XCOM 2

 PC
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1694 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,117 out of 1694
  2. Mixed: 275 out of 1694
  3. Negative: 302 out of 1694
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  1. Trypsinogen
    Feb 8, 2016
    6
    I beat a campaign run with about 45 hours of play time and played on veteran difficulty with some save scumming.

    The Bad: 1) Terrible performance/optimization. The game run terribly for a lot of people (if not everyone) even if you have a good rig. I have a GTX 970, i7 3.4ghz, 12GB RAM. I could even turn all of the graphical settings to the absolute bare minimum and even though the    I beat a campaign run with about 45 hours of play time and played on veteran difficulty with some save scumming.

    The Bad:
    1) Terrible performance/optimization. The game run terribly for a lot of people (if not everyone) even if you have a good rig. I have a GTX 970, i7 3.4ghz, 12GB RAM. I could even turn all of the graphical settings to the absolute bare minimum and even though the game looks ugly it STILL would not run completely smoothly and would have FPS dips. Also, every time enemies are triggered there are awkward ~3 second pauses which ruins the flow of things. This is the worst problem for me because it affects your enjoyment of everything.

    2) Line of sight issues. Some walls, floors, and roofs in the game do not properly block line of sight. This is especially evident in the urban city maps when you are trying to be on roofs. Firaxis should not have release the game with these issues in place.

    3) Chrysallids aren't the only bugs that will make you have a bad time. The game has numerous bugs and glitches. Some are as bad as completely ruining saves SO DO NOT TURN ON IRONMAN MODE (just do honest man instead). Others include animations not playing, damage numbers not showing, and etc.

    4) Some questionable/bad design choices: For example, you'll get voice over messages from a person during missions. He will say the exact same thing every mission and he says these things very often and the whole time he's talking you aren't allowed to do anything. So you have to sit there waiting, doing nothing while he says the same thing you've heard him say or the 20th time. Another example, the new HP bars are inferior to Enemy Unknown.

    5) Debatable: the music is worse than EU. This is of course subjective and some people think the music is good or is fine, but I'm pretty sure more people would agree that EU's music was superior.

    6) Debatable: the majority of missions involve timers or scenarios that force you to rush/run and gun. I'm on the fence on this issue. Some people say they're fine and people need to "git gud and not rely on overwatch crawling". I agree that XCOM should be very difficult and the round limits did make for some exciting escapes. I think though I would've preferred that instead of the vast majority of missions being about being fast and praying you don't trigger 3+ pods, that there be more missions with more lenient timers but with some other kind of difficulty that isn't rushing against the clock.

    The Good:
    Aside from the above, the game improves on EU in most every other aspect. The game could've been a real work of art if it didn't suffer from these issues.    … Expand
  2. Wesser
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    In XCOM 2 every mission is a bomb defusal mission. Firaxis failed in their effort to artificially speed up the game through timers that are both explicit (turn counters) and implicit (civilians, objective defense, etc). And that's without mentioning the performance problems that plague the game as of now. XCOM 2 is a competent game that improves a lot of mechanics from EU, but at the sameIn XCOM 2 every mission is a bomb defusal mission. Firaxis failed in their effort to artificially speed up the game through timers that are both explicit (turn counters) and implicit (civilians, objective defense, etc). And that's without mentioning the performance problems that plague the game as of now. XCOM 2 is a competent game that improves a lot of mechanics from EU, but at the same time shoot itself in the foot because of some poor design decisions that turn the experience into something stressful and infuriating most of the time. While almost every piece of media praised the title, the user reviews both here and on Steam gravitate towards a 6/7 which is something to consider going forward.… Expand
  3. Mikethewolf
    Feb 7, 2016
    6
    I just want to say this review is 100% not about the bugs those will be fixed and i can deal with them
    .
    I am a long time Turn based game player. I thought Xcom:Enemy within was one of the best games i played in a long time . The long war add on/ expansion made it one of the best games I ever played (After some minor ini editing) I managed to beat the regular game on hard and long    I just want to say this review is 100% not about the bugs those will be fixed and i can deal with them
    .
    I am a long time Turn based game player. I thought Xcom:Enemy within was one of the best games i played in a long time . The long war add on/ expansion made it one of the best games I ever played (After some minor ini editing) I managed to beat the regular game on hard and long war on classic so im pretty good at the strategy games so when i say the following its with experiance and wisdom ;

    The devs took WAY to much of a page from the long war guys. Long war was made to be super hard but fun and while that what all the hard cores liked it was only 100k people that played it. Normally i am made about games catering to the masses and dumbing things down. But this time they took the opposite approach cator to the super hardcore. I am playing on normal (classic) and getting my ass handed to me at some points.

    First the games power creep for the bad guys so out paces you there are some points where a single unit can all of a sudden show up and if your not perfectly prepared for it it will wipe out half your squad on its own with your whole squad trying to take it out (I am looking at you Andy) This should not be again about following the perfect single path to get things done.

    So great you can try to play a bit more conservatively right....NOPE they put a timer on everything. A very short one that makes you constantly rush forward using very little startegy , often needing to rush through over watch or into areas you know where you will trigger another pod of bad guys while still fighting the first to reach the objective before the time runs out. So its a Tactics game that forces you to use limited tactics and rush most the time. When your not rushing the enemy i can basicly 1 hit your best guy with the best gear.

    Now the 2 things I have seen in other reviews that people try to counter 1) Probably not researching the right stuff) But seriously its not fun if you HAVE to follow a set path . Maybe i shouldnt of focused on weapons as much.
    2) you can mod the timers: Mods should not be a fix for a base game, they should be there to make a good game better.

    I should not be losing 4 out 6 guys on normal when not rushing when i can beat the other one on Hard/Iron-man with less losses .

    I just want a game that is a fun turn based strategy game that doesn't punish you for not following the exact perfect building/ research paths.

