YMMV / Aliens: Fireteam Elite

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• Captain Obvious Reveal: It's rather obvious from her rather monotone voice, complete lack of interest in being rescued, and repeated insistence that there are no human survivors that Cynthia is a synthetic.
  • What may come as a bit more of a surprise, however, is that she isn't a mere android. Cynthia, or rather "SN/TH/YA", is the AI in charge of the entire Weyland-Yutani operation on LV-895. And she's gone rogue.
• Demonic Spiders: Prowler xenomorphs. Getting attacked by one triggers a quick-time event that drains your health until you can successfully throw them off or your team shoots it for you. On higher difficulties, they can be a real pain. Drones as well if you don't keep on top of them, since their pounce isn't something you can escape with inputs; they strike, tear off a chunk of your health, and then disappear into the vents to try and strike again when you're least expecting it.
• Goddamned Bats: Pathogen "Poppers". They spawn in ridiculous numbers during the third and final level of "The Gift of Fire", move fast and are capable of quickly whittling down your health if you don't gun them down fast enough. Not to mention they're more durable than you might think, so flamethrowers, while certainly effective, aren't quite the game-clincher against them one might be tempted to believe.
  • See also: Facehuggers. They're small, they're fast, and whilst they're fragile, if they jump at you they'll put you in the same kind of quick-time event as Prowlers. If you're careless you can be dealing with swarms of the little buggers during the final campaign, given you're walking into the Xeno Hive aboard Katanga and there's eggs absolutely everywhere.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: A common complaint is that the story campaign just isn't very long, with only twelve missions, each taking less than half an hour to clear even if you take things fairly slow. The new Pathogen 'campaign' hasn't helped much with these complaints, consisting of only three missions.
• No Problem with Licensed Games: In contrast to the infamous last attempt at an Alien shooter, Fireteam Elite has fared better. The class-system, as well as ties to the franchise's aesthetics and lore have been touted as points in its favor. Reviewers can generally agree that, while not a perfect game, it is fun. Some leniency can also be given since this is the first major release of a new, and fairly small, studio, and it's clearly made by people who care about the franchise.
• Paranoia Fuel:
  • Again, prowler xenomorphs. They will lay in wait around corners and on ceilings, perfectly still so as not to show up on motion trackers. The sound of their breathing is the only way you'll be made aware of their presence. And even if you hear them, you may not see them in time to avoid being pounced.
  • The Katanga is plagued by falling grates and leaky pipes that make very xenomorph-like hisses: no matter how many of them go off in sequence, you can never quite ignore them, because every so often you will be attacked. LV-895 isn't much better, with loose rocks falling from the ceiling every so often. The only place that isn't quite so bad is the deeper Engineer ruins and the inside of the ship, but they're plagued by their own brands of Demonic Spiders.
• Scrappy Weapon: The N79 EVA Laser is an oddity in the game. In a large roster of weapons that is overall, incredibly balanced; with each weapon finding its own niche and specific playstyle with their own strengths and weaknesses, the N79 EVA Laser stands out for being objectively not a good weapon. Yes, it is both an incredibly accurate weapon, hits like a truck and has infinite ammo. But it overheats way too fast to the point of being detrimental, making it god awfully inconsistent in a game where consistency in fire rate is key to success. Whilst it may be a powerful weapon against single, high-health targets like Combat Synths, it really does suffer against swarms of Xenomorphs where you would most likely be overheating more than you are killing xenos with it. As such, some fans has found the N79 EVA Laser incredibly annoying to use and just not fun; opting for more traditional sidearms as a better alternative.
• Win Back the Crowd: Whilst Alien: Isolation has effectively single-handedly revived the entire franchise, for the fans that are into the more action-orientated part of Aliens, this game is effectively the answer to the disaster that was Aliens: Colonial Marines. Yes, Fireteam Elite definitely has its flaws (such as controls issues with the lack of crouch and crawl, and the relatively short campaign), but the game, unlike Colonial Marines, wasn't a buggy mess that duped thousands into thinking it would be a triple A experience. Likewise, the game offers a surprising diversity and selection of different weapons, class abilities and enemy variants that is overall, incredibly balanced with a few exceptions. As such, many view Fireteam Elite as what Colonial Marines should have been.

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