xcom 2 game review
XCOM 2 - Tremble Aliens, XCOM is back in great shapeIn 2012, Firaxis breathed new life into the XCOM series with the Enemy Unknown reboot. Reboot, because the XCOM saga actually dates from 1994, when it was developed by MicroProse and was still called X-COM: UFO Defense. Thanks to this successful reboot, many players have experienced the masochistic pleasure of protecting Earth from the alien invader at the cost of heavy losses. After an Enemy Within extension, the license returns today with an XCOM 2 radically changing the context. The aliens have won, the governments have given in, the people have submitted, our planet is now ruled by the aliens. However, a small group of resistance fighters intends to fight with the means at hand against the oppressor. When the XCOM rises from the ashes, you are the one leading the counter-attack!
XCOM, abbreviation of eXtraterrial COMbat unit, organization specialized in the fight against the extraterrestrial threat. A group of men and women backed by billions of dollars from various international governments to protect Earth from the alien invader. If this description corresponded to the status of the entity in its Enemy Unknown reboot orchestrated by Firaxis in 2012, we can no longer really define XCOM in these terms now. Following the betrayal of the council members, the body has been dissolved and the aliens are now ruling Earth. But while the invader clubbed his idealistic propaganda based on false promises of a bright future, some rose in the shadows and planned to overturn the established order. We play these resistance fighters, fighters relentlessly hunted down by Advent, the army set up by the aliens.
TALION'S LAW
Finished the base located in a country chosen by the player at the start of the game, the guerrilla version of XCOM is now operating from Talion (Avenger in VO), a stolen alien ship that has become our new operating headquarters. This change mainly affects the management aspect of the title. Since its inception, the XCOM series has been based on a skilful mix between the turn-based strategy during ground missions and the management of troops and installations when returning to the fold. Without really upsetting the habits of Enemy Unknown, the smaller internal configuration of the Talion requires a more thoughtful approach to the construction of our various infrastructures. With 12 locations available for cut, you will have to make choices and therefore sacrifices in order to deal with the different emergencies of the main narrative. Engineering center, laboratory, power generator, armory, tactical operating room, regulars will find on board the great classics of the saga as well as their respective roles. Bulky aliens will have to be cleared to unlock access to the new rooms and therefore allocate both staff and time. In this sense, XCOM 2 offers admittedly less extensive management of the database, but swaps it for a more in-depth staff allocation system.Engineers and scientists are now on a mission, join our ranks on their own or recruit directly against resources during certain events on the Hologlobe (the global map of the game). They will then have to be assigned to our various installations in order to boost their efficiency. Placing an engineer on a generator leads for example to a gain of +5 in energy; the same engineer can also speed up the clearing of a new room by 100% for the construction of an additional facility. Pressed by the urgency of certain situations, it is up to us to manage our staff as well as possible to optimize the tasks in progress. The 12 rooms of the Talion always benefit from synergies between them with specific bonuses granted when two specific buildings are placed side by side. XCOM introduces a lot of new products linked to its context of fight against the alien dictatorship with the communication room used to get in touch with new branches of resistance around the world, the decryption center, essential for gathering information of great importance concerning alien projects, or the guerrilla institute, place of training of our armed troops.
On the other hand, we say goodbye to the defense mini-game against alien ships as well as to the entire management branch of our flying squadrons. For the sake of consistency with the current background and since these phases did not bring much to Eneny Unknown, the thing is here replaced by a UFO on patrol on the world map. It must be avoided at the risk of being lowered in mid-flight and then undergoing a (very) delicate ground mission often synonymous with immense losses for the XCOM. Playing cat and mouse with this flying disruptor often delays our plans and adds an extra degree of tension to the game management phases.
RESIST, PROVE THAT YOU EXIST
Guerrilla mode requires, the XCOM is no longer content to undergo extraterrestrial attacks to retaliate a posteriori. The player takes control of the rebellion and must always be one step ahead of Advent. This translates into play with a large number of operations available on the Hologlobe. If some are good old combat missions on the ground, the map is full of resources to collect, personnel to secure and militias to contact. Since each task requires a certain number of days and / or resources to complete, the urgency of certain situations requires us to juggle constantly between the operations in progress to thwart alien plans as soon as possible. Note that it is entirely possible to refuse a mission if your current task seems to be a priority.Be careful though, because a sword of Damocles hovers over our heads: the Avatar project. Without going into detail at the risk of significant spoil, this project symbolized at the top of the screen by a progress bar filling up over the weeks represents the common thread of XCOM 2. Neglect a mission or a research related to the latter , fail a capital operation and the consequences will be dramatic: a good big Game Over if Avatar succeeds! Fortunately, the tension induced by Firaxis in staging the urgency of these different key moments is enough to motivate us to start anti-Avatar hostilities as soon as possible. In short, the mission opportunities are not lacking in this XCOM 2 so much that it is difficult to fault it on its content. Estimating the life of the title is not easy since it greatly depends on your success and the additional missions carried out. It exceeds 40 hours without much harm.