    Slow the game down a bit...less power creep , longer research maybe.    … Expand
  4. Bleeding
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    I loved XCom: Enemy Unknown very much, it's one of the best games I ever played. XCom 2 is, unfortunately, a letdown. It's still a decent game, but terribly flawed. My most pressing issue with the game is that most of the missions now apply time-pressure to the player - which, when uses from time to time, like in XCOMEU, is a nice twist - but having a turn limit in 3 out of 4 missionsI loved XCom: Enemy Unknown very much, it's one of the best games I ever played. XCom 2 is, unfortunately, a letdown. It's still a decent game, but terribly flawed. My most pressing issue with the game is that most of the missions now apply time-pressure to the player - which, when uses from time to time, like in XCOMEU, is a nice twist - but having a turn limit in 3 out of 4 missions spoils the core, tactical gameplay. It forces you to push forward instead of following your own style and/or strategy. It also spoils the new concealment feature, which else would have been a great addition. While there are, no doubt, also some positive changes and additions, like a greater enemy diversity than ever and (most importantly) dynamically generated maps, there are also further drawbacks, even if none of them is as bad as the mission design. One to mention should be the terrible performance of the game - while the game looks good, it's really nothing special. And that's fine, XCom does not need to be a visually stunning game on the bleeding edge of technology. But still, it pushes even higher end hardware to its limits. To me, it seems this is what the developers meant by the advantages of targeting PC only: the ability to be lazy in optimizing your game as you can always push the player to invest into expensive hardware instead investing in a decent performing game yourself. But the main flaw, again, is the time-pressuring mission design, sucking all creative fun out of the gameplay most of the time. I happily prefer XCOMEU which much less sophisticated visuals and pre-defined map layouts anytime over XCOM 2. Because XCom is not about graphics, it's about gameplay - and this is the area where Firaxis unfortunately underperformed the most.… Expand
  5. joggy
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    OK, I'm huge fun of x-com series, been playing since original x-com back in 90's.
    so, whats wrong here, why low score?
    - graphic: better than previous game, there's much more objects and scenery, so maps will look very different. Also, they are created right before you go in, so every time it will be different (not sure if this is true for story missions, didn't start new game). But    OK, I'm huge fun of x-com series, been playing since original x-com back in 90's.
    so, whats wrong here, why low score?

    - graphic: better than previous game, there's much more objects and scenery, so maps will look very different. Also, they are created right before you go in, so every time it will be different (not sure if this is true for story missions, didn't start new game). But its not great, its pretty but technically lacking. And hardware requirement is simply unimaginable for turn based strategy. You need a beast to play it without frame drops and on high details. That's just bad optimization.

    - gameplay: this title should be named: "xcom 2: prepare to die". Cause you will. A lot. In some missions I have to reload various saves for 3 hours in order to finally keep all team alive. Now, in my book this would be a good thing since in first xcom from 2k I didn't have a need for more soldiers, only dead were first 2 (or 3?) from tutorial. Game starts moderately difficult for first few hours, but then ramps up considerably. So whats the problem? Game isn't hard because enemies are smart or tactical in approach. They simply have way better stats than your soldiers and they outnumber you 4:1. The most basic trooper will hit you from 20 tiles away behind hard cover on elevated position with no problem whatsoever. 8 out of 10 times. Sectoids will wreak havoc in your ranks since their psionic hit chance is 100% and since you will be wounded in almost every mission your willpower will be nonexistent. Alien rangers can run up to you from beyond your field of vision and hit you with a sword.
    And forget about hiding behind the wall, they will shoot straight trough it. While I first thought this is cool idea since even weapons of today can shoot trough walls with no problem, later i realized that they don't have any penalties for shooting where they cannot see you. Also, they can shoot trough solid rock or cliffs like it is a wall. Their crit chance is waaaaay better than yours.
    It's actually very bad idea to try and remain concealed for too long because all enemies walk towards you (I tried this for several hours, they don't have patrol routes, they walk towards you), and if you delay action, you will be swarmed eventually. If you put all your squad on overwatch and then start combat with last one, you will lose 1 turn of action (this must be bug, so i guess it will be repaired).

    On a bright side there is still that good old "just one more turn" feeling, and i really hope that they will repair some obvious bugs with fields of vision.
    For a die hard fan of the series: go for it! For casual strategy gamer: wait 6 months 'till they update and optimize it, and buy it on sale. For non-strategy gamer: nothing to see here :(    … Expand
  6. Alsvha
    Feb 6, 2016
    7
    A Tactical Approach game which forces you to forego tactical approaches...... strange design choice.

    The game overall is quite decent actually. For me it looks good, plays well and there's seemingly a lot to do. However the mission design is poor as the game forces you to rush forward most of the time, which means you do not spend much time being tactical, but hoping for luck with    A Tactical Approach game which forces you to forego tactical approaches...... strange design choice.

    The game overall is quite decent actually. For me it looks good, plays well and there's seemingly a lot to do.

    However the mission design is poor as the game forces you to rush forward most of the time, which means you do not spend much time being tactical, but hoping for luck with the *miss* roll engine.

    It seems like a half a try and that the developers expect modders to fix their game.    … Expand
  7. ImJTHM
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    XCOM 2 is a serviceable sequel that has a single major misstep that winds up nearly destroying the entire game around itself.

    Namely, a majority of the missions are on a turn limit. Remember those missions in Enemy Unknown that involved moving a train in a certain number of completely arbitrary turns? Yeah, that's the entire game now. Nearly every mission is complete and utter    XCOM 2 is a serviceable sequel that has a single major misstep that winds up nearly destroying the entire game around itself.

    Namely, a majority of the missions are on a turn limit. Remember those missions in Enemy Unknown that involved moving a train in a certain number of completely arbitrary turns? Yeah, that's the entire game now. Nearly every mission is complete and utter frustration as you try to savescum your way through the map to find where you need to go.

    The tactics in the game are just as solid as before, but with this completely forced speed on every level, I never felt comfortable actually trying the new stealth or ambush mechanics, because they took longer to complete than just sprinting around the map, trying to avoid the instant game over time limit.

