ALIENS: FIREARM ELITE
In some pretty real shit
In your living room everyone can hear you scream.
RELEASED OUT NOW! Reviewed on Playstation 5
Also on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, PC
Publisher Focus Home Interactive
The wheeze and whirr of the M41A pulse rifle, the hiss and cry of xenomorphs in the rafters, the claustrophobic organic corridors… this Aliens game feels right. It’s just a shame there’s not much beneath its Colonial armour.
Set 23 years after Ripley nose-dived into a furnace, the premise behind Aliens: Fireteam Elite quietly disregards what a formidable threat the creatures previously were as it sets them up as cannon fodder. The Colonial Marines are seasoned bughunters, and are called in to investigate a Weyland-yutani station orbiting a mysterious new planet. Corporate conspiracies, evolved xenos, and the introduction of the Engineers into this era of Aliens lore builds an engaging, pitch-perfect Cameroninspired game world.
Yet the action, the stuff you’re doing, is not as inspired as the world-building. An online horde shooter in the style of Left 4 Dead, every mission involves running to an arena and defending your position while a door is cut open, hacked, or unlocked. You’ve played it before. The xeno AI goes some way to offering a new feel – they’ll attack in very Aliens ways by scurrying across ceilings and up walls, and attacking from vents (yes, they’re coming outta the goddamn walls). There’s a physicality to the action that matches the 1986 movie, as xenos crack, shatter, and spurt into acid plumes – though a late-game misstep sees it drop its fun
Giger-creatures for zombies (yes, zombies); you have been warned.
Between missions you can tweak load-outs, style your marine in vintage armour, and adjust mods in a simple jigsaw menu – passive and active skills can be heightened with the right combinations. As with the game in general, this sort of stuff is solid if unimaginative.
Post-missions, you can mingle with your crew and dig into the story’s keener details, all done through menus with characters who can speak but not open their mouths. The detail contained behind this blunt delivery does hold our attention, though.
Is it all enough? Not quite. This game’s best ideas are riffs on familiar trends, and its standout world design is 35 years old.
Ian Dean
Composer Austin Wintory’s soundtrack aims to blend Alien’s Jerry Goldsmith with Aliens’ James Horner. It sort of works.
The action, the stuff you’re doing, is not as inspired as the worldbuilding