XCOM 2 Review (PC)

XCOM 2 makes gamers appreciate victory, understand how many sacrifices it requires and how hard men and women need to work to achieve even the simplest of goals when their enemy seems to have unlimited resources and a lot of dirty tricks up his sleeve.

The second title in the rebooted series is also about pressure, the demands that being the potential savior of an entire race places upon an individual and how hard it is to live up to the expectations of those who depend on you to turn a bad situation into a good one.

The main turn-based tactical mechanics of the franchise are present and solid, enhanced by a raft of additions, some of them incredibly innovative, that ensure fast, tense and constantly exciting battles scenarios.

The campaign layer has also been revamped with a lot of new tricks, the classes are filled with interesting decisions and synergies, enemies fight a lot smarter than before and gamers who get tired of the campaign (which might require 100 hours of play or more) also have a solid multiplayer component.

The title is developed by Firaxis and published by 2K Games, with the title at the moment only offered on the PC, with no plans to deliver it on the PlayStation 4 from Sony or the Xbox One from Microsoft.

Story

XCOM 2 has a starting point 20 years after the events of the first rebooted title and the hard-won victories of Earth are nowhere to be found, with the aliens in charge of Earth, working with collaborators named Advent, preparing for something that's even more horrific than the enslavement of the human race.

Major urban centers are the places where they show off their apparent benevolent leadership, which is enforced by powerful military forces, while a small group of survivors tries to live outside, with limited ability to mount a resistance, apart from a small XCOM remnant that uses a UFO as a base.

XCOM 2 assault

The fact that the player now controls a guerrilla force and is on the offensive fundamentally changes the nature of the game, both regarding story and gameplay, and Firaxis have clearly worked to make the narrative a bigger part of the XCOM 2 experience, with the Project Avatar timer looming large over all decisions.

The characters have a bit more personality, and the impact of the alien domination and the fight against it on the civilian population is a bigger subject, but the biggest connection is with the soldiers that are recruited and, inevitably and unfortunately, lost on the battlefield.

Gameplay

XCOM 2 remains a classic turn-based strategy title that challenges gamers to handle both a strategic and a tactical layer, with the goal of giving their squads the best possible chance to achieve their objectives with limited or no losses.

That's easier said than done because the aliens have received a significant upgrade in terms of both units and skills and the player tends to also be under the pressure of time, having to reach his objectives or get to the extraction point on the map within a certain amount of turns.

Firaxis understands how gamers optimized their approaches in the first game to create a super-squad that could deal with almost any kind of crisis and are making sure that the same approach fails this time around.

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XCOM 2 is keen to put the player under pressure and to force him to make what seem like impossible choices, such as deciding whether to lose an experienced soldier and his equipment or to simply drop the objective and head to extraction.

The procedurally generated maps that are at the heart of XCOM 2 also make a huge difference in how each engagement evolves, with the player having to invest more in stealth and scouting capabilities than in simple and direct firepower.

The tension created by the percentages associated with shots and the overwhelming power of the enemy forces, especially at the start of the campaign, is compounded by the need to choose who lives and who dies and by the feeling of failure that can then hamper planning and performance.

Stealth is another addition to combat and players are well advised to carefully make full use of it when they can, moving around the map to gain information and detect enemy positions before revealing themselves to reach their objective and then evacuate, without losses if possible.

The strategic layer of XCOM 2 has also been remodeled to open up more ways to interact with the world, from contacting other rebels to picking up supplies or undertaking missions that are designed to make the aliens more vulnerable or even set back progress on their big secret project.

The player again cannot deal with every situation and will have to carefully choose when and how to act while also contending with the terror that the enemy will retaliate and will force a major confrontation that often leads to big losses.

Amor, weapons, and other equipment can also significantly change how a battle is fought, but it is hard to get the required resources to equip everyone perfectly, and once again the game reinforces the theme of sacrifice, with many battles fought with a solid team and one rookie who packs a grenade and is ready to hold off enemies to let the rest achieve an objective.

“XCOM 2 is part of a rare group of video games that wants the player to regret some of his decisions, both when it comes to tactics and overall strategy, but the solution is not to reload a previous save but to simply try to push through.”

Bad decisions and lost missions increase the difficulty level, but it's possible to bounce back on Normal and the feeling of power that emerges in time is even more satisfying if the player has previously lost men and opportunities to the aliens.

I lost people, I failed missions, I just barely stopped enemy progress, and I still had a lot of fun with XCOM 2, both during the combat, which is refined and surprising and on the strategic level, where I had to balance limited resources and find ways to make the rebellion more powerful.

Graphics and audio

XCOM 2 delivers a solid update on the original, with a wider variety of environments and plenty of new details for both the player's soldiers and the enemies they are facing.

The procedurally generated have an organic feel, with a lot of small touches that evoke the impact that 20 years of alien occupation and guerrilla combat have had on the planet, and even the placement of enemies and cover spots looks handcrafted most of the time.

There's more detail when it comes to the soldiers that gamers can recruit and develop, the over the shoulder combat sequences look better, and the game tends to run mostly smoothly.

XCOM 2 stealth

The only problems are that sometimes the camera seems to have a will of its own, failing to show important events on the battlefield and that there are some slight delays when status effects are resolved during a turn.

XCOM 2 also has very good sound design, with crunchy weapons fire, some icky wet sounds associated with alien deaths and the kind of soundtrack that can be at once heroic, boosting the player when he delivers a solid performance, and mournful, always reminding him, along with the memorial wall, of the ones that he could not save.

Multiplayer

XCOM 2 allows players to engage in battles against other humans either via a local network or online, using squads that mix troops from the line-up of both the human resistance force and the powerful Advent.

Unranked and ranked matches are offered, as well as leaderboards, but the mode will probably only really come alive once the fans get at least a few campaign under their belts, which might take some time given the complexities of the title.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion