Aliens: Fireteam Elite Catch All

[Corporal Hicks]

👀 lil sneak peek of a breakdown I'm doing for some of my favorite assets I made for Aliens: Fireteam Elite pic.twitter.com/NCkz1t7AFf

— Carrie Sloane (@carriesloane) September 8, 2021

[razeak]

It's been a while since I read Phalanx, but wasn't melee almost useless in that book? I feel like the Aliens didn't really die to melee or it was just one or something. I can't remember.

[Corporal Hicks]

It's not related to the book, it's related to the ancient formation.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

On it's own the Drone and Warrior are bullet sponges with a ton of health and take such a ridiculous amount of ammo to bring down you start to long for Ripley's grappling hook  , but yes, they have a ton of health, but on their own they are weak. Meaning, if you're all at full health with full ammo and awake at the keyboard or controller, not a single one of you will die against a Drone or Warrior on its own. It's only dangerous when it's unleashed against you while you have been taking the hits while fighting hundreds of Aliens.

But that's okay. It is. It's not an insult to the Alien Universe nor this Horde game. It's supposed to be this way by design and it's not a game to be taken seriously for its "realism".

If someone wants more of that "Aliens" movie realistic feel, I personally feel AvP 2010 can deliver it to you at times. No those typical end level "boss fights" will still make your eyes roll but just in the dark club level alone you can die to a few Aliens alone. Thank goodness for stims! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ydGW7TTAU

My issue here is that that they were LAZY for opting for a total arcade shooter horde game when they could've made something that is in character with the actual Aliens movies rather than just turning this into another zombie mayhem shooter with super human players. I'm not saying that it needs to be like A:I, but maybe try to make it at least a little scary and suspenseful rather than having three Terminators mostly mowing their way through endless hordes of slow-moving weak Aliens.

Then on the other end of the spectrum we have the Warriors and Drones, which are uncharacteristically tanky yet highly inefficient killers that you can outrun and out maneuver with ease. It's just lazy game mechanics. It's a zombie shooter pig with Alien lipstick.

[Voodoo Magic]

My issue here is that that they were LAZY for opting for a total arcade shooter horde game when they could've made something that is in character with the actual Aliens movies rather than just turning this into another zombie mayhem shooter with super human players. I'm not saying that it needs to be like A:I, but maybe try to make it at least a little scary and suspenseful rather than having three Terminators mostly mowing their way through endless hordes of slow-moving weak Aliens.

I wouldn't accuse Cold Iron of being "lazy" but otherwise I think you have a fair criticism.

I was recently conversing about this very same thing with the AvPGalaxy gentlemen that although there is great arcade fun to be had here in my opinion, anyone hoping to get a game experience where they often feel like they're inside an Aliens 86 movie (to the degree that Hunting Grounds does for Predator 87 or Isolation does for Alien 79) will find there is a disconnect there (in my eyes) between the game and the "Aliens" film IP it's using.

But that's the nature of the Horde Shooter. There's no escaping turning any IP's roster of enemies to a mix of canon fodder and bullet sponges in a Horde Shooter. And while I'm having a mindless blast, drinking my vodka and blasting my Aliens, I totally respect people wishing a new Alien game wasn't wasted on a Horde Shooter format. That's fair. It's all personal tastes and desires.

[Kimarhi]

I think it is infinitely more playable than isolation, and would rank it highly with other eu inspired installments in the series, but I personally want that game made by someone that is what isolation is to alien. 

Despite being a chore to play, isolation just feels more true to the movies than anything that came before.  I want that same care placed on a game that is inspired by the 2nd movie and this game despite being fun is not it.

[PAS Spinelli]

Yeah, the second movie is about unprepared marines biting more than they can chew, while this game is about a Battalion specially made to contain Xenomorph threats, the game captures many aspects of the movie, but it's not a proper representation of it like Isolation did for the first one
Although, if PVP is introduced and it has an Infestation mode, it can get quite close

[judge death]

Can just make this resume and what I think is just different game wishes and experience you all want from the game:

Me and Beagle and others are seeking a simulator type of game where the xenos are portrayed right and behaves like in the movies and as strong etc where they arent easy to kill like what we saw in aliens where they outmsart marines and is deadly, just one is enough to kill them all if the marines arent paying attention.

Others here seek more arcade and light eharted experience with a mix of realism from the xenos and having fun, typical arcade game and its here Aliens fire team elite lands, and for what it is I would say it is doing it very well and I like how the drone and warriors and other xenos behave but its still far from realistic. On higher settings even runners are deadly andI wouldnt even try melee fight them either.

So you are all right, from what you seek and like from the franchise. Beagle is right with the game now portraying the xenos fully super realisticly and PAS is right with they got the xenos mostly right and much attention and on higher settings it mostly get the xenos right in how much abuse and deadly they are.

