I was looking forward to the cooperative third person event Aliens: Fireteam Elite with a mixture of fears and hopes. As an Alien fan, I really wanted Cold Iron Studios to succeed. Even though it is a new team, it consists of experienced veterans who have previously created Star Trek Online and other MMOs. Even with that in mind, long before the official introduction of the game, it was rumored that their Alien would be an online game or a multiplayer game with a persistent world in the style of Destiny. When the novelty was finally revealed, the concept imitating the Left 4 Dead proved to be much less ambitious. Above all, however, the first concerns about the published materials from the game also appeared on the horizon. Nevertheless, I wanted to remain a cautious optimist and hoped that the result would exceed the unflattering assumption. Unfortunately, the intruder presented by an otherwise talented team turned out worse than I feared.
The basic skeleton of the game is simple, you could say banal. But there doesn’t have to be anything wrong with that. The story is set 23 years after the events of the original film trilogy, and the player fights with two other people or artificial intelligence-driven counterparts against hordes of intruders and androids from the Weyland-Yutani Corporation. You will create your own Marine, choose one of the available classes from which you can switch during the game, equip your charges and embark on four “campaigns”, as the authors themselves call them, after three missions. The developers have lured us to more than twenty types of enemies, including 11 different xenomorphs, a huge number of weapons, wide customization, leveling and similarly to the authors of Back 4 Blood, also to a system of cards that can change any conditions of the mission you are going. But the result remains below expectations, even though it has not been very high.
Unfortunately, the musical accompaniment cannot react dynamically to what is happening in the game, so while you have been mowing dozens of xenomorphs for three minutes, a disturbing ominous rumble is playing in your ears, indicating some impending danger.
It is not easy to formulate a fair critique, because I think Aliens: Fireteam Elite is failing in a number of important areas. But it also has bright moments that should not disappear in the review, and I want to avoid taking away from it that it is a complete failure. Unfortunately, there is a lot of criticism in this test of criticism. But let’s start with the positive. The game is powered by Epic’s Unreal Engine technology and doesn’t look bad at the multiplatform title at all. It only underscores the fact that the game does not have AA or even budget roots, as one completely mistakenly believes, and thus repeatedly defends shortcomings that notabene have so much to do with the budget. The graphics themselves are relatively detailed, the environment offers interesting scenes, and even though the animations did not go without errors, even in motion, the game usually looks quite convincing with regard to the demanding material. The Czech localization also deserves recognition.
I have to praise the number of weapons that intruders offer, including various specialties for each class as well as character modification and various fashion accessories. The very idea of leveling characters and their abilities is not bad, although it smells like Fireteam was originally supposed to be something a little different, but we’ll get to that. As well as the fact that the design lags somewhat. The cover system is also nice, although it gets angry in places, just like in other games. Although it doesn’t make much sense at first when it comes to attacking intruders who come at you from all sides, once you come across androids. I also liked the music inspired, of course, by the soundtrack of the original films, especially number one and number two. Unfortunately, the accompaniment cannot react dynamically to what is happening in the game, so while you have been mowing dozens of xenomorphs for three minutes, a disturbing ominous creak plays in your ears, indicating some impending danger.
As in the case of music and sound, all possible props, environments, easter eggs and buzzwords clearly prove that the authors know and love the original. In this sense, the game ended up in good hands, although maybe sometimes the fans service will be a bit overdone and in some places the title is more reminiscent of the imagination of an author of a community story or notes from a wiki alliance. However, everything is in place, the situation evokes moments from the movies, the environment looks as you might expect. But unfortunately, on the other hand, nothing will surprise you much. You won’t see anything you don’t know about the movies, and the developers didn’t take the opportunity to show us anything else from this universe. Or maybe they weren’t allowed. But at this point the bread begins to break. Although I was initially afraid that the game would be too short, the number of missions is not the main issue in terms of durability. The first tens of minutes do not promise anything revolutionary, but you can have a good time. However, during one of the two missions, which last an average of about 20 minutes, you will find that the game is incredibly repetitive and its content over time is boring.
