XCOM 2

1. sherbz

   Feb 5, 2016

   10

   Quite simply the game is brilliant. It looks gorgeous, it plays very well, and it is one hell of a challenge. If you liked X COM theQuite simply the game is brilliant. It looks gorgeous, it plays very well, and it is one hell of a challenge. If you liked X COM the original, then you simply have to buy this. They have improved practically everything about the original. This feels more much more dynamic. Gone are the days of satellite spamming your way to victory. This game provides meaningful choices throughout so that you really dont know which way you want to go. And i think that many different paths to victory will be possible. I think this is probably the best looking turn based game we have ever seen. Kudos to Firaxis on a job well done. A sure contender for game of the year. The only thing that slightly spoils it are a few buggy camera angles and some dodgy hang times, but you can forgive it that as they dont spoil the fun. And it is in infinitely better shape than most games when released. But the real gem of this is the mods. Oh my goodness what a year we have in store.… Expand

   • 77 of 161 users found this helpful
2. StrategyAddict

   Feb 8, 2016

   10

   Oh wow! Critics have hyped this game as an early "game of the year" and "one of the best PC games" ever. I've played it for 35 hours duringOh wow! Critics have hyped this game as an early "game of the year" and "one of the best PC games" ever. I've played it for 35 hours during the release weekend (taking almost no breaks). I say even though it has some minor technical glitches (performance, load times, physics) a rating around 90 is perfectly justified. It's superior to it's predecessor XCOM EU in every aspect and that was a 89.
   
   So coming back to meta critic I see that it's getting mixed user reviews, seemingly for three reasons:
   
   1. technical issues. I say: Firaxis have done an incredible job at game design. I fully trust them to patch out the issues. Plus: we should be glad, that PC hardware is finally being utilised again.
   
   2. It's unlike the original XCOM. I say: Folks, get over it! There has been a pletorium of games reimplementing the original XCOM. (I have played them all, by the way.) Features missing compared to another game from another time is not a flaw. The current iteration of the XCOM universe perfectly captures the tension and challenge of the original game an surpasses all of the XCOM-alikes in many, if not all aspects.
   
   3. The game is too hard and the time limits too demanding. I say: The game has four difficulty settings, which seem perfecly balanced to me. On veteran (the second) I only got one little scratch during the first three missions. So i turned to "commander" the third and am now having a perfect struggle to stay allive. If I'm good, I can gloriously blast them before they even react, but most of the times more then half my squat will come out hurt. I even had to reload about three times because i'd otherwise lost a soldier.
   
   I hate timelimits. But in XCOM 2, they work miracles in forcing you to approach missions differently and in creating insane action. And still, you're not reliant on luck. There's so many special abilities to use, which mater way more then pure chance to hit.… Expand

   • 1 of 7 users found this helpful
4. johnsheppard357

   Mar 10, 2016

   9

   XCOM: Enemy Unknown was my favorite gaming experience of the last generation. I played through the game at least half a dozen times and lovedXCOM: Enemy Unknown was my favorite gaming experience of the last generation. I played through the game at least half a dozen times and loved it. Ultimately the lack of variety in missions, the painstaking character customization, and numerous other minor annoyances began to wear on me and discouraged me from ever picking up the game again. XCOM 2 addresses nearly every annoyance from the previous game and more. Elements of every mission are procedurally generated, character customization is incredibly deep, the base building is a little less punishing, etc. There are too many little improvements to list. I have a lot of respect for Firaxis for clearly putting a lot of time and effort into addressing the players' concerns from the last game. The game is not perfect though, close as it may be. Time-limited missions (by far my least favorite aspect from the last game) are much more prevalent. At least 2/3 of all the missions have a very unforgiving time limit that often had me all out sprinting with all of my soldiers in an attempt to reach my objective in time. There were several times that one of my soldiers was left in a very compromising position because he ended his turn near an enemy that was not discovered yet. Another negative is the difficulty. At least for the moment, pending any future re-balances, XCOM 2 is significantly more difficult than XCOM: EU. I have had playthroughs in EU on Classic or Impossible that I only lost a handful of soldiers the entire game. In XCOM 2 it was a frequent occurrence early on to lose half or more of my squad on any given mission. It was brutal. The mitigating factor is that the narrative provides reasoning for this difficulty, with the Aliens being an occupying force this time around. Without going into detail, my final complaint is that I felt the final mission was absolutely ridiculously hard. I beat it, but at a certain point I was just thinking "realllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....". There is not a wealth of new player classes or abilities, but each class in balanced incredibly well. The focus in more on weapons and equipment, of which there is a much wider variety over EU. Ultimately XCOM 2 does a lot right, a little wrong, and is an absolute blast to play. Bottom-line: An absolute must-play.… Expand

   • 1 of 5 users found this helpful
5. DKDArtagnan

   Feb 11, 2016

   8

   Obviously, since the reboot of X-Com was a success, they've chosen to stick with the same basic formula.
   
   This includes the needlessly rigidObviously, since the reboot of X-Com was a success, they've chosen to stick with the same basic formula.
   
   This includes the needlessly rigid 2-action system and the irksome inventory limitations.
   
   But I can accept that - and once I got past it, I managed to enjoy my time with the game greatly. They've improved upon most aspects of the game, and even with the 2-action limit, the tactical game feels rich and reasonably varied.
   
