Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Review – A Good Game in a Rough, Buggy Technical State

Overview

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 should have been an easy sequel to get right. The original was far from perfect, but underneath its rough edges was a genuinely enjoyable co-op shooter that understood the simple appeal of getting a squad together and mowing down waves of Xenomorphs.

As someone who was a big fan of the first game, completed its DLC and tackled its hardest difficulties, I went into Fireteam Elite 2 wanting it to succeed. The opening moments even give the impression that Cold Iron Studios has done exactly what a sequel should do: take the original formula, expand the squad size, introduce new classes, add more customization and build a larger game around what already worked.

Unfortunately, the longer I played, the harder that impression was to maintain.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 certainly contains improvements, but they are surrounded by severe technical problems, poor AI, dated presentation and surprisingly little that makes this feel like a truly new game. Instead of a major sequel arriving five years later, it increasingly feels like a large expansion for the original being sold as a $49.99 standalone release.

Story and Setting

Fireteam Elite 2 once again follows the action-heavy side of the Alien universe rather than trying to recreate the horror of Alien: Isolation. You are a Colonial Marine armed with enough firepower to turn Xenomorphs into acid-covered pieces rather than something hiding helplessly from a single creature.

The sequel takes the action to LV-558 and the colony of Storr’s Boon, where another Xenomorph outbreak is mixed with the expected Weyland-Yutani interference, hostile synthetics and questionable corporate activity.

On paper, it is exactly the kind of setting an Aliens co-op shooter needs. Industrial corridors, abandoned facilities, infestation-covered environments and motion-tracker warnings all fit the franchise well.

The problem is the characters constantly fighting against the atmosphere the environment is trying to create.

There is far more dialogue than there needs to be, and characters regularly throw jokes and one-liners into situations where silence or tension would have been far more effective. After a while, it starts to feel like everyone is trying to deliver a Marvel-style quip instead of behaving like Colonial Marines trapped inside a Xenomorph infestation.

Some of the characters quickly become irritating simply because they never seem to stop talking.

The cutscenes do not help either. Character animation and facial work can look shockingly dated for a game released in 2026. There were moments during the first mission where the presentation genuinely looked closer to something from the Xbox 360 era than a modern $50 sequel.

Gameplay

The fundamental combat remains recognizable from the first Fireteam Elite, and this is probably the strongest part of the sequel.

You move through mostly linear environments, reach defensive positions, trigger objectives and then deal with waves of Xenomorphs pouring from doors, walls, vents and ceilings. Special enemy types are mixed into the swarms to stop the squad from simply pointing four guns down the same hallway.

When everything is working properly, that formula can still be satisfying. There is something inherently fun about hearing the motion tracker explode with contacts moments before an entire room fills with Xenomorphs.

Unfortunately, even the combat made a poor first impression because of the AI.

Enemy behavior can be extremely questionable. Xenomorphs occasionally move or react in ways that make them look less threatening than they should, while friendly AI can be equally frustrating when playing without a complete human squad. Considering how heavily this game relies on coordinated combat, weak companion AI becomes immediately noticeable.

The sequel does introduce more enemy types and variations, but the basic encounter structure remains extremely familiar. Enter an area, interact with something, prepare for a wave, kill everything, move to the next area and repeat.

That repetition was understandable in the original game. Five years later, I expected Fireteam Elite 2 to push the formula much further.

Four-Player Co-op and Classes

Moving from three-player to four-player co-op is one of the most obvious improvements.

A fourth Marine gives teams considerably more freedom when putting together a squad. Players can bring damage, healing, crowd control and support without forcing individual classes to cover too many responsibilities.

The class lineup includes Duelist, Marauder, Machinist, Hunter and Medic, each giving players a different role during combat. There is also the Specialist system, which eventually allows more flexible combinations using abilities and equipment unlocked through progression.

These are good additions, and initially they make Fireteam Elite 2 feel like the expanded sequel it should be.

But these improvements also contribute to one of the game’s biggest problems: almost everything feels like it could have been added to the original through a major expansion.

Four-player support, additional classes, new enemies, maps and progression systems are welcome, but they do not fundamentally transform the experience. The same basic structure, presentation and moment-to-moment gameplay remain underneath them.

The more I played, the more difficult it became to shake the feeling that I was playing Fireteam Elite 1.5.

Weapons, Progression and Customization

Weapon customization has been expanded, with different attachments, traits, firing options and ammunition types allowing more control over how individual weapons perform.

The progression system also encourages players to experiment with different classes and equipment rather than finding one comfortable loadout and never changing it.

Challenge Cards return to modify missions and increase rewards, while Horde content gives players somewhere to test stronger builds against increasingly difficult waves.

These systems should give dedicated groups some replay value, especially players who enjoyed grinding higher difficulties in the original.

