It’d sell better if they called it Randy Pritchford’s Colonial Marines 2
It’s elite because they made a FPS in 3rd person.
And upon realizing this I removed tracking on the thread because I’m simply not elite enough for it.
IGN
Gamespot
Looks very repetitive. Not sure if there’s an upgrade system but in any event not sure how this would have legs.
Ars Technica gave this a very good review.
As an Aliens (2nd movie) fan, I’m definitely interested. Nostalgia and hype kick up a notch as the motion tracker pings and pulse rifles burst.
I am worried though. It seems reviews and streams seem to point towards the game being competent and a major improvement over other IP attempts, but get to a “meh” feeling pretty quick. Basically it seems it is great early on but then quickly loses its shine and “yep, I’m done” malaise seems to take over. So I can’t tell if it’s a buy or a wait. With the season direction they are aiming for, I don’t think it’s a good sign that players got their fill so quickly (even to the point of saying there is more to unlock or do, but they are just done with the game).
Edit: I’m weak. After a few more reviews, I’m in. Let’s Rock!!!
When’s this going live? It’s said “in 1 hour” for several hours now.
Edit: nevermind it’s live!
I played it for a bit last night.
My reaction is quite mixed.
First, I have quite fond memories of Aliens. I was just old enough that it was an edgy rental choice since I was not really supposed to watch scary movies. After watching it, my childhood imagination was ignited at what turned out to not be a monster movie, but a war movie. A war movie that was totally unlike Hamburger Hill or Return of the Jedi. I rented that cassette again and again from Safeway, or when it was out, the local video store that rented Beta. Later on I bought really crappy games on “IBM” or years after that installed cheesy mods on the Doom shareware copy I paid to upgrade just to have a taste of the Aliens franchise in a game. Unfortunately, many game experiences have woefully failed to deliver on that childhood fueled hype.
That is my starting point with Aliens: Fireteam Elite.
It is okay. That is not meant to be a put down. The game feels like a VERY competent mod for some other unknown independent PC shooter. It plays well enough and it does bring moments of joy backed up by me shouting many one liners from the movie at my monitor. However, it just feels… I dunno…something. Here are some things that are irking me.
–The sound is authentic. It is definitely the pulse rifle and motion tracker sounds that I loved. However, they are muted. Or sampled. Or…something. Perhaps it is because they are movie samples, but they lack volume or direction when playing with headphones. When I fire the pulse rifle, it sounds like I am not firing it, but someone else is and from somewhere nearby.
–The movement is janky. One reviewer said that changing weapons is like a wheelhouse arm movement as a new gun magically plops into the hand and the other goes to the backpack. Yeah, that is about right. Alien animations look good, but off at the same time. Again, it has the look of a really good mod, but still a mod.
–The game is almost like an arcade game. It is very repetitive. Go here, shoot waves. Now go here, shoot waves. Replay level for more unlocks, shoot the same waves in the same ways. It wants to be some L4D live service game with seasons, but I think their hook is really dull for that ambition.
–Your AI teammates are pretty bad. The game even says not to use them past standard difficulty. However, as far as I can tell in just my initial experience any fun to be had is past standard difficulty.
–No widescreen support. I fought with this for many a relaunch as I tried in vain to get either a screen that was not smashed against my character’s back or with a cursor that didn’t run off the window when aiming. I was not successful, nor does any else seem to be.
–No under-slung 40mm grenade launcher on the pulse rifle. I mean. WTH! That is like the only weapon in the franchise that got a training clip and visual explanation of all of its features. Ugh. While everyone was ga-ga over the Smart Gun, I was excited to bursty burst fire as the digital ammo counter ran down then pump fire grenades. Nope. Not in this game. Very sad panda here.
So… Is it a bad game? No. Is there fun there? Yeah, I think so. I do. Just know that without significant, huge post release support, I can’t see this game having much legs in the community. With the AI being so bad, I also just can’t see this as a game to play down the line as a sale pickup. Really, the choice is to play now while there are humans playing and enjoy the 3 to 10 hour Aliens ride, or just skip it. Personally I am hovering at refund time limits and waiting for any kind of widescreen option. If it materializes, I will probably keep it and enjoy the ride. If not, I will move on.
TLDR: It is not Colonial Marines. Is is not Aliens L4D either.
On a related note, Alien and Aliens Extended Edition are both streaming for free on Amazon Prime right now.
Wish someone would due a big budget version of this.
Thanks for the review. Definitely sounds like a skip for me. Guess I’ll just play the old AvP games again…
Thanks for the honest review. I desperately wanted this to be good, and I feel like I probably would enjoy it for a while. But your criticisms are certainly noted and £35 is a bit beyond the “yeah why not” mark for me.
Hopefully the first sale will draw in a good amount of players, because that’s when I’ll get it probably.
oh no wonder alien fireteam elite feels/looks cheap. it’s published by focus interactive. purveyer of many jankey warhammer licensed games. no lipsync for talking interactions.
McMaster, pull a deck plan off a terminal plz.
-Tom
rgr 5x5
Dude, I didn’t ask you to land the dropship! You’re doing it wrong!
-Tom
I re-read your comments. it’s FOV, I see. I made a short video on how to fix that using the link I provided earlier, but here it is again - Universal Unreal Engine 4 Unlocker - FRAMED. Screenshot Community
Your image actually is not widescreen. The image is cropped and zoomed. Notice how the screen stops at the character’s butt. Normally the character can be seen to roughly the knee. The camera will zoom in to about that level for aiming down sights or sprinting for a normal uncropped view (for UW it is already zoomed in and zooms in MORE for those actions). My monitor is an ultra-ultra wide 32:9, 5120x1440 resolution so the zoom and crop takes it all the way to in to the about where the top of the pump on the shotgun as the lower end of the screen and makes everything bigger (zoomed).
This is the annoying thing that a lot of games do to “support” UW. I have a handful of games that I hate to play because the camera is slapped right up against the character model when clearly the design was to give breathing room. It makes games feel extremely claustrophobic and defeats the point of 3rd person camera as you can’s see anything and now there is a giant character model in your face.
Thanks for the console unlocker. I have seen that suggestion, but I think that is a bit beyond what I want to do as a consumer. I am debating just trying that or waiting to see what other suggestions come up.
It supports widescreen (16:9) but apparently not ultra widescreen (21:9) fully?