Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 Makes Teamwork More Important Than Firepower

Aliens: Fireteam Elite gives you exactly the kind of equipment you'd want when facing a Xenomorph outbreak: automatic weapons, explosives and two other Marines carrying just as much firepower. That works perfectly until everyone starts shooting at the same target.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 appears to be putting more pressure on how a fireteam works together. New enemy types, attacks from multiple directions and expanded combat options mean that three good shooters aren't necessarily the same thing as a good squad.

A Fireteam Needs Different Roles

The sequel expands the weapons, equipment and abilities available to players, creating more opportunities to specialize within a team. That becomes useful when different Xenomorphs require different responses.

One Marine might concentrate on dealing heavy damage to tougher creatures while another keeps smaller enemies away from the group. A third can provide support or cover an exposed direction. The important part is that everyone doesn't need to solve the same problem in exactly the same way.

This should become especially noticeable on higher difficulties, where poor positioning and badly coordinated loadouts are much harder to compensate for with raw damage.

The Fight Doesn't Stay in Front of You

The Xenomorphs aren't particularly interested in forming an orderly queue. Drones can use walls and ceilings, while smaller creatures can approach unnoticed during larger fights. Facehuggers are particularly effective at creating problems because they demand immediate attention at exactly the moment players would rather be dealing with something else.

That forces squads to divide their attention. Watching the main approach isn't enough when another creature can reach the team from the side or above. Players need to cover different angles and react when a teammate suddenly has a much more personal Xenomorph problem. A strong defensive position can therefore collapse quickly if everyone becomes focused on the same threat.

Chaos Is the Real Enemy

This is where Fireteam Elite 2 can make its cooperative combat more interesting. Difficulty doesn't have to come entirely from giving Xenomorphs more health or increasing the amount of damage they deal.

Combining several enemy behaviors at once creates a more natural challenge. A powerful creature can hold the squad's attention while faster enemies approach from another direction. Facehuggers can disrupt players at close range while Drones force them to keep checking walls and ceilings.

Individually, each problem may be manageable. Dealing with all of them at the same time is where communication starts to matter.

Three Marines Should Feel Like a Team

The best moments in a cooperative shooter happen when players depend on each other rather than simply sharing the same battlefield. Fireteam Elite 2 has an opportunity to push further in that direction by making enemy variety and player specialization work together.

The Marines should still feel powerful. This is Aliens, after all, and mowing down a corridor full of Xenomorphs is part of the appeal. But that power becomes much more interesting when it depends on maintaining formation, covering teammates and choosing the right target.

Three Marines have enough weapons to survive a Xenomorph swarm. Fireteam Elite 2 wants to make sure they actually need each other to do it.