I like the game and I’m having fun with it, but [b]I hoped for much better.[/b]
[b]If you like the first AFE you will probably like AFE2 too as long as you don’t expect a big improvement over the first game.[/b] Like many say it feels like an expansion rather than a new and all around improved version. Not great, not terrible.
The good stuff from the first game is still there; customize your class, skills, guns and appearance and go shoot stuff up. Graphics, maps and sound/music are just fine. [b]There isn’t anything impressive about the game in general.[/b]
The main problem with this game is that it feels a bit janky and, sadly, [b]I don’t think it’s worth the full price unless you [i]really[/i] want to play a horde shooter in the Alien universe.[/b] In my opinion other horde shooter games like Darktide, Helldivers 2 and Space Marine 2 have raised the bar for what you can get for your money and make AFE2 look overpriced.
A lot of negative reviews get called out for having one hour or less playtime; [b]I have played through the whole game and it really doesn’t get that much better.[/b] The first mission is enough to see most of what the game has to offer and what its shortcomings are.
[b]The game suffers from the typical UE5 stutter.[/b] It does a small shader compilation on start but it’s clearly not enough because you get stutters often during the first run of a mission (and just occasionally otherwise). Shouldn’t be a specs issue either (attached to review, plus the game is on a gen5 nvme).
[b]The animations are indeed stiff like many mention.[/b] Depending on your standards you might not care. If you come from other horde games like the ones I mentioned, the comparison will feel like you are playing a JJJ game (triple jank). As an Earth Defense Force enjoyer I’m fine with arcadey and janky games so I don’t mind much but it certainly hurts immersion in the dark and gritty context of Aliens and I am not surprised many are put off by it.
[b]Another thing I noticed from the very first mission is the weird enemy AI behaviour[/b] for the aliens. Most of the time they move the fast and nimble way you would expect xenos to move. The problem is sometimes they will clearly stop to “think” on their next step. I notice this very often for xenos on ceilings or walls, they will reach a spot where they are meant to jump somewhere else and just freeze there for a second deciding what to do. Same thing goes for one of the bigger aliens who will oftentimes run to a player, slap them once or twice and then stand still for a second before deciding to go somewhere else or target another player. I don’t know if it's somehow because the enemy is stunned by shots or something like that, but since there is no discernible animation (they literally just stand still) or any feedback I could notice, it just looks goofy. There are definitely some animations for stuns though because I’ve seen some enemies fall down and stay like that for a couple of seconds.
[b]Audio is not great either in some places.[/b] In the majority of the areas in the game the sound is just fine, but there are specific places like tunnels or some enclosed spaces where the game tries to apply some kind of effect to what I assume is to try to emulate what sound should be like in that environment. I don’t know if those sound effects are bugged, but they are absolutely terrible.
As for friendly fire, I’m conflicted when it comes to it in relation to abilities. All the area of effect skills can hit you or your team. I understand it makes sense to nerf the player's ability to deal with hordes via AOE but it also makes some stuff unviable. For example, an upgrade that makes the machinist drone explode after its timer runs out becomes a troll skill. I played with someone who had it on and they topped the friendly fire stats at mission end screen lmao.
Some abilities seem to be designed for use around normal difficulty or lower where there is no friendly fire. I am not complaining that there is friendly fire but one of the very few strong points this game has is the skill system and this reduces choice significantly.
Not a big deal for me since I’m used to these types of games narrowing viable strategies as you raise difficulty, but it might not be fun for everyone.
[b]Honestly I like the game even with its issues but it feels unpolished and unfinished so I hope the devs can improve it.[/b]
