Previews
[Preview] ‘Aliens Fireteam Elite’: In Space, No One Can Hear You Emote
While many horror fans would say the history of the Alien film franchise is a bit scattershot, its video game efforts are perhaps even more erratic. One of the series’ low points is Aliens: Colonial Marines, a 2013 Gearbox shooter that failed to do just about anything right, and its lasting blemish on the IP have left this summer’s Aliens Fireteam Elite with some skepticism from fans.
Distancing itself from the survival horror aspects of the beloved Alien Isolation, Fireteam Elite is much more akin to Colonial Marines, but after several hours with a good portion of the game, it feels like a much more competent shooter, albeit maybe still a curious use of the franchise.
In teams of three, players using their own customized avatars will star in Cameron-style Aliens action setpieces. The game wants you to play in co-op, but it will always fill out a team with one or two somewhat helpful AI companions as needed. The first campaign takes place aboard a spaceship not unlike those we’ve seen in the movies for decades and Cold Iron Studios nails the look in a way that immediately excites me. Analog computers and their scrawling green text, Working Joes ominously hibernating in their docking stations, and ample vents built into the framework of this first campaign’s spaceship setting make for a familiar and faithful scene.
It’s moody, but it’s quickly apparent this isn’t going to offer the slow-crawling tension of Scott’s original movie. In just seconds after I exited the starting area, I was greeted by hordes of xenomorphs. Most of the time, they were a basic type, with a slightly smaller frame and spawning in packs of a dozen or more. There were other types too, like a suiciding xeno that gets in close and explodes on players like an H.R. Giger-branded homing missile. Another spit its famous acid spit from a distance. Another stalked from behind corners or overhead and pounced on players, demanding they complete a QTE unless their teammates can assist.
The archetypes sound familiar, no doubt. The easy comparison to make for what Aliens Fireteam Elite plays like is – you guessed it – Left 4 Dead. I play a lot of games of that lineage, and admittedly I do grow wary (and even weary) of making the comparison when it can feel like low-hanging fruit, but sometimes the inspiration is too obvious to ignore. Fireteam Elite wants to be relentless, and in that regard, it succeeds. The past decade of Left 4 Dead-likes have passed or failed largely based on their ability to deliver proper pacing. Too much too fast, and it can feel pray-and-spray, but too few enemies mean failing to keep players on their toes.
Fireteam Elite betrays its franchise’s well-established rules of how even a single xenomorph is a catastrophic threat in favor of throwing hundreds of aliens at teams level by level. While this aspect is awkward and hard to ignore for the series’ purists, I was able to look past it once I saw how well-rounded Fireteam Elite is as a modern shooter.
Shooting from third-person feels great in Fireteam Elite, with optional waist-high cover available all over, though I didn’t find too much use in it, given how the aliens swarm from all over most of the time. Characters are split into classes, each given their own secondary items that use cooldown timers to reload. There’s even an emote menu with a few that are already incongruous with the typical Alien universe — is now the best time for a dance-off? Fireteam Elite is a modern co-op shooter first and foremost, and an Alien game second, and a deep menu of unlockable perks, attachments, weapons, and cosmetics reveal a long tail for this game once it launches in a few weeks. I think, ultimately, people coming to the game as merely Alien fans will need to squint to appreciate it as a part of their cherished franchise.
It’s going to take some appreciation for the genre, not just the familiar monsters roaming the ducts, but anyone who does enjoy both, as I do, I think they’ll quickly get sucked into the game’s reward dispersal schedule. It feels like pass or fail on any given mission, you’re always unlocking something new – or just about to, teasing you to go back in for another round. One of my favorite features is a perk system that demands players shuffle equipped bonuses like a puzzle akin to Resident Evil‘s inventory interface. I had several perks I earned, a few more I bought with the game’s free currency, and it was fun trying to squeeze them into my build like Tetris.
