Gamers who are also fans of the Alien franchise are currently shooting their way through Aliens: Fireteam Elite. It is a pretty short experience, but the developer has already promised regular updates and DLC to give players a reason to consistently come back. While they are updating the game and adding new content, we hope they fix up some issues with the gameplay and structure.
A few tweaks would go a long way towards making Aliens: Fireteam Elite a more enjoyable cooperative shooter experience. As it is now, the game will not blow people's minds, but the 70 on Metacritic indicates a perfectly solid shooting gallery taking place in a beloved science-fiction franchise.
8 Checkpoints
Every mission takes anywhere between 20 and 30 minutes to complete. If the player's health drops to zero, they can always be revived and brought back into the battle. However, if all team members die and there is no one to revive them, then players are sent back to the Endeavor to select a new mission.
When levels take this long, it is extremely frustrating to lose almost half an hour of progress at the very end of a mission. Adding a checkpoint would make levels more manageable and enjoyable. At least do it for people playing solo who are just interested in going through the story.
7 Blind Firing With A Shotgun
Like most third-person shooters, players can blindly fire from cover, doing damage to enemies while remaining mostly protected by an object. Unfortunately, this does not work well when using a shotgun.
The mechanic feels clunky even with an automatic weapon but does not function at all with the heavier weapon. Those who try this find a mean surprise when the shotgun does not work when firing from behind cover. Hopefully, this should not be too hard to fix.
6 More Varied Levels
The developer has revealed the content for future seasons, but it has so far not let anyone know about what extra levels they might be adding. Whatever comes next for the actual mission, the developer needs to change things up and make it different than the main campaign.
For one, the levels themselves need to have a more varied and inspired level design. Too much of the main missions feel like copy and pasted hallways, which leads to the game feeling too repetitive.
5 Competitive Multiplayer Modes
At the moment, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is exclusively a cooperative experience. There is no way to engage in some competitive modes except for comparing stats at the end of a match. With only twelve missions currently available, grinding them might grow repetitive when leveling up the different classes.
Horde mode helps alleviate the repetition, but some competitive modes would help spice up the gameplay for those invested in obtaining all the equipment. Whether it be a traditional deathmatch or something more creative, giving players more to do in a living game like this is always a positive.
4 Ways Not To Get Kicked Out Of A Level If The Connection Drops
Even more annoying than having to restart a level because of failing is having to restart it because the connection to the host has been lost. It is one thing to lose progress because of skill, but when a moment of weak Internet gets the player kicked from the level entirely it is simply infuriating.
Why not let the player stay in the mission to complete it by themselves if the host leaves or their connection fails? Even if the player has a good connection, they are at the mercy of the host's connection and should not be penalized for it.
3 Events
Being a living game comes with certain expectations. Players already know they can expect seasons with added content. It also needs to throw in plenty of special events based on either holidays or events from the franchise. It would help spice things up for people who regularly play. It is hard to tell if the updates will be enough to keep players around, so special events for a weekend or a week will help pique interest for the game's future.
2 More Tactical Opportunities
Tactical Opportunities are where players find their daily and weekly goals. Currently, there are only three available; two daily objectives and one weekly goal. This is such a small amount for a game that wants players to consistently check in.
They should add more regular Tactical Opportunities to give players more to strive towards. Why not have different Tactical Opportunities for those who play solo and a different set for those who play with friends?
1 Cross-Play
As time moves on, more and more multiplayer games are receiving cross-play support. It almost is the norm now and games are seen as weird and incomplete for not having it. Unfortunately, Aliens: Fireteam Elite does not have cross-play between Xbox, PC, and PlayStation.
The game is built around co-op, so the advantage of mouse and keyboard won't be an issue. Time will tell how the player base either grows or shrinks, but cross-play would help make it easier to find games regardless.