ALWAYS MORE CUSTOMIZATION
Firaxis has devilishly fleshed out one of the funniest and time-consuming aspects of the series: customizing the troops. Let the one who never had fun creating a squad made up of friends, family members or work colleagues throw me the first stone! If it was already possible to customize your soldiers in Enemy Unknown / Within, the options are multiplied here in order to strengthen the attachment of the player for his soldiers. Need I remind you that a dead troop on the ground in XCOM is definitely dead? A fatality that drives us to take care and cultivate the differences of each soldier. Haircut, facial hair, appearance of the different parts of armor, eye color, the great classics are supported here by a good dose of new products such as face accessories (glasses, scarves, hoods etc.), tattoos, or the possibility of choosing a specific language for each unit with different variations of tones and accents according to the selected country (French, English, American, Italian, Spanish and German for the moment). Fancy a German shock troop wearing a pirate eye patch, green hair, a tattoo in the shape of a pink panda on the right arm? This is completely possible in XCOM 2 and we will have spent a lot of time exploring the options offered by this tool. Locked for the blue, some customizations are unlocked over the graduation of troops, enough to motivate us not to take their fate lightly.Weapons can be freely painted according to our tastes in addition to being able to apply different ornamental textures. Military camouflage or striped effects for the wiser, up to lighter patterns like smileys or little hearts to mess around even in the worst situations. The thing is not only aesthetic for the weapons, because the latter now have slots for mods capable of boosting their performance. XCOM makes do with what it finds on the field to put the odds of victory on its side. These famous mods are thus recovered from the still smoking corpses of the extraterrestrials, provided that they have not been killed with explosives (the latter damage enemy equipment too heavily). Once again, the loot component introduced in this new episode involves a new layer of strategy.
Because the objects left on the ground by the aliens generally self-destruct after two to three turns. Is it better to send a unit to recover them at the risk of placing it in the open or to concentrate on the imperatives of the current mission? Anyway, once fixed on our weapons with the means at hand (scotch tape, metal collars or the commonplace string), these improvements confer - in addition to a change of look - various bonuses of stats to our weapons. From the classic additional aiming score, to increasing the size of the magazine or even perks based on low probabilities of instantly killing a target, moding your weapons is crucial to hope to triumph.
REVIEW OF TROOPS
With a 7-level skill tree, each with two specific talents to choose from, XCOM soldiers all specialize in specific fields according to five classes from and adapted from Enemy Unknown:Sniper: Replacing the Sniper class, they effectively resume their ability to align targets at a distance and are also armed with a magnum for shorter range combat.
Ranger: Replaces the Assault class. Very effective at close range, the ranger is also able to wield a sword to inflict great damage on melee, they can also and with the adapted talents remain stealthy even in case of alien detection of our squad.
Grenadier: They replace the Heavy. Plug your ears, it might go wild in all directions with this class of followers of explosives and powerful machine guns.
Specialist: They replace the Supports. Accompanied by their drone, specialists can hack or stun enemy enemy robotic units and also hack into enemy terminals.
Agent PSI: This class is not available at the start of the game and it will be necessary to autopsy a Sectoid then build various installations aboard the Talion to unlock it. Endowed with powerful psychic attacks, the Psi Agent will have at the end of a long training of a palette of varied mental techniques such as the possibility of mentally controlling an opponent (and knock!) Or of triggering their explosive from a distance (and boom! )
With resources and a few days of training, it is even possible to teach them skills that are in principle reserved for other classes, or even to develop their psychic skills in order to make them even more versatile in the field. After a few weeks of research, the joys of magnetic weapons, lasers, plasma, loaded for the occasion with new acid or flammable ammunition are yours. We will also have smoke grenades to protect our troops, scan beacons to reveal part of the terrain, or very practical decoys to trick the opponent with a holographic projection of a unit. We can also make and then wear heavier armor, some of which will provide slots for powerful weapons such as flame throwers or heavy cannons carried on the shoulders. In short, the arsenal of this XCOM 2 is more than ever consistent! And it will take all this paraphernalia to hope to fight against the aliens and the Advent forces.
MORE DIFFICULT THAN ENMY UNKNOWN
Let it be said right away, playing XCOM has never been a walk in the park, as the slightest error often turns out to be fatal. Let me reassure you, XCOM 2 is even harder than Enenmy Unknown or Within. But more complicated does not mean more frustrating, since you will see that this increase in difficulty from the first missions of the game is accompanied by additional options for our troops. Little reminder before getting to the heart of the subject, alongside its HQ management component, the XCOM saga is characterized by its missions in the field in the form of tactical combat by turns. After having chosen and equipped your troops according to the objectives, it is high time to take off towards the area of operations.The title resumes its principle of limited actions for the characters: displacement, sprint, shooting on a target, reloading, vigilance mode etc. If the chances of hitting or being hit are directly influenced by the degree and angle of coverage of the units, XCOM 2 always tells us in pain that an 80% chance of placing a shot on a Sectoid does not always result the success of the maneuver. We can however guarantee our chances of hitting with certain abilities that hit every time like explosives or drone attacks to name a few. However, you should not underestimate the amount of randomness involved in each action in the game and accept failure as long as it remains manageable (and save often while you are at it!).
