Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Aliens: Fireteam Elite

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a third-person shooter developed by Cold Iron Studio and published by Focus Home Interactive. The player assumes the role of a Colonial Marine on board the UAS *Endeavor*, a spaceship tasked with responding to a distress call from the outer colonies. The game has seven character classes: Gunner, Demolisher, Technician, Doc, Phalanx, Lancer and Recon. The game contains four-story campaigns with three missions each, and the player is accompanied by two allies who can be controlled by another player or by an AI. Aliens: Fireteam Elite released on August 24th, 2021 to mixed to average reviews, with reviewers praising the atmosphere, the visuals, and how at times there can be full on shoot outs where players are surrounded by swarms of xenomorphs, while critics criticized the repetitive level design, poor audio design, and poor animations.

## Plot

In the year 2202, the USS *Endeavor* receives a distress call from the previously thought-destroyed Katanga refinery station orbiting the planet LV-895 and moves in to investigate, sending a fireteam of Colonial Marines to board the station. The Marines discover that the station has been overrun by Xenomorphs. They manage to rescue the sole survivor of the station, Weyland-Yutani scientist Dr. Timothy Hoenikker. Hoenikker reveals that Weyland-Yutani discovered Xenomorph eggs as well as a mutagenic substance dubbed the "Pathogen" on LV-895, and have been secretly breeding Xenomorphs and experimenting with the Pathogen before the Xenomorphs broke containment.

Determined to find answers, the Marines head down to the surface of LV-895, where they discover alien Engineer ruins that were being studied by Weyland-Yutani. They make contact with another Weyland-Yutani survivor, Cynthia Rodriguez, and head over to stage a rescue despite her insisting she is safe. The Marines fight their way through Xenomorphs and Weyland-Yutani combat synthetics until they reach the Weyland-Yutani facility, where they discover Rodriguez is actually a Mother AI called SN/TH/YA. Since SN/TH/YA has gone rogue, the Marines shut her down, but not before she activates "Asset Zero." The Marines travel further into the ruins and find that Asset Zero is an intact Engineer starship loaded with Pathogen that SN/TH/YA has arranged to send back to Earth. Realizing the danger the ship poses, the Marines sabotage its power source to prevent it from lifting off.

The Marines are sent back to Katanga to manually overload the station's fusion power core and destroy the Xenomorph hive on board. While they succeed, they are forced to flee when they anger the Hive's Xenomorph Queen, and narrowly escape the station before it explodes.

Despite the mission's success, Xenomorphs and large stores of Pathogen are still on the surface of LV-895, and both Weyland-Yutani and rival corporation Hyperdyne Systems are sending forces to claim the planet. The *Endeavor* and its Marines remain to prevent the Xenomorph infestation from spreading and the Pathogen from falling into the wrong hands.

The prequel to the game is the book *Aliens: Infiltrator* by Weston Ochse, published by Titan Books. The novel tells the backstory of the events that lead up to the beginning of the game.

## See Also

* Alien vs. Predator (2010)
* Alien: Isolation