Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Review

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: Online Co-op (2-4), Download Content

The first Aliens: Fireteam Elite was very much a surprise hit for me. I wasn’t expecting much from it and was blown away with how much I enjoyed it. One of the best parts is that it was highly challenging whether you played it online or offline. It has so many difficulties and so many intense fights that challenged the best of teams. Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 gives me just as much satisfaction and improves upon many of the gripes that I had with the first game. Just like the first game, the second game is a co-op third person shooter that is developed by Cold Iron Studio and 20th Century Studios.

Just like the first game, you customize a colonial marine and then choose your class and weapons and then you are thrown into battle. Character classes are much the same as they were in the first game, but all of them have been renamed – Duelist, Medic, Machinist, Marauder and Hunter. To go along with the classes from the first game, there is now a Specialist class that is basically a customizable class where you can mix and match two abilities from other classes. Each class has their own unique abilities and signature weapons. Classes have one passive ability and two active abilities with a cooldown. You must play all classes in order to unlock perks for your perk slots.

Once again, the UAS Endeavor serves as your hub where you can customize and upgrade your marine. There is a shop for purchasing weapons and weapon upgrades. You are CONSTANTLY unlocking new upgrade to purchase as you work your way through the game all the way up to the very end. There are also NPCs to interact with that have extra dialogue in between each mission. Unlike the first game, NPCs actually move their mouth when they speak this time. The overall story is just as engaging as the first game once it starts to pick up steam after the first few levels. While on board the Endeavor, you choose your next mission and head out.

In solo, you team up with three synthetic partners – Alpha, Beta and (the new one) Gamma. Unlike the first game, your partners actually help. While playing this game in the default standard difficulty, they were all incredibly helpful during the fights for me. While trying out higher difficulties, they didn’t immediately go down like in the first game. If it weren’t for my AI partners, there is one Intense mission that I would NOT have beaten because they actually revived me a few times and, without them, I would have failed that mission. The better AI is SO much of a game changer for solo play compared to the first Fireteam Elite where you had to carry your partners through stages on higher difficulties while playing solo.

Just like the first game, each campaign chapter has three different missions to complete. You basically perform objectives in between fighting waves of enemies. Your enemies are xenomorphs, synthetics and pathogens. Pathogens were only in the DLC for the first game, but this time they are in the main game. Fireteam Elite 2 gets incredibly intense during some fights. As usual with leveling up characters, the game gets easier as you continue to power up your marine. That is where the game’s multiple difficulties come into play however. The game has five total difficulties – Casual, Standard, Intense, Extreme and Insane. Just the Intense difficulty has a major spike for getting through solo. Enemies take off more damage, they have higher defense and you’ll fight higher difficulty enemies in earlier stages.

The game still maintains the same great atmosphere that the first game had. If you play this game with headphones, it feels so good. The sound is fantastic and helps to make the experience all the more immersive. There are constant hissing pipes and xenomorph screens that can be heard in the background while traversing through each stage. All the dialogue is voiced really well also. The music ramps up during battles making them feel even more intense.

The main flaw that I found with the game is that it sometimes doesn’t run at a smooth framerate all the time. Cutscenes are sometimes jittery. I also had some chugging framerate and the game completely crashed at one point. For the most part, it seems to be running well after the latest update however. Even though the AI partners are much more helpful this time around, they do often run in front of my shooting. I often shoot my AI teammates while blasting groups of xenos since they run in front of my gunfire. I also feel that the game could have better customization for creating your marine. It’s much like the first game overall. There are only a handful of face types to choose from. Also, I don’t why did this, but you can’t fully explore the hangar while onboard the UAS Endeavor. This time you are limited to an upstairs room to explore and try out your weapon rather than a wide open hangar. You can actually still see the old hangar from a balcony, but can’t go down to it!

Overall, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is more of the same that you’ll find in the first game, which is fantastic! It improves upon the first game’s weaknesses, and gives us what we wanted from the first game – more! There is enough new stuff here to bring back fans of the original and keep the experience fresh. I feel that the story is just as good as the original game also. If you’re into Alien lore, I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy in Fireteam Elite 2. Fans of intense online third person shooters will most likely find a lot to enjoy in this game also!

The Good:
+ Faithful game to the Alien franchise
+ Just as good of an atmosphere as the first game
+ Excellent overall sound
+ Overall addicting game whether played offline or online

The Bad:
- A bit of slowdown and jittery cutscenes at times
- AI partners get in the way often while shooting
- Customization (mainly face choices) for marines could be better