Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Review: Fun Co-Op Combat That Feels Too Familiar

There is something incredibly satisfying about watching a hallway fill with Xenomorphs before you and your squad unload everything you have into the swarm. Aliens: Fireteam Elite understood that fantasy well, and its sequel still delivers. The problem is that after spending time with the game, I kept wondering whether what I was playing really felt like a sequel.

After spending time with Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2, one thing became clear fairly quickly. The combat is still fun, the class system offers plenty of room to experiment, and playing alongside friends can lead to some fantastic moments. However, once the initial excitement fades, Fireteam Elite 2 starts to feel remarkably similar to the game that came before it.

That doesn’t make it a bad game. Far from it. It just makes the “2” in the title feel a little more ambitious than the game itself.

Another Bug Hunt

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 takes place in 2207 and once again brings players aboard the UAS Endeavor. After a distress signal arrives from Dr. Lily Pearce at Weyland-Yutani’s Storr’s Boon mining colony on LV-558, Fireteam Banshee is sent to investigate.

Naturally, things don’t go according to plan.

After Banshee loses contact, Fireteam Chimaera is deployed to locate the missing Marines and figure out what happened at the colony. What starts as a rescue mission soon opens the door to another collection of Weyland-Yutani secrets, Xenomorph infestations, hostile encounters, and plenty of reasons to keep your weapon loaded.

The campaign features 15 missions, with most taking roughly 20 to 30 minutes to finish, depending on the difficulty and how well your squad works together.

There is a story here, and those deeply invested in the Alien universe will likely get more out of the references and larger lore than I did. Personally, I am not a huge Aliens fan. I haven’t watched a large portion of the movies, yet I enjoyed the original Fireteam Elite and found myself enjoying this game for many of the same reasons.

You don’t need to know every piece of Alien lore to have a good time. That is important because the narrative certainly wasn’t what kept me playing.

The story does enough to move you from one mission to the next, but it never became something I felt deeply invested in. Fireteam Elite 2 is a game I played because shooting Xenomorphs with friends is fun, not because I needed to know what happened next.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Is At Its Best With Friends

At its core, Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is a class-based cooperative shooter designed around a four-person fireteam.

Yes, you can play by yourself; however, it’s not nearly as fun in my opinion.

When playing solo, CPU-controlled androids Alpha, Beta, and Gamma fill the empty positions on your team. The artificial intelligence has improved compared to the original game, which had its share of frustrating AI problems, but there is still plenty of room for improvement.

That makes playing with actual people the preferred experience. Unfortunately, random matchmaking doesn’t always solve the problem either. Players quitting mid-mission or wandering away from the group can quickly turn what should be a coordinated firefight into a frustrating situation. Fireteam Elite 2 simply works better when you’re playing with friends.

Communication matters when enemies are attacking from multiple directions, your team is running low on resources, and a larger Xenomorph suddenly decides that you’re next to go. Having three players you can actually coordinate with transforms the experience. When everything comes together, this is where Fireteam Elite 2 shines.

The Xenomorphs Remain The Stars Of The Show

There are plenty of Xenomorphs to kill, and thankfully they aren’t all interchangeable cannon fodder.

Runners are one of the enemies you’ll face most often. On their own, they’re not much of a threat and usually don’t justify burning through valuable consumables. The danger comes from their numbers. When a large pack of Runners charges your squad at once, a fight that seemed under control can fall apart fast.

Spitters pose a different kind of threat, preferring to keep their distance while launching acid at your squad from afar. Prowlers are much more aggressive, using their size and speed to leap onto unsuspecting Marines. Drones are another nuisance entirely, striking from the shadows before quickly pulling back once they start taking fire, much like the creature from the original Alien movie.

Warriors are where things get much more dangerous. These larger Xenomorphs can quickly become the biggest threat in a fight, especially if one manages to grab you and line up that infamous second mouth.