    Once there's a mod to remove this, I'll get it. Until then, they've turned the game into a frustrating slog.    … Expand
  8. ChunkySaurus
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    My biggest complaint about the game is the mission timer. Almost every mission now has an arbitrary turn limit. This takes away from the tactical feeling of the previous XCOM. It's also totally at odds with the guerrilla/ambush tactics the game wants you to use. Setting up a good ambush takes time and the game won't give it to you.

    The game is definitely not optimized. It performs    My biggest complaint about the game is the mission timer. Almost every mission now has an arbitrary turn limit. This takes away from the tactical feeling of the previous XCOM. It's also totally at odds with the guerrilla/ambush tactics the game wants you to use. Setting up a good ambush takes time and the game won't give it to you.

    The game is definitely not optimized. It performs poorly on my above-average rig and has tons of graphical glitches, choppy cut-scenes and inexplicable pauses in game-play. I hope they will fix most of these issues with some patches later on.

    If you enjoyed XCOM 1 with a gamepad, skip this one as they have dropped gamepad support. This is really infuriating because they had excellent gamepad support in the last game. So they actually took it out of the engine. It does support Steam controllers, if you have one of those. I bought one; it's not great. Almost every action requires using the trackpad like a mouse. They've totally missed the point of a gamepad .

    It's pretty disappointing to see such a sloppy sequel to an awesome game. I am sure it will get better over time. Once they patch out the graphical and performance issues and patch in proper gamepad support.    … Expand
  9. Robinjhoe
    Feb 6, 2016
    7
    XCOM 2 is pretty much an welcomed update of XCOM and XCOM Enemy Uknown.

    Lets start with the Soldiers. From the beginning you have 4 Soldiers, which gain Experience in battles and get promoted for their own calss. The classes are kind of the same as before but a bit changed ( Heavy has instead of a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher) The Weapons dont look like Toys anymore. The soldiers    XCOM 2 is pretty much an welcomed update of XCOM and XCOM Enemy Uknown.

    Lets start with the Soldiers. From the beginning you have 4 Soldiers, which gain Experience in battles and get promoted for their own calss. The classes are kind of the same as before but a bit changed ( Heavy has instead of a rocket launcher, a grenade launcher) The Weapons dont look like Toys anymore. The soldiers can be customized as before but they added that also for the Weapons.

    The Gameplay hasnt changed. But the fact that your are an underpowered Rebellion is pretty much existent at any time in the Game. They changed a lot of Enemys. Some are very powerful from the beginning and new Players will have their Problems.

    For myself I didnt expect a sequel at first but I was happy to see one. Nothing is better than the feeling of an hard fought victory.    … Expand
  10. DonMega
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    The game is decent for the first couple hours of game play but it gets boring very fast because it's extremely repetitive. There is too many missions and they are all the same.

    Graphics are nothing special. They are ok but could be better. The game feels very cartoony to me which I don't like. Other than that the game doesn't bring any spectacular new features. At full price of $80    The game is decent for the first couple hours of game play but it gets boring very fast because it's extremely repetitive. There is too many missions and they are all the same.

    Graphics are nothing special. They are ok but could be better. The game feels very cartoony to me which I don't like.

    Other than that the game doesn't bring any spectacular new features. At full price of $80 this game is not worth it. It also has first day dlc which is a let down. Wait till you can buy this for around $30.    … Expand
  11. Metacri01
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    I like the previous game a lot but not this one, at least for now, because I really dislike the "turns limitation"(timer), 8 turns to do this, 12 turns to do that, or you're screw..., what a tactical new "feature", it's almost a game breaker for me, so I'll keep the negative review unless the developers can make some changes, such as provide an option to disable it or decrease the missionI like the previous game a lot but not this one, at least for now, because I really dislike the "turns limitation"(timer), 8 turns to do this, 12 turns to do that, or you're screw..., what a tactical new "feature", it's almost a game breaker for me, so I'll keep the negative review unless the developers can make some changes, such as provide an option to disable it or decrease the mission ratio which has timer in them.

    Another thing, the characters faces in customization need some improvements,too, especially females, most of them are just too ugly, I can't bond with my team mates if I cannot even stand with their looks.
    Yes, they're soldiers/warriors, but that doesn't mean they have to be ugly.    … Expand
  12. Buttpuncher
    Feb 6, 2016
    6
    Once you mod away the arbitrary timer which restricts the number of turns you have to finish a mission, it's not a bad game at all. Combat is much harder and the base/worldmap feels completely different, although it's built on the same basic principles as the previous Xcom games.
  13. 21grams
    Feb 16, 2016
    6
    I'm re-writing this review after beating the game (giving slightly higher score than initially)
    So this game was rushed with release and has many problems, it doesn't feel completely finished and polished. So you should seriously consider whether to buy it in such state or wait for more serious patching.
    THE BAD. 1) this game has serious optimization issues - the fps in this game is    I'm re-writing this review after beating the game (giving slightly higher score than initially)
    So this game was rushed with release and has many problems, it doesn't feel completely finished and polished. So you should seriously consider whether to buy it in such state or wait for more serious patching.

    THE BAD.
    1) this game has serious optimization issues - the fps in this game is all over the place, jumps between 25 and 80 on decent rig that tops recommended settings by quite some (and not, it's not even max settings). Anti-aliasing solutions are super heavy taxing, except FXAA which is good as nothing. The game has no triple buffering for vsync, and because fps is very unstable, you jump between 30 and 60 periodically, or if you decide to turn off vsync, you have massive screen tearing - again because of very unstable fps. The game runs poorly, even it's not visually exceptional in any way. And this game is not even a consolish port done by some 3rd party rookie studio.

    2) Glitchy camera, some weird issues with line of sight and other minor issues that were not resolved from previous installment. Like shouting thru walls, floors and other objects which are confusing and break the immersion.

