Co-op shooter ‘Fireteam Elite’ brings action for ‘Alien’ fans

Set in the iconic “Alien” universe, “Aliens: Fireteam Elite” is a cooperative third-person survival shooter with a level design similar to the zombie-filled “Left 4 Dead” series, but also features a variety of classes, weapons, perks and more to create a customized Colonial Marine of every xenomorph’s nightmares.

Unlike the “Aliens: Dark Descent” I reviewed recently, “Fireteam Elite ”is sadly light on story. Set in 2202, about 20 years after the events in the “Aliens 3” movie, the Colonial Marines arrive on LV895 chasing a mysterious distress call. To the surprise of no one, the xenomorph threat has survived, thrived and taken over (and even less of a surprise, the amoral Weyland-Yutani Corporation is deeply involved).

Where “Aliens: Fireteam Elite” excels is in action, visuals and sound design. Taking on the role of a Colonial Marine, players will be joined by two other players (or synthetic AI teammates) to solve the mystery of the distress signal, enter the xenomorph hive and escape alive. And all along the way, a lot of bugs have to die.

The gameplay loop is pretty straightforward. You and your fellow marines spawn at Point A, and must travel to Point B, eliminating any threats along the way and often having to fend off seemingly endless waves of deadly alien threats. This works sort of like the “Alert the Horde” moments in “Left 4 Dead,” where an action (such as hacking a network or trying to cut through a door) summons wave after wave of enemies for several minutes.

The campaign consists of four parts, each with three sections. The time to complete each section is about 25 minutes, so the whole game only takes about five hours to complete, but one pass through really only scratches the surface of the game. There’s quite a bit of replayability — beyond casual and standard difficulties, there are intense, extreme and insane game modes. Every completed mission earns experience and store credits, both of which can be used to unlock different weapons, perks and attachments.

Additionally, there are seven classes in the game, each with its own unique special ability — such as the Technician being able to place sentry guns, or the Demolisher with shoulder-mounted rockets. Each class can equip two types of weapons (such as handguns, rifles or close-quarters weapons) and each weapon can be modified with attachments to make it shoot faster, deal more critical damage, hold more ammo, and more. Each class can also be leveled up, unlocking perks and perk slots to become a more powerful version of that class. For example, the Technician can acquire perks to make the turret shoot flames or plasma lasers instead of bullets.

Once a few missions have been completed and some attachments and perks unlocked, it starts becoming possible to fight the aliens at a higher threat level. At the standard level, enemies are fairly weak and friendly fire is turned off. At the highest difficulty levels, the alien threat skyrockets with increased damage, fewer bullets and healing available, and friendly fire turned up to maximum — only the most coordinated teams will survive. It was only by finding a team to use voice chat with over Discord that I could complete the Insane missions.

Getting into games is pretty easy — once the campaign is beat for the first time, a quick play option lets you jump into a game quickly, and it is cross-platform compatible with Xbox, PlayStation and PC users. (You’ll have to use

an app like Discord for voice chat, however.)

Also enhancing its replayability are some horde and defense modes, where it’s just wave after wave of enemies attacking one location.

I have some minor gripes about the game, but overall it accomplishes what it set out to do (and what it had the budget to do). The sound design is excellent, and the aliens look awesome. The way they use the environment to move and attack is fantastic. They’re always slithering out of holes, or lying in wait, or swarming out of vents (often right after you pass by one). It sort of wants to be an AAA game like Gears of War, but it’s honestly just not at that godlike level. I’d recommend it for fans of the “Alien” franchise, and I’d try to pick it up on sale. There’s also a Pathogen DLC that introduces a new threat (plagued xenomorphs!) and a few more missions, but I’d also only pick that up on sale. After more than a decade as a reviewer, Jason Bennett has an unhealthy love for rogue-like survival games and terrible puns. Questions or suggestions? Reach out to him at JBsonGames@gmail. com.