Only the scenery around you changes and often it doesn’t, but you always do the same. The authors do not predict the pace, they will not surprise you with anything. Each mission is just an endless festival of never ending events. Here and there you activate an element, but that’s all. You keep moving forward in a basically linear corridor, sometimes you have to stop somewhere and defend against the influx of enemies and you go on again. The first campaign is inspired mainly by the second film, the other two mainly by Prometheus. But even here you will come across admirable recycling. Sometimes you go back somewhere, something looks a little different, but basically you can’t tell one mission from another. Even the division into campaigns does not make much sense, because it is basically one continuous story, but it is incredibly unsuccessful and sloppy presented. Missions do not end or begin. At the beginning, you simply appear in the game and at the end, the action is interrupted by a black screen and a scoreboard. No animation, no cut scenes. The banality of the dialogues is probably best underlined by lengthy narratives and stacks of texts that you should listen to and read on your ship, where you return after each mission and which acts as a social hub and a space for rest and rearmament. However, I can hardly imagine that anyone would appreciate static conversations, during which the characters do not even open their mouths and just fill you with boring details that you do not want to hear and have no significance for this type of game.
In one major shootout, you kill more intruders than the heroes of the entire movie saga combined.
The way you play the first mission is no different from the last. Only the enemies you face change. But you fight them almost the same. Although gunplay itself is not bad and I like the special abilities of individual classes, it kills you, as it is always the same all over without a hint of imagination. In one major shootout, you kill more intruders than the heroes of the entire movie saga combined. I respect that Aliens: Fireteam Elite is inspired by the second film, that it’s not horror, that’s not a problem. But even the action game from this universe can be made in such a way that it does not look stupid and the most feared space monster does not degrade to dumb running rats. In addition, when the authors try to come up with a refreshment or trick, they overuse it ad absurdum. An intruder lurks around every other corner and jumps on you. As soon as the ventilation cover falls off the ceiling or steam starts to hiss at the ground. The game absolutely lacks tension, and even though it looks like the movie Aliens, it doesn’t work that way. However, the result could still be a slightly above-average game with a lower price tag of around 40 euros.
But the team would have to avoid a plethora of unnecessary mistakes and nonsense in the concept itself. Although experienced developers worked on the game, as I said, they committed a number of completely incomprehensible missteps for me. I consider combining character leveling, unlocking abilities and activating them with a dazed mini-game reminiscent of working with inventory as from Resident Evil as a complete flight and innovation in a completely wrong place. Something like a square steering wheel or a spoon with a hole. The game is already facing a lack of players, despite the indulgent acceptance of some fans, because it offers only cross-gen multiplayer and not a full cross-platform. Players cannot play the same missions unless they are far enough in the campaign, which should be the absolute standard for similar games. Especially with regard to how unnecessary the story is and has no direct effect on the course of the event. It is not possible to join a friend during the mission. And if you fail the mission, instead of being able to repeat the action right away, you must first return to the ship. Unfortunately, the game, like many others, painfully lacks local cooperation. Occasionally the framerate fluctuates, but this is understandable and has improved significantly during testing.
The otherwise popular horde mode almost makes no sense here. After all, one big horde is basically the whole game, in each individual mission more and more waves of enemies are constantly coming at you.
Although the cards you collect can affect the course of the mission, they do not provide enough motivation to return to the same places as the authors promised. You can set extra conditions, make something difficult or slightly change, but basically it’s almost the same mission, even if the enemies climbed on you a little elsewhere and you shot them with something else. Different missions come together for a person, let alone you want to repeat something. Playing the same mission again is more of a punishment. It already has a greater potential for higher difficulty, which activates a friendly fire, for example, and makes acid invaders more dangerous. A similar mystery for me is probably the last-minute added horde mode, which you will unlock after finishing all the campaigns. Otherwise, the popular fashion almost makes no sense here. After all, one big horde is basically the whole game, in each individual mission more and more waves of enemies are constantly coming at you. That’s the last thing I want to play after the campaign.
I’m disappointed. I didn’t expect much and I got even less. Although the result is not a failure, I am sorry that the authors completely missed the huge opportunity they had. It’s the first big game with intruders in quite a long time, and Cold Iron Studios has been working on this project for many years. Most of it directly under the heading of the rights holder as the owner of the studio. This also underlines the fact that this is not a small, cheaper title that needs to be forgiven. Rather, the lower price tag proves that someone realized in time that the game was not as big a game as Aliens: Fireteam Elite was supposed to be. After all, when you see an interface inspired by Destiny, remnants of wider plans or extensive editing options, it’s hard not to think about what the original vision might have been like, and to avoid disappointment. Maybe other promised and planned generous support can change something else. The invaders could join the Phoenix, such as Driveclub, No Man’s Sky or Rainbow Six Siege. But I don’t really believe it.
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