    3) the game has some very bad design choices and some balance issues. Timed missions are very badly designed, they not make the game much harder, but definitely make it more stupid and leave with less options for your strategy and tactical decisions.

    4) Balance is bad in a lot of cases only because of how poorly RNG is designed, which acts in very weird way - you can reload multiple times and same action will have same result - RNG is predefined, the dice is not rolled when you take specific action.. I failed a mission because I missed 95% at point blank situation (seriously), there was no time for backup plan since it was timed mission.. There are so many things in this game that don't increase the difficulty fairly, but instead make it unfairly frustrating.

    THE GOOD.
    Now with some more and less serious issues this game still can be good and fun. Overall mission design is great, tho later on I'd say it becomes easier and easier as you progress (except maybe final mission which I liked a lot, now this is what I call proper challenge). The customization is satisfying and you unlock many items and gadgets to play with. Game is pretty flexible here. Now gameplay itself would be really great if not earlier mentioned glitches and weird RNG, but it's manageable. Also I loved the whole presentation, they put good effort into it - like mission launcher, returning from mission, showing injured squad members etc. There is a lot of nice detail to it.

    Final note: I don't thing games in such state should be released. Things should be sold when they are finished and meet certain criteria of overall quality. I was even considering a refund, because I don't like to pay for unfinished games and here is that case. So if someone still consider buying it, think twice about issues this game has!    … Expand
  14. hmkunzmann
    Feb 5, 2016
    7
    + Nice strategic map gameplay improvements over previous version
    - unskippable cut scenes
    - bad performance, constant mini-hangs, long loading times, need to wait all the time despite top of the line hardware. - high difficulty & learning curve, no useful tutorial help to introduce strategies for new aliens & new challenges. Missions constantly require you to rush... I like hard but    + Nice strategic map gameplay improvements over previous version
    - unskippable cut scenes
    - bad performance, constant mini-hangs, long loading times, need to wait all the time despite top of the line hardware.
    - high difficulty & learning curve, no useful tutorial help to introduce strategies for new aliens & new challenges. Missions constantly require you to rush... I like hard but combined with the two items above it gets frustrating to no end

    Overall very disappointing - am hoping it will be much better after a few patches.
    Yet another game where I wonder how the game site reviewers all rate it so high. No credibility & integrity at all.    … Expand
  15. saber7
    Feb 15, 2016
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Why can't someone just make a 1:1 remake of the original with better graphics. Here is everything that's wrong with XCOM 2 as compared to the original (no the actual original. Not the first FIRAXIS game.)

    1. Solider limit. Seriously?
    2. Bases. Plural. Bases. BASES!
    3. Base invasion. The "base invasion" in XCOM 2 is a pathetic joke. It's just more of the same "blow up this thing" mission except now you have to defend your ramp. It doesn't even take place inside your base!
    4. Timers. There wasn't a single timer in the original's missions. This is a contrived way to create tension. The original is still way more tense than this game and they do it through atmosphere, music, and gameplay.
    5. Tactics. Most of the missions start you right on top of the enemy (literally in some cases) in XCOM 2. You can't move more than a few feet without the enemy spotting you and then running to cover (because why? Isn't it my freaking turn?) Then there's the timers that take the tactics out of most missions. Pathetic.
    6. Alien Bases. The bases in the original were huge, haunting, strange, and awesome. The bases in this game are a joke in comparison.
    7. Linearity. The linearity of this game and its story is repulsive. Then the overworld timers shove you down a path or else. Yeah that's fun.
    8. AVATAR. Seriously? When did video game designers start thinking it was fun to be nagged?
    9. Animations. The animations are cool .. the first time you see them. Then they are show stoppers and happen so often and are SO slow ... it really sucks the tension out of the air. "Am I going to miss? Aw dang it I don't care just shoot already!" Then the enemies have their response animations when they're shot. WHY!?
    10. Talking. The original didn't say a thing to me and I loved it. Why is there so much dam talking in this game and why does it pause the game so often while I listen to this drivel?
    11. TIME UNITS. This is the worst part of the remakes. Two moves? Seriously. What is the thinking behind this? "Gamers is so dumb nowadays that if they have more than two moves to contemplate their heads may asplode." Give me back my time units. My reserve for a snap shot. My auto fire. My aimed shot. MY CROUCH! BECAUSE ELITE SOLDIERS IN THE FUTURE CAN'T CROUCH!
    12. Ammo. "I cans only shoot three times before I have to reload cause this is the FUTURE"
    13. UFO crashes. Because hunting down stray aliens from a downed UFO is so 20th century.
    14. Management - No seriously. Can I manage my own inventory from my base and not have to fly TO the black market. Did they deinvent the post office? Can we send drones? Wait, don't they send the drones since we are buying stuff?
    15. Manufacturing. Wait, how does everyone have a magnetic rifle? I just bought one! Oh that's right I'ms too shtoopid to manage my manufacturing.

    The Pros

    1. Graphics - no wait. They are laggy. Pretty but laggy.
    2. Did I mention the graphics?

    Please someone just remake the original with pretty graphics and don't touch a thing on it. Don't try to make new creatures or weapons because YOU CAN'T BE TRUSTED! TRUST NO ONE.    … Expand
  16. vict116
    Feb 11, 2016
    5
    This is a game I followed since E3 and pre-ordered and loaded. The gameplay is great. The dynamics are similar to the first XCOM but now with more ramped-up enemies. I love how the map works.

    But as I played into the game, the system keeps hard-crashing and along that, has a whole lot of performance issues. I run on two video cards and it doesn't seem to utilize it either, while    This is a game I followed since E3 and pre-ordered and loaded. The gameplay is great. The dynamics are similar to the first XCOM but now with more ramped-up enemies. I love how the map works.

