Check your motion trackers for Aliens: Fireteam Elite

30.06.2021, 07:28

Just another bug-hunt? Or will this be the Colonial Marines experience that all of empty, silent space has been waiting for? Better quit playing Aliens Zen Pinball tables soon and start training for a proper return into Aliens territory.

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Still one of the most intense and exciting science-fiction movies ever made is Aliens (1986). Its influence pervades subtly (and all too obviously) hundreds of action movies, science-fiction games and some very similar blockbusters. Why? Well, we’d say firstly it was down to a bunch of strong characters (and the actors playing them) - major and minor - with their differing motives, who we are made to care about, or follow, before they are thrust into this incredibly menacing, fearful environment. Their motives are mostly misguided, greedy or arrogant and it’s only the experience awaiting them which will teach them all a lesson. And it’s a lesson we learn by witnessing what happens too. 

 

 

The setting itself is the other main character. It’s a colony planet taken over - almost wiped out - by aliens, but it may just as well be the jungle of the Vietnam war, where a group of ‘elite’ marines were dropped into a place they could never hope to conquer. It’s true, their enemies are not human here - not seen as human - and in this case, that’s the mistake. 

 

The aliens awaiting them are more than human; they turn out to be the embodiment of Nature, breeding and protecting their queen and their eggs, and they are stronger and more powerful in their numbers. They simply moved in to take over their colony. Let’s just say, they were never going to surrender it. 

 

If we had just let them be, with all our technology, things would have been better for all. But of course, we don’t let Nature be. We move it out of our way. But in this case, we are bested; we are the ones moved out of the way.

 

So who will survive and who will die (heroically) in this inferno where justice awaits all those who carried in such motives? The lead characters - Ellen Ripley, plus one marine, a small girl they rescue and a wounded android - are the only ones. Ripley was forced to go there, but even she has a sense of curiosity, and desires to confront her past and her fears, on the same level of us, the audience. It’s actually her sense of duty to rescue any survivors in the colony that makes her join the mission. Will her past experience give her the edge, over all the ignorance and machismo surrounding her? She is unable to warn them about the extent of the danger awaiting them.

 

All the special effects in Aliens are non-CGI, which means people actually put time and effort into them, which also means they look super-realistic; more so than almost any monster movie ever, and most Marvel movies today.

 

We mention all this about Aliens, because curiosity is what is leading us to Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Will we confront our fears here? It’s a game completely based on that movie, but how will it pay tribute? Alien: Isolation paid tribute to the more direct horror movie that preceded it, tapping into some more directly fear-focused veins. Aliens is more of a shooter. Load-outs featuring motion trackers and weapons like Pulse Rifles and gatling canons played a special part, along with gripping locations in the film where the characters were put under siege. In the end, none of them did much good against acid-for-blood, giant bugs. A close encounter-orientated flame-thrower plus grenade launcher taped up together worked ok.

 

So will Aliens: Fireteam Elite awaken all our senses again, as that classic movie did?


 

The story is set 23 years after the original trilogy, so that should bring plenty of intrigue, if it be well-written enough to complement and expand on all that. The environments will hopefully be suitably atmospheric and full of nasty - and nice - surprises.
 

The latest news is that it’s now set for release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X and S on.... August 24.

 

 

Despite being more influenced by Aliens, there is clearly more biodiversity introduced in some differing types of Aliens themselves, and via the Engineers and chest-buster architecture from the other movies. There have been rumours of rogue androids there too. Maybe Bishop himself will somehow still be around to help, since he managed to stay relatively sane. 

 

Customisation options for your 3-man Fireteam will be vital to master if you’re to survive the 4 major campaigns to work through.

 

You can play the game in single-player alongside NPCs, don't worry, but likely the game will reach its potential when played co-op, bringing the best out of close communication and teamwork as you explore and find out ways to dispatch - or avoid - attracting them. Hopefully there will be larger weaponry to deploy like sentry cannons to set up in some sections, enabling that siege-style survival gameplay which was so gripping in the movie. Just keep an eye on the ceiling.

 

Let’s just hope gamers will do a better job than Hicks and co. from that classic film, who never really had a hope in hell against the xenomorphs. Like Ripley, you might find the real objective is just to survive, rescue someone and get them out of there alive. Don’t forget your red bandana either.

 

The good news: there's still time here at your Prizes Drop to deploy your dashboard and earn some more points completing our range of simple mini-tasks. Put them to good use: swap them for free steam or Amazon codes so you can even pre-order Aliens: Fireteam Elite. You're gonna need those extra pre-order features like the Hardened Marine Pack, otherwise it'll just be 'game over, man... game over....' 

 

Keep it tight people, and... stay frosty...

 

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