![]() ![]() Things really ramp up on an enemy level once Weyland Yutani's line of creepy Working Joe androids enters the mix. I would have liked to see Cold Iron Studios get more wiggle room to create a few more "magical" or atypical super xenos, but the variety here is still pretty solid. Much like Left 4 Dead, AFE mixes its weaker xenos up with a few "supers," and these come with a mix of stronger exoskeleton "shields," distant acid-spitting powers, explode-upon-death abilities, and sneaky tackle-and-pin attacks. This looks unbecoming in screenshot form, but in the midst of swarm-filled combat, it quickly becomes essential. The game's worst visual aspect is that xenos are bathed in a yellow highlight if aimed at. ![]() AFE's xeno animation cycles are on target, and it's awesome to watch them gecko-sneak across every surface imaginable. The enemies' first edge is their ability to appear from all sides, typically in formations that pop out of holes in walls and ceilings from all directions, and they crawl in your direction in a compelling show-of-force manner. Each of the game's four classes are equipped to mow down waves of advancing xenos in relatively short order. They operate in a quantity-over-quality philosophy, since this is Aliens we're talking about. The environs, as rendered in Unreal Engine 4, are bathed in tantalizing lighting-the kind that typically carves any path or hallway with alternating slivers of bright highlights and shadowy contrast.Īnd the xenos themselves are appropriately terrifying. The game immediately fills your ears with a full-orchestra score, serviceable radio chatter, familiar tracker beeps, and ominous 3D-mapped sounds of xeno skittering. 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. CLASSIC RACERS ELITE PS5 REVIEW SERIESBetween 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. CLASSIC RACERS ELITE PS5 REVIEW PCPlatform: PC (reviewed), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S Game Details Developer: Cold Iron Studios ![]()
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