    But as I played into the game, the system keeps hard-crashing and along that, has a whole lot of performance issues. I run on two video cards and it doesn't seem to utilize it either, while taxing one GPU and heating up the other even after workarounds made in the GFX profile. If the game did crash so much, I would of saved hours trying to get this game to work.    … Expand
  17. capthavic
    Feb 9, 2016
    5
    While I'll be the first to admit to not being an MLG Pro or master tactician, I think it's fair to say the game has an unreasonably steep difficulty curve, even more so than in the previous game. The issue is not that the game is challenging, rather that it's cheap/artificial difficulty spawned from poor balance and wonky shooting. The timer mechanic is not a bad idea but often felt tooWhile I'll be the first to admit to not being an MLG Pro or master tactician, I think it's fair to say the game has an unreasonably steep difficulty curve, even more so than in the previous game. The issue is not that the game is challenging, rather that it's cheap/artificial difficulty spawned from poor balance and wonky shooting. The timer mechanic is not a bad idea but often felt too strict and far too common. The whole game feels like you are being rushed, whether its to reach an objective in time or getting pulled into a mission while trying to do something else or just against the "doom counter" hanging over your head. Again it comes down to an issue of balance that game can't manage to find.

    To be fair the concept and presentation is cool, and the gameplay is fun when the various parts click together. Unfortunately due to technical issues, poor balancing/design, and general feel like an expansion or spin off rather than full sequel ...I can't in good faith give XCOM 2 more than a 5 overall.    … Expand
  18. trash-46645
    Nov 10, 2017
    5
    Review after some 20 or so hours of gameplay. I'm an X-COM veteran - I played the original UFO: EU, X-COM: TFTD, X-COM: Apocalypse and even the previous X-COM:EU game (which I quite liked) so I'm no noob. I would score the game much higher but what I really dislike in this latest version is the ever present timer on pretty much all missions (only a minority do not have a timer). In theReview after some 20 or so hours of gameplay. I'm an X-COM veteran - I played the original UFO: EU, X-COM: TFTD, X-COM: Apocalypse and even the previous X-COM:EU game (which I quite liked) so I'm no noob. I would score the game much higher but what I really dislike in this latest version is the ever present timer on pretty much all missions (only a minority do not have a timer). In the previous X-COM:EU there also were timers on those containers but it was always this sort of "bonus" objective that was good if you done it but you didn't have to, unlike now where the timer is the goal. The game is constantly pushing you to rush, never allowing you to take your time and work your way tactically through the mission. I really dislike this design decision. Also I dislike the concealment mechanics. Clearly this is not an infiltration game and the whole concealment mechanics is pretty much pointless - again it's there to push you into early rush into a position near the objective and hope for the best once the fight starts instead of allowing you to work your way towards it tactically. I don't like that. Otherwise the game seems solid - it contains all the elements we like in an X-COM game but for me it's ruined by the timers which prevent me to play the game the way I like and forces me to rush the objective, every time. Forget about taking the longer route around the map to avoid the patrols, or carefully position your squad before the assault, looking for the best spot, none of that - the game forces you to go front in guns blazing otherwise you will miss the timer which means mission failed. The same rush design can unfortunately be seen even in the overall war management - you are constantly bombarded by events, the game never gives you any time to breathe, take your time, prepare. Some might think this makes the game challenging but I don't agree, it makes the game annoying. I'm fine with challenge but when presented with one I'd like to be able to face it my way. Unfortunately there seems to be only one way - rush or fail. That's not a challenge, that's just limiting game design and a step back from previous version which rewarded you for successful rush (getting the containers in time) but also allowed you to play more carefully and tactically.… Expand
  19. Kurt_Rivera
    Feb 8, 2016
    5
    Из плюсов, которые я успел обозначить для себя за те пару часов, на которые меня хватило в игре, могу обозначить лишь графику. Смотрится все зрелищно. Анимация, стрельба - приятно. Более чем достаточно для того, чтобы адекватно воспринимать тактическую игрушку, даже если ты не самый большой фанат тактики.
    Минусы: оптимизация игры отвратительна. Моя конфигурация такова: i7 3770k, GTX 780,    Из плюсов, которые я успел обозначить для себя за те пару часов, на которые меня хватило в игре, могу обозначить лишь графику. Смотрится все зрелищно. Анимация, стрельба - приятно. Более чем достаточно для того, чтобы адекватно воспринимать тактическую игрушку, даже если ты не самый большой фанат тактики.
    Минусы: оптимизация игры отвратительна. Моя конфигурация такова: i7 3770k, GTX 780, 8GB оперативки. Ведьмак 3 идет на ультра, с выключенными Nvidia волосами и верт. синхронизацией.
    Здесь же сплошные проседания. При чем в таких моментах, где их вообще не ожидаешь увидеть. В меню редактирования персонажа, например. Странно.
    Что по настоящему взбесило, так это рельсы. От игр этой серии прежде всего ожидаешь свободы. Случайно генерируемые задания в зависимости от решений на тактической карте, исследований ну и тд. Здесь же я на протяжении первых двух часов просто ехал в тележке по рельсам. До смешного. Ты не можешь выбрать отсек на базе, который тебя интересует сейчас. Выбрать исследование. Да вообще ничего не можешь. Не игра, а затянувшийся поинтклик. Бесконечное обучение. Бесконечные речи и заставки. Хочешь поиграть? Да пошел ты. Смотри, какие мы подготовили заставки. В них так много драматизма. Смотри. Смотри, сука, мы ведь так старались как можно дальше оттянуть тебя от геймплея.
    Сама тактика безбожно примитивна. Минимальный набор. Сдобренный глюками от души. Стрельба сквозь стены, самосожжения персонажей, которые решают пройти сквозь огонь, а не обойти рядом.
    Совершенно неадекватная камера. Ты делаешь ход, решаешь поразить противника. И тебе в упор на протяжении всего действа показывают дуло твоего автомата, вместо цели. Ты даже не знаешь, чем закончилась стрельба. Попал ты, или нет. Ты смотришь в сраное дуло автомата.
    Вообще на каждом углу как следует намазано оказуаливанием. Всего и вся. Допущение на допущении. Даже трупы не надо выносить никуда. Хотя в обучении нас этому учат. Завершил миссию и вуаля. Все, что там было - у тебя на базе. Нет никаких одиночных выстрелов, или стрельбы очередями. Никаких прицеливаний в голову, или ноги. Короче - вообще ничего, что могло бы разнообразить тактическую игру. Одни декорации. Тычут и тычут тебе ими в бороду, чтобы прикрыть банальный гейплей.
    И как вишенка на торте - в каждой второй миссии ограничение времени. Не дай взорваться генератору за 8 ходов. Не дай еще чему нибудь произойти за 6 ходов. Все это еще больше заставляет тебя ехать по рельсам, уготованным разработчиками. Потому что для успешного завершения задачи в 8 ходов есть лишь 1, максимум два сценария действий. Враги будут вот тут, а потом пойдут сюда. И ты должен подготовить засаду. Хочешь придумать что то свое? Да флаг в руки. Но у тебя 8 ходов, так что скорее всего ты пойдешь на хрен со своей инициативностью.
    Короче, как и 90% современных игр - XCOM2 не представляет ценности для будущих поколений. Подойдет лишь очень непритязательным игрокам. И упаси вас бог включать голову и хоть на йоту начинать относится к этой игре, как к тактике.    … Expand
  20. whatever523
    Feb 13, 2019
    7
    XCOM 2 is a good game, but a lot of things could have been improved.

