The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

1. Za_Dobro

   Aug 20, 2013

   10

   The Bureau is very good game. It has a strong tactical component, good plot, and nice graphic, battles is very tense and hard. AI of enemiesThe Bureau is very good game. It has a strong tactical component, good plot, and nice graphic, battles is very tense and hard. AI of enemies is pretty smart, they may surround you, attack you from behind. In my opinion: one of the best shooters of last five years.… Expand

   • 7 of 21 users found this helpful
2. BadboyStelin

   Sep 17, 2013

   10

   I loved X-Com Enemy Unknown. It was fresh, challenging and made you think. Nothing about Enemy Unknown should detract from the successes ofI loved X-Com Enemy Unknown. It was fresh, challenging and made you think. Nothing about Enemy Unknown should detract from the successes of The Bureau, which is also fresh, challenging and makes you think. It's such a shame that some reviewers award far lower scores than it actually deserve because it's compared against an expectation that nothing should be changed from the original formula. In other words fan-boys and fan-girls who presumably must have exactly one slice of toast, with 2.2g of butter, 1.5 dollops of Robinson's shredded orange marmalade, one hard boiled egg (7.7cm circumference) and 353 ml of milk for their breakfast EVERY day, because change wouldn't be good.
   
   The Bureau is a great game in its own right. Graphically the game creates a wonderful world full of tasteful pastel colour, great environments and detail that deserves recognition for what it does and how it makes the player feel drawn into the game. The game does a fantastic job of inviting you into a well thought out and portrayed sic-fi adventure that would be fitting of many a AAA movie, and is not too dissimilar in storyline to Independence Day. The vistas are lovely to look at and the 60's setting offers a welcome change to the humdrum of other game designs. The creativity behind the overall theme and the atmosphere it creates is as good as any Bio-shock or Mass Effect game. Later in the game the alien-ship architecture and technology together with glimpses of a stunning galaxy are on a par with, and often better than, many of the AAA movie titles you could think of.
   
   The interaction between characters is very much like Mass Effect and once you've chosen a certain line of dialogue you want to pursue, I love the slight twist on how your character delivers the message in the same way that the lead characters in Mass Effect did. Yes it's a simple development trick but one which captures your attention and satisfies if you are even slightly interested in video games telling a story rather than just knocking on a 2ft thick plank of wood.
   
   Controls are tight and the method of selecting skills, attributes and weapons is very simple and intuitive and never interfere with gameplay.
   
   Yes, as some reviewers have pointed out, the selection of skills mid-fight does pause the 'action' but this is not an action game in the same genre as COD, it's a tactical shooter and one in which tactics need to be considered, actioned and then reconsidered and re-actioned to keep on top of the enemy onslaught. The enemy will try to flank you, then they introduce ones that can fly, so overhead becomes a problem too. If you accept that issuing orders and actually leading your team is a key focus on this game, you will automatically realise that the selection of skills mid-fight is not a hinderance but actually the core skill in the game. Where will you direct your team to take cover, what weapons should they deploy against who, which enemy needs to be taken out first, can you afford to ignore part of the battlefield in favour of tasking everyone to concentrate fire-power on just one foe, who needs medical attention, who is about to die, do you provide that medical attention yourself or direct a team member to do so? It's all down to you and you can approach a fight in any way you please.
   
   Before you begin a mission you will choose which squad members to take with you. That choice will have a bearing on how easy or how successful you are in completing the mission. Each squad member can be levelled up through experience and you can choose which attributes and weapons they should carry with them.
   
   You cant upgrade weapons as such, but you can choose from rapid fire weapons with lots of ammo to heavier plasma weapons with more limited ammo. You can upgrade certain elements of the squad's attributes. Generally that focuses on a choice of harder-hitting weapons, an ability to distract enemies or offer squad-healing abilities according to what you think would be most useful.
   
   The Bureau can be challenging and on harder difficulty levels it demands real focus on your team and constant reassessment of risk and tactics. It can all become quite frantic at times. Once a mission is complete you'll return to base where a few discussions with other characters will take place. Again I found those visits to the base very interesting in developing the story and I spent a little time just soaking in the atmosphere of the very believable (in a sci-fi world) bunker and the people who work there. I do not agree with those who suggest the visits to base are long and drawn out and completely unnecessary.
   
   Overall I rate this game very highly and would recommend it to those who love tactical shooters, Mass Effect style games and who love the XCom theme but who are open minded enough to accept that a new take on a theme can be hugely enjoyable without being a carbon copy with a new front cover?
   
   A new adventure anyone? Or would you prefer a lemon-curd sandwich the same as yesterday?… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
4. 2K13Reviwer

   Aug 20, 2013

   9

   I finished the game less than 30 minutes ago. I didn't know what to expect when i popped it in my xbox but i loved the original XCOM so I wasI finished the game less than 30 minutes ago. I didn't know what to expect when i popped it in my xbox but i loved the original XCOM so I was excited. I started playing at about 6PM yesterday and didn't stop until 6AM this morning.
   
