Here’s 25 minutes of Aliens: Fireteam gameplay

The Left 4 Dead-inspired shooter Aliens: Fireteam pits a squad of three players against ravenous hordes of xenomorphs, androids, and other enemies from the grim, sticky Alien universe. We said in our recent preview that it "feels like a step backwards" after the brilliance of the first-person horror game Alien: Isolation: Not bad by any stretch, just "the lowest hanging fruit."

I get the same impression from the 25-minute gameplay video shared today by IGN. It looks good (although I would definitely prefer it in first-person rather than third) and hits all the relevant notes, like poor lighting, leaky pipes, dripping ceilings, and a motion detector that isn't great with the Z-axis, but the addition of new xeno variants, player perks and upgrades, and level randomization doesn't change the fact that this is a very familiar formula.

Still, it's hard to go entirely wrong loading up on state-of-the-badass-art weaponry and blasting the bejeezus out of hordes of charging bugs. Aliens is my favorite film in the series, and I hope that developer Cold Iron Studios is able to effectively recreate that same kind of do-or-die tension in Fireteam. If nothing else, at least it's bound to be better than Aliens: Colonial Marines.

Aliens: Fireteam is set to come out this summer on Steam. Find out more at aliensfireteam.com.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.