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Aliens: Fireteam Elite May Be a Good Action Game, But Alien Needs Another Survival Horror Entry

2021 has brought with it a massive resurgence in Left 4 Dead-style shooters, including Back 4 Blood, Rainbow Six Extraction, and Aliens: Fireteam Elite. With Aliens: Fireteam Elite set to launch later this month, fans have been on the receiving end of the usual gameplay teasers showing off the upcoming title. What has become clear from these sections of gameplay is that Aliens: Fireteam Elite could be a big hit among fans, with the trailers garnering quite a lot of attention.

Though the action-packed gameplay trailers of Aliens: Fireteam Elite seem to show that the game will be well received by many, others were hoping for a different Aliens game. It’s now been almost 7 years since the release of the hugely successful Alien: Isolation and fans are beginning to wonder if a sequel will ever be released. Aliens: Fireteam Elite and Colonial Marines both resemble Aliens more so than the original movie’s tense survival horror. Both Aliens and the original Alien have their respective fanbases, and each deserves its own video game representation. Following the release of Fireteam Elite, the next xenomorph-related release should be Alien: Isolation 2.

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Aliens: Colonial Marines’ release was a pretty rough game, to put it mildly. Many criticized the final product for its dissimilarity to many of the game’s trailers, while others took issue with the story and its archetypal marine characters. Colonial Marines was expected to be the Alien franchise's crowning glory, featuring stunning visuals, horror-fuelled and action-packed gameplay, and a somber, unforgiving story. This all stemmed from Colonial Marines' cinematic trailers and a gameplay teaser that proved to not be representative of the finished product. All of which convinced fans of the merits of the game before it had even been released.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite, however, could prove to be the game that Aliens fans had once hoped Colonial Marines would be. Like Colonial Marines, Fireteam Elite is a survival co-op shooter based closely around James Cameron’s 1986 Aliens. As would be expected on modern hardware, Fireteam Elite graphically looks much improved over Colonial Marines, rendering iconic imagery from the original movies in 4K. But where Fireteam Elite seems to make significant strides forward are the xenomorph battles that pay homage to its silver screen inspirations. Aliens: Fireteam Elite looks seriously challenging, as one might expect from a battle against swarms of intergalactic aliens with acid for blood. This could be what sets Fireteam Elite apart, making it an Aliens adaptation to remember, but its action-shooter genre may not be what every fan was hoping for.

Alien: Isolation’s launch in 2014 was a very successful one, more than making up for the disappointing release of Colonial Marines the year prior. The tense survival horror of Alien: Isolation was a far cry from Colonial Marines’ brash first-person shooter combat. There’s a real sense of palpable tension while navigating the gloomy hallways and claustrophobic vents of Alien Isolation, but the cherry on the cake is the xenomorph AI. The titular alien stalks the player throughout the game, learning how the player approaches each section and adapting in turn, often being critiqued at launch for being too intelligent. But what appealed to fans is the fact that just as Ellen Ripley is in the Alien films, the player is very much at the mercy of the daunting xenomorph, which could strike at any moment.

This is what gamers loved so much about Alien: Isolation. The gamecaptured the essence of 1979's Alien perfectly, demonstrating just how dangerous the xenomorph is intended to be. Since the launch of Alien: Isolation, fans have been eagerly awaiting the announcement of a new Alien game in the same style. The action survival of Fireteam: Elite looks like a lot of fun, and will likely prove to be a big hit among fans. Still the Alien fanbase's appetite for survival horror still needs to be satiated. It looks as though fans' wishes may soon become reality with Disney taking a significant interest in the Alien franchise as of late, and reports emerging in April that a sequel to Alien Isolation is possible. Whether this is true is yet to be seen, but Alien fans will likely remain hopeful that the long-awaited sequel will come.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is scheduled to release on August 24 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

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