XCOM 2 Review
XCOM 2 is the followup to 2012's XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Unlike many other titles, XCOM 2 chooses to play off of the bad ending from the first game. This meant that the gameplay had to be overhauled in order to suit the new style of play that would be introduced in this game. But do these additions help or hinder the game? And does it live up to the legacy of the series as a whole?
As XCOM 2 is based off of the bad ending of the first game, the gameplay has been redesigned to focus around guerilla warfare. A lot more of the missions are hit and run based objectives, where you have to get in, complete the task and get out again in as short a time as possible. This of course, means the introduction of timers. There were timed missions in the first XCOM game, but they were generally relegated to Council missions, and usually only Bomb Disposal, where you could increase the amount of time available to you by disabling power nodes scattered across the map. XCOM 2 has no such luxury, you'll find in most cases that you have between 8 and 12 turns to complete the objective and there is no way to increase that time-limit. XCOM 2 also procedurally generates its maps, in order to avoid repetition like you would see in the first game. This has the downside of sometimes creating maps that are a little big for the time limit you have to complete the mission in. This can leave you feeling stressed as you'll have to rush your units forward with little idea of where the enemies are located, which can lead to you unveiling multiple pods at once with no moves left for your soldiers. This can lead to a lot of soldiers dying as you bumble into enemy pods unprepared and have to sit tight for a few rounds as you kill them all. This of course, leaves you less turns to reach the objective and it quickly becomes a scramble to kill all the targets, complete the task and extract before the timer runs out. Some will no doubt enjoy the challenge presented with the timed missions, and it helps discourage turtling for round after round, so the pace of the game has certainly increased drastically. One nice addition to the game, is that weapon upgrades now count for your entire squad, so if you upgrade from ballistics to mag weapons, you no longer have to build a mag rifle for everyone in your squad, rather everyone in your barracks will have the new weapons at your disposal. This helps save valuable resources which could otherwise have been used elsewhere.
On the story side of things, XCOM 2 distances itself from the previous games in the franchise (Though not as much as Declassified did) as mentioned earlier, XCOM 2 is set after the bad ending of the first game, this means theres a large focus on guerilla warfare and as a result, the pace of the game has increased significantly. A focus for the devs has been an increased number of mission types for the player, this means that you'll find the games campaign to be a lot less repetetive than in the first game. The idea of XCOM being forced on the defensive isn't entirely new. It's been explored before in the base assualt game modes from previous entries in the franchise it's much more in depth here. New Dark Events mean the game will through random challenges at you every month, which can range from the enemy completing more research on their project to them sending a UFO to hunt down the Avenger. And while you don't need to worry so much about keeping countries happy anymore, nations can still pull out if they feel you're not up to the task of defeating the Aliens. This can prove fatal to your XCOM operation as you'll need to regain contact with them again, and if they're between you and an enemy base that you need to destroy. You can waste valuable time getting back into their good books while the Aliens creep ever closer to victory. Unfortunately while a lot of emphasis has been placed on the Avatar project in the game, they don't go a long way into explaining what it actually is. Presumably the actual secret of the Avatar project is revealed towards the end of the game, however for much of the time you're working against it, you never really find out all that much about it. Even completing story objectives reveals very little about what the project is for. And getting a Game Over also leaves you in the dark, as once you reach the end of the Avatar project completion timer, a cutscene plays showing XCOM being defeated. With no mention of the Avatar project at any stage.
Overall XCOM 2 is a very fun game, the changes to the gameplay will likely leave many veteran players stressed as they grow accustomed to the new play style. While I think the game can be a bit harsh with its timers at times, it's generally not too bad. There are still a few bugs and glitches in the game even now, such as the Faceless textures or the World statistics board being broken. But I have yet to encounter anything game-breaking. (Slight ammendment here, just encountered a bug where the action camera got stuck after a Faceless transformed and had to restart the game. While irritating, I don't expect you'll encounter this bug too often) I think XCOM 2 is a worthy sequel to Enemy Unknown, it improves upon it in a lot of ways and changes up the gameplay to feel fresh and different without losing its sense of identity. Though there are a few lingering issues, none of them were large enough to damper my enjoyment of the game.