    * The user interface could be better. HP bars cover half the screen, navigating the base has too many annoying animations, you can't see what items your team have equipped during the missions etc. * There are still quite some bugs. * Line of sight needs a lot of improvements, especially with storied buildings. * RNG    XCOM 2 is a good game, but a lot of things could have been improved.

    * The user interface could be better. HP bars cover half the screen, navigating the base has too many annoying animations, you can't see what items your team have equipped during the missions etc.
    * There are still quite some bugs.
    * Line of sight needs a lot of improvements, especially with storied buildings.
    * RNG seems even worse than in the first part and it's often frustrating.
    * Missions are kinda boring and repetitive.

    The strengths are the same as in XCOM. The gameplay and customization options are good, but there's too much that distracts from it. Feels like XCOM 1.5.    … Expand
  21. Crank101
    Aug 1, 2016
    7
    I was only recently able to play the game due to upgrades needed to my PC. I was extremely excited to play this game due to my love for previous installments. I had a great time and it did feel a lot harder than previous versions games.

    Now for what I wanted this game to have. 1) The story line is very Linear. They could have made a much better experience if your choices changed the    I was only recently able to play the game due to upgrades needed to my PC. I was extremely excited to play this game due to my love for previous installments. I had a great time and it did feel a lot harder than previous versions games.

    Now for what I wanted this game to have.
    1) The story line is very Linear. They could have made a much better experience if your choices changed the war against Advent. For instance the VIP Missions where you could extract or kill them, if you saved them you got a engineer or a scientist, that is it. This was a great opportunity to have side quests and different outcomes.
    2) Soldiers was fully changeable even their back stories. I would have liked to see some cultural perks in some characters hidden until a certain rank. (Good or Bad) For example a soldier from Africa in the assault class being able to throw their blade as an auto over-watch perk. Or a Irish character can be immune to panic, a french guy got a extra retreat movement after being shot at. simple things that could get you more invested in your team.

    Just in finishing, This is still one of my favorite franchised and even thou it was still fun to play I hope they start taking their end users a bit serious. Recent games have shown what is possible with today's technology. Give us consequences for our choices!!!    … Expand
  22. pyhriel
    Apr 25, 2020
    6
    I am a big fan of XCom: Enemy Unknonwn, loved the challenge there. In this one there is still much of the core elements that are fun and some of the new ones, like the combat mechanics, the new classes, etc.

    My main issue with this game, and it does end up making the game a lot less fun to play is the timed missions that happen far too often. It kind of breaks the overall strategy feel    I am a big fan of XCom: Enemy Unknonwn, loved the challenge there. In this one there is still much of the core elements that are fun and some of the new ones, like the combat mechanics, the new classes, etc.

    My main issue with this game, and it does end up making the game a lot less fun to play is the timed missions that happen far too often. It kind of breaks the overall strategy feel of the game. If it happened only once in a while it'd be okay, but in XCom2 most missions have this timed element. I'd say this is the main problem I have with it, because it ends up limiting your choices and also limits what is an efficient build-up. Building up for stealth is not as effective when you need to rush-in, so you should build up for fast, heavy damage output.

    The second thing I don't like much about this game is the difficulty. I don't mind a challenging game, XCom : Enemy unknown was challenging, but in this one, there is a lot of luck based difficulty. The monsters that reacts to your every move can be either easy or impossibly tough depending on how they act, and it does seem a bit arbitrary. As a general rule, I didn't like fighting them that much. I loved seeing them pop up in battles unexpectedly, but I hated the battle mechanics for fighting them. There was really just one tactic that seemed to work against them : heavy damage as quickly as possible.

    Finally, the game timer in this game is ... average. it isn't that fun how its implemented. Its starts fun, but becomes tedious after a while. I understand the desire to change things from the first one, but it didn't make the game fun.

    I don't really recommend buying this game. It's ok, but it ends up not being that much fun in the end. It's kind of sad, I was really hoping it would be as good as the previous one.    … Expand
  23. Kennethbj
    Feb 7, 2016
    5
    There are 3 elements to this game that is important from a perspective of "judging" it.
    1) Game play loop
    2) Story 3) Technical issues Firstly game play loop. It's solid, the tactical strategies and choices you make both in the combat part and the "base building" matters. The combat game play is very solid, but will frustrate people who had degrees of RNG. The skill element to this    There are 3 elements to this game that is important from a perspective of "judging" it.
    1) Game play loop
    2) Story
    3) Technical issues

    Firstly game play loop.
    It's solid, the tactical strategies and choices you make both in the combat part and the "base building" matters. The combat game play is very solid, but will frustrate people who had degrees of RNG. The skill element to this game is much like poker. In poker you need to understand your strengths long and short terms, cards and chip stack size. In X-com 2, you need to understand the RNG and what leads to it. Sometimes you have to rush to complete a mission and maybe sacrifice a solider in order to complete the objective and progress long term. It's a good and challenging loop that rewards a thoughtful process of weighting pros and cons of you actions. It can also be extremely heartbreaking sometimes.

