The Return Of The Alien Franchise Is An Absolute Blast

Preview: Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Is Hard, Harrowing, And A Perfect Counterweight To Isolation

Frantic without ever getting too chaotic, there's a lot to love about Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. During a preview run of the four-person co-op extraction shooter, we got the chance to feel what it's like to scream "It's game over, man!" while being swarmed by Xenomorphs, androids, and all sorts of monsters from the haunting sci-fi world of Alien.

The sequel to 2021's Aliens: Fireteam Elite from Cold Iron Studio feels like a genuine expansion and improvement on the first game. Taking place decades after the events of the original trilogy and taking more than a few cues from squad shooters with overwhelming odds like Left 4 Dead, Fireteam Elite 2 works best when it leans into its franchise namesake.

While it doesn't reinvent the wheel and can sometimes swing back to standard extraction-shooter mechanics and tropes, the Alien aesthetic and style go a long way toward pushing the game in an exciting direction. Especially when getting to kill Xenomorphs with friends, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is a blast.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Works Is A Great When The Action Meets Horror

Functionally, anyone who has played a third-person shooter will be able to adjust quickly to the claustrophobic settings and corridors awaiting players who venture into Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. As part of a squad of Colonial Marines sent into the depths of the Weyland-Yutani-controlled cosmos, players choose from one of several classes and embark on fifteen missions.

A far cry from the stealth and horror elements of something like Alien: Isolation, players venture through Fireteam Elite 2's spaceships with a massive machine gun and a steadily rising kill count. While the game has elements of horror and tension, they don't come from hiding or trying to run away from a threat.

Instead, it's all about repositioning to ensure you're never overwhelmed. It's very easy to find yourself swarmed and slain in this game, even with a full squad of capable players. A linear focus keeps players moving forward, often trudging through dimly lit halls on your way to a larger space with specific objectives.

In both, the hordes of Xenomorphs, other aliens, or androids can come out of nowhere. This is where the game thrives as an action-horror title, with all the weaponry in the world still incapable of keeping you from shuddering at the sudden sight of a dozen monsters crawling across the ceiling right towards you.

It's highlights like that, seemingly pulled straight from the films, that deliver the most engaging Alien gameplay. While there's a case to be made for the more effective horror of Alien: Isolation as an adaptation of the movies, there's definitely also a real sense of catharsis upon unloading a massive amount of firepower into the creatures and dodging just out of reach to survive.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Is A Solid Shooter With Strong Worldbuilding

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 doesn't really do anything wrong. The game's best moments are when it feels like an Alien experience, but those moments are somewhat bluntedin larger open spaces. Those firefights feel more standard to the genre and can quickly blend together, especially once the player has gotten a good handle on how to best maneuver around their enemies and avoid their specific patterns.

There's nothing wrong with in on a gameplay level, although it does lose a certain amount of the tension that its stronger moments deliver on. The sheer nature of the swarms can also become frustrating on multiple playthroughs, although every victory feels subsequently exciting.

Even those standard aspects still feel like they embody the Alien franchise, thanks to the terrific sense of world-building and replication of the movies' aesthetic, ensuringthe game never loses sight of that core appeal. As an action-driven cousin to the more horror-tinted adaptations of the franchise, this sequel does a great job of being some long-awaited wish fulfillment for fans.

Those aspects felt underserved in the previous game, but the sound design and visual look of the new game do a great job of adding a bit of dimension to the potentially samey environments. It's not a game seeking to replicate the vibes of the material, but instead uses it as a solid shooter sandbox that knows when to let the tension grow and when to go all out and throw hordes of killer aliens at you.

In that sense, Fireteam Elite 2 does a good job. The action is kinetic, the controls are tight, and the different classes bring enough unique flavor to combat that they feel distinctive and effective. If you love the shooter genre and the Alien franchise, you'll get plenty out of this new extraction shooter.

While it doesn't really reinvent the genre in any notable ways, sometimes you don't need to. Sometimes, you just want to blow up the alien before it can rip you apart. Especially if you have some Alien-obsessed friends to recruit to the squad, the massive fights and sprawling challenges make Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 a good time.