The first thing that stands out is how AFE funnels players into an endorphin hit of tight, authentic combat against diabolical, swarming xenos. This all happens via third-person combat in pre-built levels, which range from chrome-plated industrial base interiors to lush, Prometheus-like excavations on planets. Squads of three marines, played by either friends or AI, must march through dimly lit environments, all pockmarked with a staggering number of vents and crawl holes-no Weyland-Yutani carpenters on duty?-and kill monsters on their way from point A to point Z. That work will look familiar to anyone who's played modern co-op shooters like Left 4 Dead. From there, you create a generic Marine, pick from four soldier classes, listen to canon-filled mission briefings, and get to work. Instead, AFE opens with a single cut scene suggesting that Marines have been assigned some unpleasant clean-up duties involving Weyland-Yutani, decades after the original trilogy concluded. (Worth noting: Stabs at such nostalgia don't always work out for the Aliens-verse, so maybe that's a point in Cold Iron Studios' favor.) And nothing here suggests a cinema-caliber Aliens entry with famous cameos and Cameron-caliber set pieces. This game barely crawls past its $40 price tag in terms of included content and variety-albeit with all the production value and series-appropriate bombast you might hope for. To be fair, Aliens: Fireteam Elite starts with milder aspirations. (Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.) No need to swear on a Covenant Still, a genuinely fun Aliens game is better late than never. Between missions, I would ask him why his development teams couldn't surpass a little-known indie studio's slimmed-down excuse to rev up machine guns and flamethrowers with friends. ![]() And I gotta say, this three-player co-op romp's success makes me angry about Colonial Marines all over again.While losing hours to this new game's faithful, no-frills fun, I imagined Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford sitting next to me. This week, the letter S returns to PCs and game consoles with far lower expectations in the form of Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Between flashy trailers and Gearbox's reputation at the time, series fans got their hopes up that the 1986 James Cameron film would finally inspire a modern shooter worth a loud oorah. ![]() Links: Official Web site | Steam | Amazon | Microsoft | PlayStation StoreĢ013's Aliens: Colonial Marines was arguably the last huge video game to focus on the " Aliens with an S" side of all things xenomorphic. Platform: PC (reviewed), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S ![]() Game Details Developer: Cold Iron Studios
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