But this is still an arcade game and horde shoter at that, and if we look at other games in that genre, you will kill a lot of enemies of varying degree of lethality, runners became the standard zombie while warrior became the big tank zombies.
that is how this kind of games work.
Its fun but I wouldnt take it as a xeno simulator, in the game 3 marines will kill in one playthrough over 500 xenos, I woulkd argue most will kill 1000 xenos, while 20 marines in aliens struggled against 120+ xenos and according to one of the better researched youtube videos they killed between 50-60 xenos.

same here with weapons and how they behave, now one can use a hand held shield against xenos and take shots from weapons that would penetrate it with ease, heck in the movies even a runner can punch through a heavier metal door, same for warriors in aliens, even the drones in resurrection could punch downa  armoured door.
You can activate gadgets so your weapons shots faster or do more damage for certain time or launch a shock wave that throws the xenos away around you, things like this dont exist in the franchise reality, which again: this is an arcade game and then such things are to be expected.

Ina  sim like arma3 the mentioned stuff wouldnt fit in, but aliens fire team elite is very similair to what another arcade shoter is doing with fireprof sheilds and classes and gadgets and options: rainbow six seige.

[RidgeTop]

Yeah, the second movie is about unprepared marines biting more than they can chew, while this game is about a Battalion specially made to contain Xenomorph threats, the game captures many aspects of the movie, but it's not a proper representation of it like Isolation did for the first one
Although, if PVP is introduced and it has an Infestation mode, it can get quite close

I think this is a significant factor in the Marines' ability to deal with the Xenomorphs. In 'Aliens' it was one of the first encounters which they were totally unprepared for. In FTE, the Marines have been dealing with the Aliens for 20+ years and have additional training and weapon technologies specifically developed for that threat.

On some points though yeah, video game gonna video game, as almost all games do to some extent, even ones going for realism.

Would also love to see a PvP mode, ala Left 4 Dead 2 and one of my personal favs, Dead Space 2.

[PAS Spinelli]

Tested the Phalanx in horde mode, Aliens are smart enough to not attack you from just your front, so you have to be smart when using your shield, Warriors and Prowlers seem to immediately try to grapple you when they see your shield, Burster explosion can be tanked, but the acid will still damage you, if the Spitter's acid hits you, you won't take damage from the direct hit, but a puddle will form on your feet.
Phalanx is great against the Crusher, the Crusher has no grapple and the Phalanx can bait it's attacks, take no damage and let the team shoot it's back

[Voodoo Magic]

Yeah, the second movie is about unprepared marines biting more than they can chew, while this game is about a Battalion specially made to contain Xenomorph threats, the game captures many aspects of the movie, but it's not a proper representation of it like Isolation did for the first one
Although, if PVP is introduced and it has an Infestation mode, it can get quite close

I think this is a significant factor in the Marines' ability to deal with the Xenomorphs. In 'Aliens' it was one of the first encounters which they were totally unprepared for. In FTE, the Marines have been dealing with the Aliens for 20+ years and have additional training and weapon technologies specifically developed for that threat.

Yeah, but in just one defense point we're talking three colonial marines, I repeat three colonial marines, I repeat three colonial marines on foot going up against a ballpark 200-300 Aliens in the course of roughly 2-3 minutes. And that's just one point in a mission. So even with additional training & weaponry, trying to legitimize any of this arcadey nonsense would require some hefty mental gymnastics and even a bigger bottle of vodka than I am used to!

[RidgeTop]

If someone wants more of that "Aliens" movie realistic feel, I personally feel AvP 2010 can deliver it to you at times. No those typical end level "boss fights" will still make your eyes roll but just in the dark club level alone you can die to a few Aliens alone. Thank goodness for stims! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67ydGW7TTAU

This is the same AvP 2010 where you can block Alien Warrior attacks with your arms and then knock them on their asses right?

I didn't have a problem with that then but people were lobbing the same complaints at that game back in the day. As I said, sometimes video game gonna video game.

Raising the difficulty in this game (There are three hard modes!), just like that one will provide much more of a challenge. You're also on your own in that game in the campaign and pretty much any other Alien shooter killing untold numbers of Xenos. And while in the context of a movie, sure that would seem pretty outlandish, but in the context of a game, and especially a shooter, it was never crazy enough that it took me out of the immersion.

[PAS Spinelli]

AvP 2010 makes the Aliens a complete joke imo, you can beat an single Xenomorph Warrior to death with your bare hands, it's completely powerless against you as you can block and stun it with your bare arms and proceed to punch it to death, try doing that with a Drone or Warrior in AFTE and you will die 2 punchs in

[RidgeTop]

AvP 2010 makes the Aliens a complete joke imo, you can beat an single Xenomorph Warrior to death with your bare hands, it's completely powerless against you as you can block and stun it with your bare arms and proceed to punch it to death, try doing that with a Drone or Warrior in AFTE and you will die 2 punchs in

On AvP 2010's Nightmare difficulty they were still pretty lethal, and when you had a group of them the RPS melee system wouldn't do you much good.

[judge death]

I wish we one day get a proper squad tactics aliens game, in true simulator style like Arma 3 or aces of the deep or DCS/IL-2 level of realism. That is something this franchise never have gotten and I would love to see