Aliens: Fireteam Elite is the first “true” Alien game in quite a long time, the most notable being Isolation some seven years ago, and the most notorious, Colonial Marines, the year before that. Fireteam Elite has more in common with the latter than the former as it’s a game focused mainly on action over stealth horror, but is Aliens: Fireteam Elite worth checking out for its single-player content?
The simple answer: kind of. Aliens: Fireteam Elite can certainly be played (and enjoyed, to an extent) completely solo, but seeing as how it seems balanced for multiple real players and proper teamwork (particularly on its higher difficulties), you might not get as much out of if it in single-player.
Fireteam Elite begins with you aboard the Endeavor as a member of the titular Fireteam Elite. Here you can talk to some NPCs, sans facial animations, and discover tonnes of lore and also more about your fellow Marines. Aliens: Fireteam Elite really does have quite a lot of interesting lore to dive into, which you turn in as intel to NPCs who then give you some pretty well-written exposition dumps. You might not believe it, but Fireteam Elite actually builds upon and deepens the Alien universe in super fascinating ways. It’s not an RPG in which you can leaf through reams and reams of information, but Fireteam Elite does a much better job of throwing you into its world than many will likely give it credit for — Alien fans will be in their element here.
It’s not long, though, until your first mission and the meat of the game — hunting some bugs — begins.
You will matchmake with other players by default, but you can turn that off from the lobby, after which you will be paired with Alpha and Beta, two synths. These guys are competent enough as teammates, seemingly capable of hitting constant headshots and knowing exactly where to fire at enemies, sometimes even trying to do so through walls. However, Alpha and Beta aren’t quite up to snuff on higher difficulties and always seem to struggle against elite enemies, though are fine enough for just a playthrough on Standard difficulty.
The gameplay itself mostly works while playing solo, as Alpha and Beta can’t make use of any abilities to help you out, but you should still be able to power through the whole campaign as long as you play smart, increasing your Combat Rating to be more effective, and don’t mind doing the same thing almost on repeat. You’re typically just going to be facing a swarm, next room, a swarm, next room, a bigger swarm, last room, biggest swarm, end of level — rinse and repeat until the credits roll. There’s some minor variation in how rooms are laid out in terms of enemies and stuff like mines or turrets depending on difficulty and just randomness, but it’s really just the same thing throughout each of Aliens: Fireteam Elite’s campaigns.
As for how long those campaigns last, most players should expect to finish all four of them in 8-10 hours, depending on how often they see a game over (man), which means you’ll have to restart the long levels all over again. Alpha and Beta aren’t the smartest tools in the shed, so they may not revive you or each other when it’s really necessary, so when either all three of you are downed or you run out of revives, that’s game over.
As frustrating as that might be, the campaigns feel like a celebration lap for the Alien franchise with you going through all kinds of eras, including the ruins of the Engineers as well as the prerequisite shootouts aboard a dank spaceship. Sure, the crew of the Endeavor aren’t terribly memorable and the storyline doesn’t feel particularly fresh, but it’s kind of like the Final Fantasy X-2 for Aliens, sadly minus the pop group. Those who love the license in general will love the authentic rifle fire, xeno screams, and countless nods to what came before it.
Once you’ve rolled the credits, as it were, you can then play Horde mode to see how long you can last against waves of xenos, but the main attraction of Aliens: Fireteam Elite’s endgame is simply unlocking everything and becoming the strongest Colonial Marine in the universe. It takes a long time to fully dust off Fireteam Elite, some 100 hours or so — the game might really wear you down before then if you’re playing single-player.
Ultimately, if you like the Aliens IP and don’t mind some jank as well as clear balance for multiplayer, Fireteam Elite is a worthwhile single-player experience. It’s somewhere between Colonial Marines and Isolation, a weird middle ground that’s good (and fun) enough to recommend to Alien devouts, though everyone else might not get quite as much out of it.
Aliens: Fireteam Elite is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X | S.
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