    Secondly the story... Oh boy... The world design is fine, but they've clearly not done a very good job at writing the actual story OR creating any sort of connection between the player and the characters. It's the most bland AAA title i've played in a very long time. I'd argue that some sports games like Fifa almost does a better job at creating a more engaging story. And this scars my soul as a big sci-fi fan and a player of the original x-com, i really thought they would have taken this into the brave new world of games, but alas, it wasn't anywhere near.

    On the technical side, It looks good... but it suffers from down right stupid design decision and poor performance in certain places. There are little animation sequences that slow down the game play something drastic, and after a while it'll start infuriating you. It's when you hack a terminal and you need to press a button to continue, there's a small delay from the time to press the key until something actually happens - it makes the game feel unresponsive. It's the same deal with reloading and attacking, and not to mention when you discover some enemies. The first time you encounter some enemies it's cool that the game slows down so you can acknowledge what it is you're dealing with, but after you've faced those enemy types just a few times, it becomes a very annoying slow down of the game play flow, which counts against the experience of the game. There are multiple examples of these slow downs of game play and it's pulling the score down for me, massively. Also, despite having a rather powerful rig with SSD and all the trimming, i suffered horrible load times and looking at the windows resource monitor while it loading, it really wasn't pushing the hardware, which is rather annoying. Also I had an issue when just starting a new map where the game would "time out" for upwards for a minute before actually starting... makes no sense.

    All in all - the game is enjoyable if you can see pass the technical issues and only focus on the game play loop, this will be the corner stone for many people, because we don't have many of these games around anymore. The step up in AI of the enemies was nice, but fundamentally i don't think this was a much better game that X-com from a few years ago. Personally it missed the mark for me, and the technically aspects and poor design decision ultimately pulled the score down for me.    … Expand
  24. mggzer
    Feb 7, 2016
    5
    There is a good game here, it's just drowning in performance problems and questionable design decisions. This title is very iterative in some respects but innovative in the worst possible ways. I played a great deal of EU/EW on both Classic and later Impossible difficulty(as well as Long War, but I can't base this off something Firaxis didn't create), and never did I feel as though I wasThere is a good game here, it's just drowning in performance problems and questionable design decisions. This title is very iterative in some respects but innovative in the worst possible ways. I played a great deal of EU/EW on both Classic and later Impossible difficulty(as well as Long War, but I can't base this off something Firaxis didn't create), and never did I feel as though I was being hurt by circumstances out of my control.

    Unfortunately this game is plagued by artificial difficulty due a combination of multiple factors.
    -You a railroaded into one playstyle(one very dependent on RNG, unlike the previous reboot) due to a limit of 8-12 turns on most missions
    -Procedurally generated maps add to this, as you can be placed in borderline impossible situations as a result of start positions and alien pod patrols(it's quite honestly a shame, the maps are a strength of the game in all other aspects).
    -Powerful alien encounters can be made unwinnable due to the above.

    Also if your hardware isn't top of the line, you may have problems even running this game. I myself haven't run into anything unplayable, but sporadic fps drops as well as stuttering and hitching have been encountered. This was even after playing with the settings quite a bit. I may have just been lucky, some have reported worse on better hardware than I have available. My PC is probably somewhere in the mid tier now, but it's by no means low end. Sandy Bridge i7 3820, GTX 680, 16GB DDR3 RAM, and no SSD.

    I mentioned there being a good game here despite these issues? Well there have been some improvements from the previous Firaxis XCOM.

    +Obvious graphical improvements in all areas.
    +Sound design is overall better, as in effects and such(though EU had better music in my opinion).
    +The procedural generation of the levels is fundamentally a strength(despite the way it's actually utilized).
    +Mod support is benefit to any title.
    +Customization is mostly better, though lacking in a few areas.

    Anything I didn't mention I feel is either the same as the previous game, or just overshadowed by more important things I wanted to stress here. Overall a 5/10(average game for me) is incredibly generous as I've been extremely disappointed with this release in more ways than one.    … Expand
  25. game_over
    Feb 14, 2016
    5
    Bugs, poor optimization, turn limits, and uneven(and often harsh) difficulty are some of the problems with the game.

    Graphics, character customization, and a wonderful Xcom atmosphere are some of the positives of the game. The tactical gameplay is sometimes great fun and sometimes a frustration (and not because the enemy AI is good, quite the opposite). I am a little disappointed    Bugs, poor optimization, turn limits, and uneven(and often harsh) difficulty are some of the problems with the game.

    Graphics, character customization, and a wonderful Xcom atmosphere are some of the positives of the game.

    The tactical gameplay is sometimes great fun and sometimes a frustration (and not because the enemy AI is good, quite the opposite).

    I am a little disappointed that I paid full price for this. My bad 2k. Don't worry, won't happen again.    … Expand
  26. klepo
    Jun 6, 2016
    5
    I tried. I really tried.

    I enjoyed the original XCom and played though it several times. The reboot was a good time. Again, worth several play-throughs. This thing? It's just .. hateful. Sadistic. I don't know who they made it for, but it wasn't for a fan of the prior games. I tried to find the fun, I tried to find the enjoyment. But after dozens of hours I have to conclude    I tried. I really tried.

    I enjoyed the original XCom and played though it several times.

    The reboot was a good time. Again, worth several play-throughs.

    This thing? It's just .. hateful. Sadistic. I don't know who they made it for, but it wasn't for a fan of the prior games. I tried to find the fun, I tried to find the enjoyment. But after dozens of hours I have to conclude that it just isn't there.