It’s gross, but it’s also exactly the kind of thing I want to see in an Aliens game.

What makes these encounters work is having to constantly adjust your strategy depending on what is coming at you. Knowing when to use grenades, mines, special ammo, abilities, or other limited resources becomes just as important as pulling the trigger.

You can’t always solve every encounter by firing at the first thing you see, which is what most players will do. Prioritizing the most dangerous targets and reacting to the different Xenomorph types is a big part of what makes the combat so enjoyable.

Familiar Missions Become Repetitive

Mission design in Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 follows a pretty familiar formula for a co-op shooter.

You enter an area, search for intel, destroy a target, complete an objective, mow down waves of Xenomorphs, hold a position, and eventually fight your way to extraction. Then the cycle starts all over again.

The Prologue does a good job of making that formula feel fresh at first. The larger environments give the four-player fireteam more room to operate, while Xenomorphs crawling across walls and ceilings help create the feeling that danger can come from almost anywhere.

They jump over cover, weave around attacks, move between surfaces, and can quickly turn what looked like a safe position into a problem.

Those early encounters are some of the game’s better moments. The campaign also tries to add some variety with shorter missions and additional enemy types such as Synths, but it doesn’t take long before the repetition starts to become noticeable.

The combat is enjoyable enough to keep things moving, especially when you’re playing with friends, but I still found myself wishing the objectives offered more variety.

That’s one of Fireteam Elite 2’s biggest weaknesses. The core gameplay loop is fun, but it rarely feels like something you haven’t already done before.

Six Classes Give Players Plenty Of Options

One of the areas where Fireteam Elite 2 really adds some depth is through its class system. There are five main classes to choose from, and each one has a clear role within the squad.

The Marauder is built for heavy offense, using explosives, crowd-control tools, rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and other weapons designed to tear through groups of enemies.

The Duelist is all about staying aggressive at close range. With access to dual primary weapons and bonuses that reward constant pressure, the class is best suited for players who like to stay in the middle of the action.

The Machinist focuses more on controlling the battlefield. Turrets and plasma-based gear make it easier to lock down an area and hold your ground when a swarm starts closing in.

The Hunter takes a more precise approach. Railguns, electric traps, and a focus on hitting weak points make the class especially useful for taking down larger or more dangerous targets.

Then there is the Medic, which is where I spent most of my time.

That was also my go-to class in the original Fireteam Elite, so I naturally found myself falling back into that role here. Keeping the team alive, handing out buffs, and helping everyone recover when a fight starts going sideways is simply the way I enjoy playing these games.

After reaching Level 10 with all five core classes, you unlock the sixth class, the Specialist. That is where the game really starts to open up when it comes to creating your own builds.

The Specialist Opens Up Build Customization

The Specialist essentially allows you to create your own hybrid Marine by mixing abilities, perks, traits, and equipment unlocked from the other classes.

Want supporting fire from the Machinist while incorporating abilities that help keep your squad alive? You can start building toward that. One combination I enjoyed involved using the Machinist’s turret for additional firepower while taking advantage of Combat Stims to help provide temporary health to the team.

Importantly, the Specialist doesn’t completely invalidate the original five classes. There are limitations on which Core Perks can be equipped, meaning the dedicated classes still maintain advantages within their intended roles. The Specialist offers flexibility rather than simply becoming the obvious best class in every situation.

That distinction matters. Weapon customization has also been expanded.

Weapons can equip Augments that change how they perform rather than simply providing basic statistical increases. Elemental options come with tradeoffs as well. Using elemental rounds can reduce stopping power, helping ensure that dedicated consumable ammunition still has a reason to exist.

Traits become increasingly flexible as weapons are leveled, while the expanded Perk Grid provides additional Core choices and modifiers. There is a meaningful amount of build experimentation here, and players who enjoy min-maxing their Marines will have plenty to work toward.

There Is A Reason To Keep Playing

Completing the campaign isn’t necessarily the end.