If you want to buy a copy of XCOM 2, then follow the link below:
XCOM 2 - Xbox One
As XCOM 2 is based off of the bad ending of the first game, the gameplay has been redesigned to focus around guerilla warfare. A lot more of the missions are hit and run based objectives, where you have to get in, complete the task and get out again in as short a time as possible. This of course, means the introduction of timers. There were timed missions in the first XCOM game, but they were generally relegated to Council missions, and usually only Bomb Disposal, where you could increase the amount of time available to you by disabling power nodes scattered across the map. XCOM 2 has no such luxury, you'll find in most cases that you have between 8 and 12 turns to complete the objective and there is no way to increase that time-limit. XCOM 2 also procedurally generates its maps, in order to avoid repetition like you would see in the first game. This has the downside of sometimes creating maps that are a little big for the time limit you have to complete the mission in. This can leave you feeling stressed as you'll have to rush your units forward with little idea of where the enemies are located, which can lead to you unveiling multiple pods at once with no moves left for your soldiers. This can lead to a lot of soldiers dying as you bumble into enemy pods unprepared and have to sit tight for a few rounds as you kill them all. This of course, leaves you less turns to reach the objective and it quickly becomes a scramble to kill all the targets, complete the task and extract before the timer runs out. Some will no doubt enjoy the challenge presented with the timed missions, and it helps discourage turtling for round after round, so the pace of the game has certainly increased drastically. One nice addition to the game, is that weapon upgrades now count for your entire squad, so if you upgrade from ballistics to mag weapons, you no longer have to build a mag rifle for everyone in your squad, rather everyone in your barracks will have the new weapons at your disposal. This helps save valuable resources which could otherwise have been used elsewhere.
On the story side of things, XCOM 2 distances itself from the previous games in the franchise (Though not as much as Declassified did) as mentioned earlier, XCOM 2 is set after the bad ending of the first game, this means theres a large focus on guerilla warfare and as a result, the pace of the game has increased significantly. A focus for the devs has been an increased number of mission types for the player, this means that you'll find the games campaign to be a lot less repetetive than in the first game. The idea of XCOM being forced on the defensive isn't entirely new. It's been explored before in the base assualt game modes from previous entries in the franchise it's much more in depth here. New Dark Events mean the game will through random challenges at you every month, which can range from the enemy completing more research on their project to them sending a UFO to hunt down the Avenger. And while you don't need to worry so much about keeping countries happy anymore, nations can still pull out if they feel you're not up to the task of defeating the Aliens. This can prove fatal to your XCOM operation as you'll need to regain contact with them again, and if they're between you and an enemy base that you need to destroy. You can waste valuable time getting back into their good books while the Aliens creep ever closer to victory. Unfortunately while a lot of emphasis has been placed on the Avatar project in the game, they don't go a long way into explaining what it actually is. Presumably the actual secret of the Avatar project is revealed towards the end of the game, however for much of the time you're working against it, you never really find out all that much about it. Even completing story objectives reveals very little about what the project is for. And getting a Game Over also leaves you in the dark, as once you reach the end of the Avatar project completion timer, a cutscene plays showing XCOM being defeated. With no mention of the Avatar project at any stage.
Overall XCOM 2 is a very fun game, the changes to the gameplay will likely leave many veteran players stressed as they grow accustomed to the new play style. While I think the game can be a bit harsh with its timers at times, it's generally not too bad. There are still a few bugs and glitches in the game even now, such as the Faceless textures or the World statistics board being broken. But I have yet to encounter anything game-breaking. (Slight ammendment here, just encountered a bug where the action camera got stuck after a Faceless transformed and had to restart the game. While irritating, I don't expect you'll encounter this bug too often) I think XCOM 2 is a worthy sequel to Enemy Unknown, it improves upon it in a lot of ways and changes up the gameplay to feel fresh and different without losing its sense of identity. Though there are a few lingering issues, none of them were large enough to damper my enjoyment of the game.
If you want to buy a copy of XCOM 2, then follow the link below:
XCOM 2 - Xbox One
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