, Alien: Isolation sits atop the pyramid in terms of quality. Back in 2021, Aliens: Fireteam Elite tried to make in dent in the space, hearkening back to the action-horror of Aliens versus the brooding horror of Alien.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite felt humble. Developed by Cold Iron Studios, it sought to give players that horrific rush of hundreds of Xenomorphs vying to rip a team of Colonial Marines asunder. Waves upon waves of the fiends would be cut down but inch closer and closer, skittering through ducts and pipes, clambering across walls and ceilings. At the time, the relentless horde with its acidic blood was impressive. Movie-accurate visuals and sounds an even greater selling point.
How could one not have a blast killing Xenomorphs with friends, upgrading weapons and classes to become stronger and tackle challenges in higher difficulties? And while the sensation was addictive, it did grow quite repetitive after awhile. No one was going to be taking down a Queen in an exosuit cargo loader or stealthing through a hive of unhatched face huggers. Aliens: Fireteam Elite was about one thing and it did it well.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is more of the same and, often enough, that deserves a passing grade.
One of the biggest additions Cold Iron Studios has made is bringing in a fourth teammate to the fray. While numerous cooperative games cap their teams at three people, I feel like four is just a great sweet spot. I imagine how much more fulfilling my sessions in Arc Raiders and Destiny and Space Marine 2 would have been with just one more friend. Players often don’t care about imbalance or slightly affected performance if they get to experience the thrill of combat with more people.
Thematically, it also makes sense for the Marines to be sending in as many soldiers as possible to deal with a threat this size. Taking place after the events of the first game, the crew of the Endeavor is trying to figure out the unraveling situation on the mining facility of planet LV-558. Of course there is Weyland-Yutani meddling, careless experimentation on Xenomorph DNA, and synthetics run amok.
A story is here and one that is surprisingly chatty. Should players wish to progress through the game’s chapters, they must speak with the crew aboard the Endeavor and listen to them go through the motions of dialog and exposition. I can’t say that the narrative itself is wildly unique in the broad scope of the franchise, just a good excuse to trudge through levels and eviscerate anything that doesn’t bleed red. What was surprising is the sheer amount of written dialog here. The crew members have a lot to say and while it doesn’t seemingly effect the outcome of anything, players are usually given multiple responses to choose from in response. You can be sarcastic, sympathetic, put on a brave front, or simply talk like a badass. And so much of it is fully voice-acted as well, giving it the sheen of a higher production value.
This may not amount to much for the player’s overall enjoyment and doesn’t vastly complicate the narrative but it is a touch I did appreciate. But even during missions there’s just a lot of chatter going on, much of it can be kind of hard to follow with the the sheer amount of chaos going on. Usually Cold Iron waits to layer exposition when players are transitioning between engagements but there’s still a tension there wondering if the radar is going to deliver its telltale beeps and indicate nearby unpleasant movement. I will also say that after four or five missions, the quips from your team’s Marines is going to get a bit samey. The boisterous catchphrases are meant to invoke the bravado of Aliens and often be nods to films of the past but they do come across a bit silly and repetitive after long sessions.
Players should expect a relatively similar gameplay loop from Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Go in, seek out objectives, kill Xenomorphs (and sometimes synthetics). Whether it’s cracking open doors, clearing out noxious air, waiting for downloads, disabling turrets, or something else, it’s all going to end up in standing your ground against wave after wave of alien bugs.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 features five primary classes–Duelist, Machinist, Marauder, Hunter, Medic–and a Specialist class, which can combine abilities from the other five. Deployable turrets, hovering sentries, healing pools, damage boons, and more will identify which class players want to experience. I love being Medics in games like this and enjoyed planting down heals when standing ground, ensuring my team would always have temporary health. Different classes excel with specialized weapons that provide a unique edge, like smart guns and electric shotguns.
The real draw of Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is methodically leveling up classes and the weapon arsenal until multiple configurations click. Each class’ unique skills can be adjusted with modifiers that enhance or alter their functionality. Players do this by applying modification chips on the kit, arranging them in a manner similar to Resident Evil 4. Limited space means that players will undoubtedly have to make sacrifices but it all goes towards fulfilling that extremely important role in the team. And now, with four members, there’s more possibilities and combinations to work with. Weapons also level up and multiple traits and attachments can be unlocked or purchased through the armory. I find it incredible how granular Cold Iron Studios designed its arsenal, giving players a lot of data to work with.
