Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Brings The Xenos Back
Despite the condescending attitude amongst certain hosts on our podcast, I still really enjoyed playing the original Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Big dumb guns, big bugs: what’s not to love?
Well, as is so often the case in games these days, a successful game will always spawn a sequel, and so the imaginatively named Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 has arrived on the Xbox. But can Cold Iron Studios and Daybreak Game Company bring anything new to the table?
Strap on your armour, Marine, you’re going to need it!
Kicking off with the story, and the action this time is set around five years after the events of the first game: that should make it 2207, chronology fans! The story centres on a Xenomorph outbreak on a planet, and as usual there is a shady sub plot involving Weyland Yutani, and their almost insane wish to create a pet Xenomorph. This particular outbreak is notable due to the fact that we were alerted by an SOS seemingly coming from a Dr Pearce, a scientist that worked for the company. We need to go down to the planet and figure out what is going on, but as is usual, things are not exactly what they seem…
A Faithful Aliens Atmosphere
The original Aliens: Fireteam Elite was a good looking game at the time, and here the news is similarly good. That isn’t to say that there aren’t oddities in Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, mind. I’m not quite sure what I equipped from the cosmetics menu, but my Marine in-game has no head, just a bandana floating in mid air. It does look a little freaky, as you can imagine! Aliens in walls and synthetics stuck halfway through doors, are commonplace too; all the glitches are on display.
Other than that, the game does a very good job of evoking the atmosphere of Aliens the movie. It’s full of laustrophobic corridors with Xenos lurking around every corner and in every vent, or at least that is how it feels. The Xenos and other enemies are a well designed bunch, moving like they should, climbing walls and running along the ceilings to pop up unexpectedly. The Marines in our fireteam, assuming we have real people, are also a pretty bunch, as the customisation options are very wide ranging this time.
Sound is like stepping into the films: the pulse rifles, the trumpeting of aliens and most evocative of all, the motion tracker chirping as enemies close in. And each character is equipped with a few stock phrases, most of which you will soon tire of hearing. If I hear “Resupply or die, folks!” one more time I may be forced to do something drastic. So, in the round, the presentation does enough to get a pass, even if the glitches do seem more numerous than in the previous game.
New Classes And Deeper Customisation
You’d expect that the gameplay would be largely left untouched from previous, as that was something that they got right. Well, you’d be wrong! Not only have the Xenos undergone a change, making them smarter and sneakier, the whole basis of the fireteams has changed. We now have five new (ish) classes to get used to, replacing the ones from the previous iteration. This time we have Marauder, a heavy weapon class; Medic, a class focussed on supporting your team mates; Duelist, a damage dealing class; Hunter who focuses on affecting enemies with status effects; and finally Machinist, a class that uses deployables like turrets to deal damage.
Most excitingly, once you have levelled up two of the classes sufficiently, you gain access to the Specialist class. The reason that this is exciting is that it allows you to mix and match abilities from the other classes. A Medic with turrets, or a heavy weapons specialist with a med station? The world is your oyster with this one!
Each class has the ability to be upgraded using a perk tree, and if you played the first game you’ll be right at home here. Basically, the perk grid allows you to fit different abilities into it to support your playstyle, and as you’d expect, the more powerful the ability, the more room it takes up in your grid. In this way, each class can be made stronger and moulded to suit you, and this is very welcome.
Tweaking each class’ special attacks can have a very big effect on the game and my favourite class, the Marauder, can swap a rocket salvo for a single phosphorus rocket that leaves a pool of fire at the point of impact. As you can imagine, dropping this front of a Xeno spawn point can help enormously. It isn’t only the characters that can be upgraded, either: every single weapon in the game can have new parts fitted to boost its damage output of handling. As each weapon levels up, more parts become available, and again this keeps you swapping around to get the most out of your loadout.
Tense Shooting And Horde Mode
The shooting action is as tense as ever, and in Fireteam Elite 2 it’s like we are playing Resident Evil, as ammo is at a premium. The number of times I’ve reached an ammo crate with only sidearm ammo and harsh language left means I’m usually hanging on by my fingernails. Health packs are equally rare, and while your team mates can pick you up, finding a gap in the waves of enemies is usually the hard part.
Speaking of team mates, there is no shortage of people playing online, and so finding a fireteam is usually easy. And you’ll need them, believe me, especially once you’ve cleared the campaign and unlocked the Horde mode. This time the amount of time it takes has been reduced, with it running five waves instead of ten to each round. At the end of each round, you can choose to leave and preserve the rewards, or stay and push your luck. This can (and does ) backfire, so consider what shape you are in.
A Bigger Bug Hunt
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 does enough to get a nod. It is glitchy and those glitches can be distracting, but once the motion tracker starts singing, you’ll soon forget about any problems. The shooting action against one of the most iconic enemies of all-time is satisfying, and with the vast amount of customisation available, no two runs have to be the same.
If you like Aliens, and more importantly like shooting them, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is an easy sell.
Important Links
The Bug Hunt Gets Bigger as Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Launches – https://www.thexboxhub.com/the-bug-hunt-gets-bigger-as-aliens-fireteam-elite-2-launches/
Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Announced for Xbox, PlayStation and PC with Bigger Co-op Battles – https://www.thexboxhub.com/aliens-fireteam-elite-2-announced-for-xbox-playstation-and-pc-with-bigger-co-op-battles/
Buy from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/aliens-fireteam-elite-2/9mtp6nrfjbgr
There’s a Premium Edition too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/aliens-fireteam-elite-2-40th-anniversary-premium-edition/9p53h6f661b9
