XCOM2... or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Snek

[ChapterAquila92]

So XCOM2 has been out for a couple of weeks now, and I have to say that my expectations of it so far have been well-surpassed as a fun and challenging game.

To those who don't know, the XCOM series is a (predominantly) turn-based tactical/real-time strategy game that centers on the titular secret paramilitary organization, with you as its commander, as it fights off alien invasions by whatever means your scientists and engineers can devise for your troops, including reverse-engineering alien tech.

Now, with normal sequel titles, we know the formula without looking at it - you won the last game and now you're expecting the developers to up the ante in some way.

XCOM2? Not so much.

Thanks to some clever data-mining, Firaxis (fitting that the same guys that gave us Civilization would have us hold the line as civilization's last stand) has determined that since the vast majority of the initial playthroughs resulted in losing the game it would make sense that the sequel really ought to be about trying to redeem yourself of that initial failure (They also suggested that this is an all-too common occurrence on Impossible Ironman mode).

And you would lose the game too if the ayys came to give us this:



In any case, it's been 20 years since the invasion, and humanity has been living peacefully under the watchful eye of the ADVENT Coalition, the global government that serves as a liaison with our new benevolent alien overlords. Gene therapy clinics now provide the cure for just about every ailment known to mankind, heralding a mass migration to the city centers for a better life.
At least, that's what the average citizen thinks.

There still remain those on the fringes of the administrative zones who haven't drank deep of the flavorade, who are absolutely convinced that the pristine and immaculate ADVENT cities are a facade hiding something far more sinister and that the aliens are up to no good. Resistance movements have even sprung up, still clinging onto the memories of Earth before the invasion, and spearheading them is XCOM... or rather, what is left of it. Their original headquarters destroyed and Earth occupied, XCOM has been forced to become an insurgency over the years.

Fortunately for them, they are not without a home.



Enter the Avenger, a captured and repurposed alien vessel that now serves as the mobile HQ for XCOM as it wages war against the alien oppressors.

Sadly, despite the fact that the sneks are just as much pawns to the alien overlords as the ADVENT Coalition is, they have to go as well... Unless of course modding is your thing.

It's fun, it's challenging, at times it will make you scream at the RNG for making you miss that 99% hit chance... and I've barely scratched the surface. I highly recommend this game if it even remotely piques your interest.

[RainRat]

I am a big fan of the 1994 xcom. They had snakemen in that one. How do you think someone coming into it from the 1994 version would fare coming into this one?

[ChapterAquila92]

I am a big fan of the 1994 xcom. They had snakemen in that one. How do you think someone coming into it from the 1994 version would fare coming into this one?

That is hard for me to say, since I never played the original X-Com games. That said, it would probably help to say that the reboot of the series pays spiritual homage to the original better than it does in adhering to the original mechanics.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown, its expansion Enemy Within, and XCOM2 are more cinematic games by comparison from what I've read. Time units are replaced by action points, soldier inventory is likewise simplified, manpower is at a premium, enemy pods may wander around the map but won't activate until they notice your soldiers (they'll still kill civilians on terror missions of course), and base management is centralized in an "ant farm" configuration. XCOM2 also has the added feature of you getting the jump on the aliens through the use of concealment.

Even with everything said, it's still challenging. Some missions, such as bomb disposal missions in EU/EW and VIP rescue missions in XCOM2, are time-sensitive, and in the case of the latter you don't have the luxury of being able to delay the timer. Similarly, XCOM2 also has a time-sensitive strategic layer that you need to pay close attention to, although you can set that timer back through accomplishing certain missions.

In the end, your mileage may vary.