This is as unlike Alien Isolation as Aliens is to Alien, but Cold Iron overcomes skepticism with strong core mechanics, levels rich in homage despite a jarringly different pace, and an upgrade tree with countless branches for all types of players. It won’t be a game dedicated to its source material, but with about a month until launch, it feels like it could be a fun co-op shooter that just happens to have some famous aliens clawing at you and your teammates.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite preview code for PC provided by the publisher.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is out August 24, 2021, for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Steam.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I miss seeing rats. No, not in real life, but in the upcoming Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy. The series had distinguished itself from other games by focusing on the Black Death era, while using diseases as thematic and gameplay markers.
Instead of using the cover of darkness to get a jump on enemies and devouring them with my supernatural control over rats, I’m jumping right in broad daylight with a sword and knife to cut open their throats. There’s a noticeable shift in setting and tone as Resonance seems to be a sunnier adventure. I played two hours of the game, and I’m interested to see how it’ll connect to the first two games.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy follows a younger version of the smuggling pirate Sophia, whom our prior protagonists, Amicia and Hugo, met in A Plague Tale: Requiem. Set 15 years earlier, Sophia has been cursed with terrifying visions, and after escaping from her home, she reaches the island of Crete, which may have the key to ending her curse.
Resonance thankfully still has some horror-tinged aspects, namely through Sophia’s visions. Often seeped in red, these visions are sudden and ominous, showing her what looks like some sort of connection to the Macula, a supernatural curse prominently featured in the series that allows users to control rats.
During my time with the preview, I played chapters 5 and 6, where Sophia is accompanied by her friend Leni. While I’m unsure of her origins or when she joined, I’m curious as to how she’ll develop as the game progresses. Resonance is much more focused on combat, and Sophia’s repertoire of moves includes slashes, blocks, dodges, and parries. It’s nothing revolutionary, but the action feels smooth, almost like Batman: Arkham. Sophia even has a few finishers that add cinematic flourish.
One thing you’ll have to look out for is her HP bar. I was only able to sustain about three hits before dying, and in order to replenish any HP, you’ll need to kill an enemy. So you can’t go in there all reckless. You have to properly read enemy attacks if you want to survive. Leni can’t be controlled directly, but she’ll often be helpful and keep at least one enemy busy as she fights on her own.
Additionally, Resonance emphasizes Greek culture this time around, giving its setting a different identity from the other Plague Tale games. Sophia also has visions revolving around the Greek legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, allowing her to peer into the past. I even played as Theseus at certain points with a similar moveset to Sophia, as he also cuts down other gladiators. There’s a bit of a dual timeline mechanic here, as seeing things through Theseus’s eyes during cutscenes gives her insight on how to progress through the dilapidated dungeons on Crete.
Puzzles are also a big focus of Resonance. During my preview, Sophia had a mysterious device that would emit three different colored lights, and I’d have to line them up properly on switches in order to open up doors to get further in. You’re rewarded for some light exploration as well. I took a side detour to another light-focused puzzle, and when I solved it, I found a chest containing the Sica, a sword for Sophia. This one contained the Focus Rush skill, where killing an enemy further increases her Focus Gauge.
Eventually, Sophia and Leni get separated, and the former is forced to navigate the temple’s underground alone. However, a giant tubular monster hides in the depths, waiting to attack. This is where the game’s stealth elements come into play. Similar to the first two games, light is a safe haven. Whenever Sophia runs, she emits a trail of blue aura, and the monster is attracted to that. So you’re basically trying to rush from one light source to the next. Additionally, Sophia can use her grappling hook to swing across large gaps, giving the traversal a sort of Uncharted-like feel to it.
After successfully getting out from underground, Sophia lets out a sigh of relief, but now realizes that she has to find Leni before it’s too late. My demo cuts there.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a prequel to the first two games, but manages to separate itself by focusing on action and the shift to Greek culture rather than a stealthy adventure through France. The gameplay and puzzle-solving aren’t exactly reinventing the wheel, but all of its mechanics feel incredibly polished.
I’m absolutely enamored with the A Plague Tale’s world. I’m excited to see how Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy expands its lore and fleshes out Sophia’s character since her introduction in the previous game. This might be the perfect swashbuckling adventure to close out the summer when it launches on August 27 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
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