Why then is XCOM 2 more robust than its predecessor? The first reason is explained in the background of the title. Installed on Earth, the aliens have in addition to their considerable technological advance the unwavering support of certain humans, genetically modified to integrate the ranks of Advent, the army of repression in the service of the invader. Our means as members of the resistance are therefore particularly limited during the first missions. However, the aliens aligned shock troops from the start, made up of heavily armed Advent soldiers, automatic detection laser cannons and alien units with already well-developed powers. You just have to see the basic abilities of the new Sectoids to understand their pain in the event of a bad strategy. With a good pool of health points, a capacity for mental control, resurrection of corpses and a psychic attack inspiring panic on one of our soldiers, the guy will give you cold sweats during the first hours of play. Especially since the joys do not stop there since enemy reinforcements regularly come to invite themselves to the party after a certain time. Worse, many missions are now to be completed in a limited number of turns. VIP escort, Advent scientist capture, data hacking or sabotage of alien installations, the new XCOM formula is played in guerrilla mode, most often operating in the shadows before being detected by the opponent.
DISCRETION ABOVE ALL!
To counterbalance the undeniable technological advantage of the enemy, the XCOM will start quite a few missions in camouflaged mode. As long as one of your troops attacks or does not enter the opponent's field of vision, you are free to progress under cover in order to best prepare for a surprise attack. By combining good vigilance triggers with smart strategic placement, it is entirely possible to get rid of a full patrol of enemies before they even have time to go hide. Do not expect to return to stealth mode once detected, as this tactical advantage will only be given to you once at the start of the mission. As always, enemy units can also be hidden in the shadows of the map and surprise you at the worst possible time. When you only have 8 turns to evacuate an NPC, it can quickly turn into a nightmare!Fortunately, it is not always necessary to eliminate all threats on the ground. It will often be better to aim for rapid evacuation than to seek direct confrontation. Note in passing that a new mechanic is appearing for this episode. Previously condemned to wait for providential care from an ally or to die for humanity in the event of an earthquake, our troops can now rescue each other by demanding a manual evacuation on the map. It's up to you to decide whether triggering the premature retirement of two units during a mission is worth the effort or not! Hacking is also making its appearance in the series, notably with the specialists' drone. Particularly useful against robotic units or security terminals, hacking can grant several advantages to XCOM. Disable a robot for two turns or even turn it against its allies, this is a profitable action to perform under enemy fire! Hacking is based on the principle of risks and rewards. Attempting a complicated hack, for example, will have 2 small percentages of chances to grant you a substantial bonus in resources or a providential reduction in research time over several weeks after a mission. If it fails, you will have to fight it with additional reinforcements or a buff for the alien troops. Based on the hacking skills of our troops, hacking is a bit too random at the start of the game before becoming more rewarding at high level.
In order to counter an ever more sophisticated alien cast in its ability to kill us in just a few rounds, XCOM 2 also focuses on close combat. Ranger's class is equipped by default with a high damage range sword, the use of which involves taking certain risks linked to exiting cover mode. She is formidable against the Vipers, these reptilian creatures capable of spitting clouds of poison or catching a soldier from a distance with their huge forked tongue and then hugging him until death ensues.
In general, the bestiary of this XCOM 2 demonstrates both continuity and renewal of its workforce. If the Sectoid already mentioned a few paragraphs above clearly refers to that of the first part of XCOM: UFO Defense, the inspirations from the liabilities of the saga are legion. Do not worry, at regular intervals, new heads will appear in the enemy ranks with for example the Archon, this elegant and deadly flying unit, the Anonymous, flask replacing the Matches, or all the declensions of Advent troops . Whatever the case, the Talion scientist will always be extremely happy to dissect these still smoking corpses with many splashes and sound effects in order to study the technology.
The notes
+ Positive points
Very successful Alien dictatorship background
Advanced customization of units and weapons
The staging of actions, the emphasis of missions
The new, more vicious, more brutal Aliens units
Finally constant difficulty curve
Punitive, but very rewarding
Random generation of maps for more diversity
The new management of the HQ, obliging to make choices and sacrifices
Camouflage and melee, novelties that integrate very well with the gameplay
There is always something to do, infinite replayability
More detailed graphics than previous panels
French dubbing
Official mod support
-Negative points
Many camera bugs during close-ups
Bugs sometimes blocking during the transition between towers
Few be repetitive when played over long sessions
Art direction without great madness
Resource-hungry
90% chance of touching that still misses too often (yes, it's subjective!)
If it does not redefine the mechanics of the saga, XCOM 2 succeeds thanks to its new context of alien dictatorship to brilliantly renew the heroic tension revived in 2012 with Enemy Unknown. More customizable than ever, our units face an alien invader now in charge of Earth. Gone are the days of world organization, supported by all governments, the time has come for clandestine operations involving certain delectable strategic novelties like the management of concealed phases or the numerous extractions of NPCs. As tactical during its phases on the ground as it is enriched in its management aspect of the base, XCOM 2 is overflowing with content and even has the luxury of offering a staging more worked than ever. Now hope that the few bugs encountered are quickly fixed by Firaxis and we will be holding THE turn-based strategy game of the year!
0 comments:
Post a Comment