   It looks amazing for a turn-based game focused on cerebral stimulation. I'm not used to playing this kind of game with this level of visual fidelity. The battlefield looks positively alive - and there's a great variety in everything from the procedurally generated levels and wide array of enemies to the meaty arsenal of weaponry and the fully customizable soldiers. They all look great and imaginative - and the animations are quite superb.
   
   That came at a cost, however, and the game suffers a lot when it comes to performance. I have a very high-end rig, and yet it stuttered and felt strangely lethargic at times. It also takes its sweet time showing individual actions in what I would call a very relaxed manner. Thankfully, what's shown is satisfying and the game is so full of tension that this very deliberate pace isn't as frustrating as it would be in a lesser game. But be warned, it's not a fast or smooth experience.
   
   Then there's the controversial focus on having time-limits in most missions. I was worried when I first heard about it. I tend to have a strong distaste for time-limits in games that are otherwise focused on giving you reasons to be careful and to take your time doing things right. It's a somewhat conflicted design philosophy.
   
   However, I must admit that I completed the game on Veteran without a single time-limit inspired problem. Well, ok, I did feel real tension on those "rescue civilians" missions - but that's pretty appropriate :) Such missions SHOULD feel tense and they should force you to take some chances.
   
   So, ultimately, I don't think it's a problem on Veteran difficulty. I imagine it's a problem on higher levels - and it's not really my favorite kind of challenge. But I can't claim it's not a reasonably good fit for what they're trying to convey. You're supposed to be desperate and under immense pressure. Maybe that's not the best overall design - but you have to respect what developers are trying to do when you're reviewing their product.
   
   As for the strategic layer, it's also quite improved - but I guess I'm not as thrilled with the direction as other players seem to be. To me, it goes back to my dislike for putting boardgames in my computer games. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy boardgames - but I prefer to play them with real friends in real life. I don't enjoy simplifying and streamlining when it actively works against what could have been rich and layered.
   
   Personally, I think the choices you make on the world map feel entirely too binary and you're essentially never much in doubt about what your priority should be. Why? Because there's a rigid timer in place - and the consequences are always spelled out for you. This means the strategy involved is always picking the lesser of 2-3 evils - and that's it, really.
   
   The great skill-trees are back - and they've expanded them to include "random skills" and leader skills. I love the way you get to customize your team both in terms of class setup and skill choices. It's not greatly expanded from the first game, but still enough to make it feel fresh, especially with the additon of the Ranger class - and the hacking Specialist class. The hacking aspect feels a bit undercooked, however, but at least it's there.
   
   They've also added Weapon modifications and though it's somewhat simplistic, it still manages to add to the feeling of making interesting choices and feeling the progress of better gear. I just wish they'd expand upon it and go for a more exploration-oriented game. I'd love to roam the maps in "Jagged Alliance 2" style and search for alien loot.
   
   Finally, I can't write a fair review without mentioning the bugs and quirks of the game. There's no way around the fact that this release wasn't quite ready. I experienced at least two game-breaking bugs during tactical missions - which forced me to reload a save from much earlier in the fight. One example was a downed soldier that I simply couldn't carry - because the game didn't recognize her existence. It's apparently a known bug with unconscious soldiers involving inconsistency with tile-placement. On several occasions, the animations associated with soldiers and/or enemies would "stop being there" - and you'd simply see the result without the actions taking place. This happened quite frequently and really disrupts the flow of the game. It can be fixed with a reload, however. Then we have the performance issues - which are quite significant.
   
   Overall, a great game due to a combination of the original Gollop design and the new Firaxis spin on the formul… Expand

   • 0 of 5 users found this helpful
6. MrWonderful

   Feb 9, 2016

   6

   I bought the retail box version to save on the huge bandwidth-eating-download of going thru Steam. Four DVDs to install and 45 minutes andI bought the retail box version to save on the huge bandwidth-eating-download of going thru Steam. Four DVDs to install and 45 minutes and guess what...there was still a 9GB download required from Steam! Once everything was installed I fired XCom 2 up and proceeded with the tutorial mission to see what is new. Guess what...there's a bug that may or may not happen, but it happened to me, where a character can't move to cover as the instructions state. The fix was to do the Three Finger Salute(tm) back to desktop since at this point everything is frozen and then relaunch the game. So far I'm not too impressed, especially reading about the turn timer implemented in the game now. I've stopped playing XCom 2 because I still need to finish some other games on backlog. Maybe when it's time to get back it things will have improved. For those that are curious...on my Core i7 desktop with GTX780ti everything is on high/medium @2560x1080. I won't even bother loading it onto my 4 year old ASUS ROG laptop with a measly GTX560M gpu.… Expand

   • 6 of 9 users found this helpful
7. armchairjerk

   Feb 6, 2016

   4

   If you can try this game out before buying it. Very glad I was able to do so before wasting money on this. Maybe with the future DLC and GOTYIf you can try this game out before buying it. Very glad I was able to do so before wasting money on this. Maybe with the future DLC and GOTY edition I will change my mind, till then im sad i wasted 4 hours on it.… Expand

   • 24 of 59 users found this helpful
8. qrooel

   Mar 13, 2020

   0

   Timers in almost every mission. TBS with timers. Game is nearly unplayable because of this. No fun at all. Frustrating game ever.

   • 0 of 1 users found this helpful

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