   The Good: The combat is amazingly fun. Some of the commentary will make you laugh. The enemy AI are smart and will give you a great sense of accomplishment when you outsmart them. The voice work was excellent. The characters were decently engaging. The storyline was outstanding for the first 75% of the game.
   
   The Bad: The main character maxes out at level 10, gaining new abilities and perks every level. This would be great except i did every side mission and every main mission and didnt reach level 10 until 20 minutes before the game was over. (No Spoilers) The story had me interested and invested up until the last couple hours of gameplay. I felt like the writers could have done better. Almost as if they were behind schedule and had to just put something together. It got really confusing in the end. I ran into a couple of bugs. My AI teammates were buggy as well. If you tell them to move to a certain spot, they will move there but it doesn't take much for them to abandon your orders and move somewhere else. They enjoy following me in the middle of heavy combat which could be annoying for strategic purposes. Sometimes i would tell them to get behind cover and they would simply ignore me(bug). Or i would tell them to revive me and they would get snagged on another teammate while i bleed all over the place. I find that my team stumbled over each other a lot. The game adds decisions that the player has to make but its hard to tell how any of the decisions effected anything. Yea i know thats a lot of bad BUUUT...
   
   Overall, i'm giving this game a 9/10 because I enjoyed it. 90% of your time is spent in combat and thats where the game shines. I can overlook the shortcomings.… Expand

   • 3 of 11 users found this helpful
5. TundraFreeze

   Aug 29, 2013

   8

   Fun sci-fi game. Not as tactical as a Tom Clancy game but still tactical enough to make it challenging and fun, it is on the same tacticalFun sci-fi game. Not as tactical as a Tom Clancy game but still tactical enough to make it challenging and fun, it is on the same tactical level as the first Mass Effect game. The graphics are good and I liked the voice casting. Sure the gameplay is repetitive but not more than Enemy Unknown. Likewise you can't blame this game for having a generic storyline when the entire XCom series is built around a generic storyline. However a better word than 'generic' is 'classic'. That's how I see the storyline and concept of this game, a classic sci-fi. So if you truly enjoy sci-fi and you liked the tactical gameplay in the first Mass Effect game you might enjoy XCom Declassified.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. storygamer

   Sep 14, 2020

   7

   The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a whole new approach to the XCOM universe. While the strategic concept of the other games of this seriesThe Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a whole new approach to the XCOM universe. While the strategic concept of the other games of this series works excellent, this tactical shooter seems pretty sloppy. The setting of the game is well made and filled with interesting aspects. And as a newbie to the series, you´ll have a lot of fun. This game is quite good after all. But it´s not an XCOM game!… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
7. ArcadePhantom

   Aug 25, 2013

   6

   Remember years ago when the devs of this game had announced a first person XCOM that was like a detective game in some ways? I was interestedRemember years ago when the devs of this game had announced a first person XCOM that was like a detective game in some ways? I was interested it sounded fresh and had the potential to be amazing but instead we got a third person tactical shooter with A.I that usually has to be baby sited constantly, don't get me wrong this game will appeal to a lot of people but if you think this is another RTS XCOM you're gonna be disappointed.
   Want a 3rd person cover based tactical shooter with the XCOM theme? buy this game
   Want a RTS XCOM? wait for XCOM: Enemy Within… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
8. Broyax

   Mar 15, 2017

   1

   C'est étonnant comme on s'attend à ce que tout aille de soi... mais tout ne va pas de soi bien au contraire ! et certaines choses que nousC'est étonnant comme on s'attend à ce que tout aille de soi... mais tout ne va pas de soi bien au contraire ! et certaines choses que nous prenons pour acquises et conçues simplement et efficacement comme on mettrait une lettre à la poste, ces choses là ne le sont pas.
   
   Prenons par exemple le système de combat des Mass Effect : simple, efficace, puissant, tactique ! mettons-le dans un Xcom.... putain c'est devenu de la merde ! comme une mauvaise copie chinoise (pléonasme) qui n'égale jamais l'original. Et pourquoi donc ? parce qu'il faut beaucoup de temps et de talent pour mettre au point ce qui nous semble aller de soi, ça ne se bricole pas comme ça par des incapables...
   
   Et en tant que jeu de tir à la troisième personne, comment s'en tire le Bureau ? comme une merde ! décidément ! on a pas vu plus mou et plus générique depuis longtemps. Et plus moche aussi. Seule la VF est de bonne qualité mais la bêtise des dialogues est hélas irrécupérable. On a qu'une envie, retourner jouer au Xcom de 2012.… Expand

   • 0 of 2 users found this helpful

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