But again, there is a noticeable sense of familiarity. These systems improve the existing foundation rather than creating something fundamentally new.

For a normal expansion, that would be perfectly acceptable. At $49.99 for a standalone sequel, expectations are considerably higher.

Visuals and Performance

This is where Fireteam Elite 2 has much bigger problems.

The technical state at launch is a mess.

I experienced persistent stuttering even on a high-end PC, and lowering settings did not solve the problem. There were moments during the first mission where the game was stuttering heavily even at medium settings, making a fast-paced shooter feel anything but smooth.

This is not simply a case of occasionally losing a few frames during a huge battle. The stuttering can happen while moving through environments and makes the entire game feel unstable.

There are also frequent crashes and serious connection problems affecting multiplayer. For a game built almost entirely around cooperative play, server and connection problems are especially damaging. A co-op shooter can survive mediocre dialogue or dated cutscenes. It cannot comfortably survive players struggling to stay connected to one another.

Day-one and post-launch patches may improve these issues considerably, and hopefully they do. But a review has to judge the version being sold right now rather than the version the game might become several months later.

The disappointing part is that even underneath those technical problems, the presentation is not particularly impressive.

Some Alien environments look good, especially when lighting, fog and organic infestation are used effectively. Large battles can also create impressive scenes when Xenomorphs are crawling across multiple surfaces at once.

Human characters are another story.

Animations can look extremely stiff, facial animation is weak and several cinematics feel years behind modern standards. Movement itself also lacks weight, making Marines sometimes appear to glide between positions rather than physically moving through the environment.

Combined with the stuttering, it creates a game that often feels far less polished than its price suggests.

Audio

The Alien licence naturally gives the game some excellent material to work with.

Motion-tracker sounds, Xenomorph screams and familiar weapon effects immediately create that Aliens atmosphere. There are moments where hearing enemies approaching before actually seeing them still produces genuine tension.

Unfortunately, dialogue frequently gets in the way.

Characters talk constantly, and too many conversations rely on jokes and sarcastic remarks. Instead of making the squad more likeable, it often makes them annoying.

There is a huge difference between Marines using dark humour under pressure and characters delivering one-liners every few minutes. Fireteam Elite 2 crosses that line far too often.

Does It Really Feel Like a Sequel?

This became my biggest problem with Fireteam Elite 2.

A sequel does not necessarily need to completely reinvent its predecessor. Sometimes improving an already strong formula is enough.

But Fireteam Elite 2 arrives five years after the original, costs $49.99, and still feels remarkably close to the game it is replacing.

There are new classes. There are more players. There are additional Xenomorphs, weapons and progression systems. There is new campaign content.

But none of those additions made me feel like I was experiencing the next generation of Fireteam Elite.

Instead, I repeatedly found myself thinking that this could have been a substantial DLC package for the first game.

Some elements actually feel worse. The dialogue is more intrusive, the launch performance is terrible and the AI can be frustratingly poor.

That is especially disappointing as someone who genuinely enjoyed the first game. I completed it, played through its DLC, tackled its highest difficulties and even returned to it again on PC. I did not need Fireteam Elite 2 to become a completely different type of game.

I just wanted it to feel like a meaningful step forward.

Right now, it doesn’t.

Final Verdict

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is one of those sequels that initially seems like it has made all the obvious improvements before slowly revealing how little has actually changed underneath them.

Four-player co-op is better. The expanded classes are welcome. Weapon customization has more depth. There are new Xenomorph variants and additional progression options.

Those are all good things.

But they are not enough to overcome how underwhelming the overall package feels.

The launch version suffers from severe stuttering, crashes and multiplayer connection issues. Enemy and friendly AI can be terrible. Character animation and cinematics look badly dated. The constant jokes and dialogue damage the atmosphere. Most importantly, the underlying game simply does not feel substantially different enough from its predecessor.

For $50, that is difficult to accept.

The frustrating thing is that there is still a decent cooperative shooter buried underneath all of this. If Cold Iron fixes the technical problems and continues adding content, Fireteam Elite 2 could eventually become much easier to recommend, particularly at a lower price.

But that is not the game being sold today.

As a fan of the original, this was incredibly disappointing. Instead of feeling like the next chapter of Fireteam Elite, it currently feels like an overpriced expansion wrapped around a rougher version of the same foundation.

Review Score

6/10

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 expands the original with four-player co-op, additional classes, deeper customization and more Xenomorphs, but severe performance problems, crashes, connection issues, poor AI, dated presentation and an overwhelming sense of familiarity make this difficult to recommend at $49.99. There is still some enjoyable bug hunting underneath it all, but this feels far closer to Fireteam Elite 1.5 than the proper sequel fans waited five years to play.