Finding the best synergy with your team is crucial as you work towards pushing through harder difficulties. Friendly fire starts becoming a problem. The hordes take more damage and come in bigger numbers. Eventually, the roles of classes are emphasized because attacks will come in at all sides and squads must manage how to create choke points and prevent flanking.
Challenge Cards can also be earned and purchased that act as a reward system and XP modifier. Want to make the game a little harder and spawn an Elite after 40 kills? Simply want enemies to do more damage? Or why not have weapons fire slower but do more damage? Or have a random attachment be rewarded at the end of a match? These cards can be stacked on top of each other to maximize potential misery but also serve as the ultimate test for what your team is capable of. And I appreciate that the cards work with the selected difficulty, emphasizing the goals players want to set for their experience.
While all this customization caters to player enjoyment and team synergy, it doesn’t take away from the fact that eventually, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 ultimately presents the same base challenge across its six chapters and additional horde mode.
Players fight engagements in claustrophobic rooms, open steel walkways, long hallways, and arenas clustered with waist-high objects. The ability to crouch at will, latch to cover, and play the game like a cover shooter gives a sense of control to the excellent feeling shooting. But none of it feels surprisingly new. Despite feeling accurate to the universe of Alien, I simply found the levels far too similar across the board. A variation of dark surfaces whether organic or inorganic are lit up with muzzle flashes but from beginning to end, a colony outpost looks just like a colony ship or a colony facility. It’s all metal and glass that’s all culling from the same color palette. The sizzling blood of the Xenomorphs often the strangest color in the mix.
The challenge Cold Iron Studios obviously faces is in its faithfulness to the IP. Alien and its spawn have been bleak, obscured in terror and mystery. Even the alien planets shown in the films are far from colorful or dramatic. Human structures are built in a relatively cohesive way that is meant to appear more corporate cost-effective than futuristic. Fighting in the jungles like this was a Predator game would almost feel like a different entity, a betrayal of the source material. But a middle ground could have existed.
This comes to a head when across the numerous difficulty tiers that make everything deadlier, players are still gunning down Xenomorphs and synthetics as they rush in to your physical location. Whether you stand out in the open or hide behind cover, the enemies are going to come in. Xenomorphs that burst like an acid bomb or lumber forward with physical attacks all die the same. Kill everything before it kills you.
Don’t get me wrong, the core tenants of Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 are strong. It is absolutely thrilling engaging in these missions with friends. Even if environments are very similar. Even if sometimes it feels like your contribution doesn’t compare to the player with the sentry turret. Even when you die because your team bit off more than it can chew. Mastering classes and weapons and synergy is awesome.
But eventually, that entertainment has diminishing returns, especially for players who want to put Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 in their cooperative circulation. I thought the game’s Horde mode which becomes available after beating the story might fit the bill. Really, though, it’s just wave-based swarms of enemies with less places to camp out and funnel enemies through and more limited ammo stocks. It’s effective for a bit but also falls victim to repetition.
Cold Iron Studios really needed a meatier endgame for the sequel, showing they were building off the experience that had with the original game. One could honestly argue that the sequel feels akin to an expansion for the 5-year-old game, a massive DLC based on fan feedback. Why couldn’t there be story missions with more diverse objectives. With four players there could have been an opportunity to split the team up, all working towards the same goal. Two players could have worked on a task while the other two players fended off the swarm. This might have destroyed the fun for solo players because the game simply isn’t as enjoyable that way.
It may be challenging to enact these ideas and it may cause a lot of friction with the class system. But these are the kinds of obstacles that forge a better game overall. Story missions and horde mode are great starting points but they are just that. I don’t think players are coming to Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 for stealth missions or absurd multi-phase boss fights but they could be shocking, interesting, and quite fun if executed well.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 features the same deluge of Xenomorphs being torn to shreds by a competent team of Colonial Marines. While Cold Iron Studios has further refined the mechanics already established, additions like a fourth player slot are welcome. Despite its faithful rendition of the Alien universe, it doesn’t change that the gameplay loop will grow repetitive and stale over time, regardless of how your team clicks with it. Though new modes and more diversity would have been expected in a full-blown sequel, perhaps the formula will be nailed in future content expansions or a possible third entry, hopefully not suffering a fate akin to Alien 3.