    They need to acknowledge that they only made this game for themselves - an ultra-hardcore subset of the prior games' fans. Whoever backed this as a business venture was badly ripped off by a self-serving development team. The XCom brand hasn't been this badly mishandled since Enforcer.    … Expand
  27. xKTN
    Jun 18, 2016
    5
    I'm new to XCOM series. Haven't played older games yet, so I decided to try this one. I like gameplay, except one thing - aim percentage. It's ridiculous when you miss, staying in front of enemy with 85% chance to successful hit. The other thing I don't like are time-wasting and completely unnecessary animations after all actions. Fortunately there are mods that allow player to skip them.I'm new to XCOM series. Haven't played older games yet, so I decided to try this one. I like gameplay, except one thing - aim percentage. It's ridiculous when you miss, staying in front of enemy with 85% chance to successful hit. The other thing I don't like are time-wasting and completely unnecessary animations after all actions. Fortunately there are mods that allow player to skip them. And bugs. Maaaany bugs. I think every player faced some kind of bugs in this game. Starting from jumping under ground, ending on game breaking red screens or mission crashes. The most of bugs are fixed but I can't rate this game higher than 5.… Expand
  28. Masterhummel
    Feb 6, 2016
    7
    Prepare to be constantly reloading.

    Xcom 2 is definetly more refined then its predecessor and i, personally, don't see the timers as inherently unfitting. They just may appear in too much missions. Xcom 2 tries a different approach on some things like the covert mode at mission begin. Also you're forced to use more soldiers, trying to make it less dreadful if you loose a soldier. And    Prepare to be constantly reloading.

    Xcom 2 is definetly more refined then its predecessor and i, personally, don't see the timers as inherently unfitting. They just may appear in too much missions. Xcom 2 tries a different approach on some things like the covert mode at mission begin. Also you're forced to use more soldiers, trying to make it less dreadful if you loose a soldier. And sometimes it works, but othertimes the mechanics trip over themselves.

    For example, during the covert mode you can't see the sight radius of an enemy that you haven't discovered yet. Also, if you attack a target during covert mode, you pull every enemy that is in your visibility into the fight. Which means that you want to have as little sight as possible or else you might easily pull a cascade of enemies that will completly destroy you.

    Enemies are far more dangerous now, with more special attacks and variety. Which is cool, but they're too strong fot the most part. A pack of 3 vipers will disable 3 of your soldiers in one turn, leaving you with another 3. If you have pulled two or three groups, you might as well reload. A mission may either run perfect or not at all. Which is a shame, because like this, there are no stories your soldiers can develop. Because they either suceed or die. There is no in-between.

    Also there are some bugs and a rather questionable performance.

    Overall, it's a good game. But it feels like it could've done well with three months more balancing and bug hunting.    … Expand
  29. 123456
    Feb 7, 2016
    5
    An RNG fest. A whole level will frequently be decided by one dice roll. Add to this that you are facing enemies far stronger that you from the second level, and the addition of turn limits on a lot of missions so you will frequently lose squad members to either death or recovering from their injuries for a month of game time.

    Fair enough, the game is tough but it is not tough in an    An RNG fest. A whole level will frequently be decided by one dice roll. Add to this that you are facing enemies far stronger that you from the second level, and the addition of turn limits on a lot of missions so you will frequently lose squad members to either death or recovering from their injuries for a month of game time.

    Fair enough, the game is tough but it is not tough in an interesting way. Arbitrary numbers and over-powered enemies result in simply reloading the game multiple times. It seems like the wanted to create an "against all odds" feeling to the game in terms of narrative, and that is exactly what it is - against all odds. It doesn't feel like it matters *that much* what you actually do, until you learn the mission by reloading and stacking the odds in your favour.

    The massive amount of pop-up information from research to building to missions that can't just be "done" but have to be scanned for, and whilst you're scanning 3 more things pop up which are "really urgent!" And an annoying guy keeps telling me what to do, but also calling me commander. Why even pretend that I am in charge!

    If your squad had some interesting abilities rather than just get in cover and fire a dice gun, some fun things like all the aliens seem to get, then you could probably call this a tactical game. But as it is it feels like taking on a whole chess set with 2 pawns, a bishop and a knight (why do you only get 4 people in a squad anyway!?), and having to roll a 6 to be able to take any of their pieces. Frustrating at first, but quickly dull.    … Expand
  30. Silverqt
    Feb 6, 2016
    5
    wtf with the frame rate in this game?:) Using i7 + gtx 690 and can barely handle it, like 90% of playtime i am enjoying of average 24 frames...... and yeah for no reason, because the game looks like **** and must run like 300 frames with graphics like that. Also game fails to inform me about critical buildings that i must to build for not to lose my whole GAME!!! And when the soldierswtf with the frame rate in this game?:) Using i7 + gtx 690 and can barely handle it, like 90% of playtime i am enjoying of average 24 frames...... and yeah for no reason, because the game looks like **** and must run like 300 frames with graphics like that. Also game fails to inform me about critical buildings that i must to build for not to lose my whole GAME!!! And when the soldiers misses a target when the muzzle of the gun right at flesh of the enemy, stupid as ****… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

8
#8 Best PC Game of 2016
6
#6 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
19
#19 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 104 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 97 out of 104
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 104
  3. Negative: 1 out of 104
  1. Wccftech
    Apr 22, 2016
    80
    Firaxis managed to improve upon the already great Enemy Unknown in almost every way, with the exception of multiplayer. Unfortunately, the shockingly bad performance prevents XCOM 2 from reaching the status of a true masterpiece.
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  2. High-Def Digest
    Apr 10, 2016
    90
    It is a tactical experience without peer, better even than its predecessors. It is draining and agonizing, but in a good way. The high difficulty may turn off some gamers, but it’s worth every second.
    Read full review
  3. IGN Denmark
    Apr 6, 2016
    90
    XCOM 2 is a gem. There is more story in the game, and the ending does not feel as abrupt as it did in the first game.
    Read full review
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