Meta-progression across the different classes encourages you to continue leveling your Marines, unlocking equipment, experimenting with weapons, and eventually gaining access to the Specialist.

There is also a Horde mode for players who simply want to see how long their squad can survive against increasingly dangerous waves. Combined with six classes and the amount of weapon and perk customization available, Fireteam Elite 2 has decent replayability.

The problem is that replayability still requires you to enjoy the core loop. If running missions and repeatedly slaughtering Xenomorphs is exactly what you want, there is plenty here to keep you busy.

If the campaign’s repetitive structure begins wearing you down early, additional progression systems probably aren’t going to completely change your mind.

It Looks And Feels Like Aliens

One thing Fireteam Elite 2 continues to do well is delivering the atmosphere players expect from this universe.

Dark corridors, industrial environments, Weyland-Yutani facilities, Pulse Rifle-style gunfire, swarms appearing from seemingly every direction, and Xenomorphs crawling across surfaces combine to create the feeling of being a Colonial Marine desperately attempting to survive another terrible assignment.

Even as someone who isn’t deeply invested in the films, I can appreciate how effectively the game delivers that fantasy. There are also some visually impressive moments when the screen begins filling with enemies.

Watching Xenomorphs move across walls and ceilings before pouring into an area can create genuine tension, particularly when the team is already struggling to maintain control. Unfortunately, the presentation isn’t always as polished as it should be.

Technical problems and an overall lack of refinement occasionally remind you that Fireteam Elite 2 isn’t quite as polished as its best moments suggest.

The Biggest Problem Is That It Feels Too Familiar

My biggest issue with Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 didn’t really hit me immediately. At first, I was simply excited to be playing another Fireteam Elite.

The four-player squads were welcome. The larger spaces were interesting. The combat remained satisfying. The new class and expanded customization gave me additional things to experiment with.

Then the shine started wearing off. The more I played, the more Fireteam Elite 2 began feeling like the original game with additional content rather than a completely new experience.

That isn’t necessarily an insult to the game. The original formula was already enjoyable, so building upon it makes sense.

But there is a difference between naturally evolving a successful formula and delivering something that feels substantial enough to justify an entirely new numbered sequel. Fireteam Elite 2 doesn’t consistently cross that line for me.

There were times where this felt like an extremely large expansion to Fireteam Elite rather than the next major chapter of the series.

More ambitious mission objectives, greater encounter variety, better AI, and additional mechanical changes could have helped establish a stronger identity. Instead, much of the experience feels immediately familiar. Maybe a little too familiar.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Review Verdict

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 understands exactly what makes this type of game enjoyable.

Grab a few friends. Pick complementary classes. Load up on weapons and equipment. Enter a mission. Watch everything inevitably go wrong. Then shoot enough Xenomorphs to create a mountain of acid-filled corpses while desperately trying to reach extraction.

That formula works.

The combat is satisfying, enemy variety forces players to think about threat prioritization, classes provide distinct playstyles, and the expanded customization system offers plenty of opportunities to experiment with different builds.

Four-player co-op also feels like a natural evolution for the series. Unfortunately, improvements to the formula don’t completely hide how familiar everything feels.

Mission objectives become repetitive, AI teammates still need work, random players can make matchmaking frustrating, technical issues hurt the overall presentation, and the campaign’s story never became one of the reasons I wanted to continue playing.

Most importantly, Fireteam Elite 2 doesn’t always feel like the substantial sequel I expected.

If you enjoyed the first game and simply want more Xenomorphs to kill alongside your friends, there is plenty to enjoy here. And if you’re someone like me who isn’t particularly invested in Alien lore, the gameplay is strong enough that you don’t need to be a hardcore fan to have fun.

Just don’t come expecting a complete reinvention. Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is a fun cooperative shooter that successfully expands the original formula, but sometimes feels more like a very good expansion than a true sequel.