You know that family member that can occasionally be a little frustrating to talk to, but you love them anyway? That's Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2. It's a lovable upstart clearly working on a relatively limited budget, which makes three good decisions for every not so good one. Suit up marine, this is a bug hunt, and it's gonna be fun.

You don't need to have played the first Aliens: Fireteam Elite in order to keep up with the story or mechanics, but if you have, there's some warm familiarity to settle in to. This includes a few returning characters, including the General of your ship who is called General Shipp (yes, really). The dialogue and acting are… not great, and your character is given the eye-roll-inducing tag of "Hotshot". Nonetheless, there's a little joy to be had out of it in terms of new characters Raptor and Wrench at your base. Raptor has some crushingly bad dad jokes, and Wrench – for no apparent reason – can be prompted to give you a handful of bird facts over the course of the game. I love this.

The squad size has been bumped from three to four, with AI synth companions again taking the place of any gaps. The class upgrade system remains as it was in the first game, with a bunch of new options to put in there. Similar to the classic Resident Evil inventory system, perks and their modifiers come in different shapes and sizes, and must be rotated to fit into the available space (which slowly increases as you level up).

Source link