As a big fan of co-op shooters and Aliens, I came into Fireteam Elite with a lot of concerns that were, for the most part, completely unfounded. I was worried that it was just a Left 4 Dead clone; it isn’t. I was worried that it would feel low-budget and clunky; it doesn’t, at all. And I was really concerned that it would get old fast due to a lack of enemy variety, but thankfully, that’s absolutely not the case. The early preview I played was still a bit rough around the edges, but what I saw was a thrilling co-op action/horror game with a compelling story, tons of variety, an engaging upgrade and loadout system, and perhaps most unexpectedly, remarkable performances from the voice cast. I can’t be certain what kind of legs Fireteam Elite will have once you’ve seen all there is to see, but my first run through the campaign already has me convinced this is going to be a worthwhile experience.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite features four, three-act campaigns that tell one complete story. Each campaign takes place in a different location and presents unique challenges and enemies. I got to play the first two campaigns in their entirety, which take place on a derelict orbital refinery and the caverns on a nearby planet, respectively. I found the story of each one to be surprisingly rich and engrossing. Unlike Left 4 Dead missions that all feel like frantic runs from point A to point B, the Fireteam Elite levels feel meaningful and actively move the story forward.
In the first campaign, your team responds to a distress call from a Weyland-Yutani scientist. He’s the last survivor in a space station that’s been overrun by aliens, and your job is to fight your way in and escort him back out. The plot unfolds quickly as you start to discover how the station became overrun by hundreds of xenomorphs. Weyland-Yutani is up to some shit, of course, and the mysteries set up in this first act carry through the rest of the game. The voice acting is incredible, and there’s a lot of story that happens during each mission that makes them memorable. To say anything more would lead to spoilers, but it surprised me that there’s even anything to spoil in a game like this.
Related: Aliens: Fireteam Elite Won't Support Cross-Platform Play
Fireteam Elite has plenty of Left 4 Dead trappings, but it does a lot with the formula to differentiate itself and stand out on its own. There are four classes to choose from, each with their own set of active abilities and weapon types. As you earn experience and currency by completing missions, you’ll unlock new gear and purchase weapons, mods, perks, and consumable items. These purchases and unlocks define your character because they have a huge impact on how you fight and what your abilities can do.
There’s a surprising amount of depth to each class and I found myself bouncing between them to try out new strategies rather than focusing solely on building up one class like I normally would in other class-based games. It feels like there’s enough overlap between them that you aren’t punished for switching around either. Mods can be mixed and matched between weapons of the same type, some classes share weapons, and core perks can be used by anyone. It’s really nice to have a selection of very different characters to play without feeling like the underplayed ones are a lot weaker, especially since the daily and weekly challenges require you to play multiple classes.
The xenomorphs are a ton of fun to fight too. You’d think mowing down hoards of these suckers would start to make them less scary, but the way they skitter along the walls and across the ceiling never stops being incredibly unsettling. There are lots of variants of enemies that are visually and mechanically distinct too. Some will rush you down and explode, while others hide in the shadows and wait for opportunities to pounce. There are boss aliens, of course, and other types of non-xenomorph enemies that I don’t want to spoil, but if you’re a fan of the franchise, you probably have a good guess.
It’s not all running and gunning though. Each mission features a handful of hold out points where you’ll need to fortify a room and defend yourselves from wave after wave of enemies. These are strategic challenges where you can use the various consumable traps, turrets, and drones you’ve purchased or found in hidden chests throughout the mission. There’s a good variety of tools you can use with lots of elemental varieties to experiment with. Things eventually get out of control no matter how many lanes you think you have covered, but that's what makes these encounters so exciting.
The preview build I played was a little rough around the edges, which I won’t harp on since there’s a good chance these things will get fixed before launch. There were a lot of audio bugs like looping sounds and repeated voice lines, and there’s one assault rifle that I considered unusable because of how terrible it sounds when you shoot it. Those aren’t a huge deal, but the one thing about the game that really put me off was, surprisingly, the score.
While the title screen has an appropriately dark and atmospheric score that matches the tone of Alien quite well, a lot of the music you hear during the missions is so mismatched with the action and mood that it became incredibly distracting to my team. In the second campaign especially, there's one mission where the score is just this bouncy, fanciful track that sounds like something from Peter and the Wolf or a classic Disney movie. Music taste is really subjective, but my whole squad noted how weird and out of place the music felt while we were fighting for our lives. You don’t really notice video game music when it's doing its job well, but in this case, the score stands out in a bad way.
There’s a lot more I have to say about the perk system and the mission modifiers (which are great), but I’ll need to see how well these meta mechanics are handled in the end game before I can judge them. For now, I’m really excited to play the rest of the story and see where the plot goes. With only 12 missions, I suspect you can play through the whole game in about six hours. It seems like it will have high replay value thanks to the progression system though, and there’s also a horde mode that will be available at launch. I was feeling cautious about this game, but Aliens: Fireteam Elite definitely seems to be a worthy addition to the franchise.
Next: Aliens: Fireteam Elite Arriving On August 24
