XCOM 2 (Video Game)
Developed by Firaxis
Published by 2K Games
Available on PC
Rated T for Teen
I’m four months into my liberation of earth. Though beaten at every turn, the relentless alien force continues work on their game ending Avatar Project. I’ve managed to liberate all of Africa, Australia, South America, and half of Asia. Morale is high, with three whole battles being won with only a couple minor injuries each. The troops await their newly researched plasma weapons, eager to deliver hot death to an even greater degree. I’ve readed most of the alien major facilities, setting their plans for complete domination back by a substantial number of months. In a few weeks, I’ll be prepared for victory. Only one more research project lays between me and the end game. Underlying it all, I am undeniably, inexcusably bored.
Don’t give me that look. It’s not like I don’t like XCOM games. I didn’t get into the series until Enemy Unknown, but I did go back and play all of the original games (including Enforcer), the UFO series, and Xenonaughts. I fucking love tactics games. Heroes of Might and Magic is my jam. My favorite part of the Total War games is the campaign maps. Give me turns, a grid, and a percentage range, and I will spend at least seven sleepless nights obsessing over how to conquer the world.
Full flanking bonus and boosted crit chance is literally porn to me.
I get what XCOM 2 does right. As far as balance and variety, XCOM 2 does way more with similar design space. There are still only four different character classes (technically five, but I’ll get into that later), but their specific function is more impacting and variable. Leveling in Enemy Unknown was largely about what ability felt most useful for that specific unit at the time, leading to some pretty binary choices. Heavies were always Heavies and Snipers were always Snipers, so the choice between the Sniper skill for longer range versus the skill to fire after moving was a foregone conclusion based on your playstyle.
XCOM 2 treats leveling as a mixture of power increase and specialization. There are still two skills to pick from for each level, but leveling builds towards an overall role rather than just increased functionality. Snipers have been reclassified as Sharpshooter, and with that a new build option for pistols. Only Sharpshooter use pistols now, which have the ability to do light damage across a large number of enemies. The choice between the long range, high damage, low mobility sniper build and the mobile, quick reacting gunslinger. There are still specific roles that only certain classes fill, i.e. the Grenadier is going to be your go-to cover breaker, but each choice feels like it brings something major to the table.
“Now, I know what you must be thinking. Did he fire five shots, or six? Actually, it was nine. Pistols are OP”
The enemy design is also far more varied and menacing. There’s a bio-horror theme here that wasn’t in the first, with hybrid Sectoids, ADVENT, Mutons, and Vipers bringing an uncanny and unsettling humanlike quality. They all act very differently, with few straight upgraded versions to just ramp the difficulty without changing the gameplay. Only the basic ADVENT troopers and MECs see “advanced” versions, which bring with them new abilities that significantly alter their combat roles. For a game that’s mostly about taking cover and rolling percentages, there’s a truly marvelous amount of variety to the combat. Serpentlike Vipers are high mobility disruptors, psionic Sectoids test your psychic defenses, floating Gatekeepers are basically psychic tanks, and Sectopods are walking actual tanks. Even the more standard enemies like Mutons feel unique because all of the other units behave so differently. The first time an Andromedan dies and its shell lurches back to life, you’ll rip your hair out. XCOM 2 constantly surprises you with new challenges, and you’ll either change tactics or die.
Do your best to deal with the Sectopods before they obliterate your team with their hyperbeam.
Not all of the new mechanics are integrated so seamlessly. There’s a new stealth function, which attempts to address the awkward abruptness of encountering enemies. Most missions starts your squad in a “concealed” state, allowing you to maneuver around alien sight radius to set up an ambush. Once you are spotted or attack, concealment breaks and your soldiers on overwatch take shots. It’s a novel concept, but not impactful enough. Concealment only lasts the first attack, so at best you are getting 4-5 free shots. This can be big, but considering that overwatch takes the place of a more useful ability action, it quickly becomes pointless. Field of vision is also very finicky, with enemies remaining hidden behind a single tile of cover inexplicably. I have no idea how ADVENT troopers can hide just fine behind bus stop, but somehow spot me when up three stories up and hiding behind a brick wall.
I swear to God that trashbag looked like it blocked line of sight from an isometric viewpoint.
Psychic troopers are now also their own class. They are incredibly overpowered, and you can get them relatively early if prioritized. Equipped with the perfectly reasonable standard rifle and devastating psychic powers, they fill a multitude of roles with no apparent weakness. For such a major upgrade, training one doesn’t feel like a big accomplishment. They aren’t pivotal to the plot like in XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and they anticlimactically train outside of combat. You can very well sit one in a chamber and wait for the perfect soldier to build itself. In EU, your combat troops had to be tested as psychic, taking them out of commission during the process. If one of your troopers was lucky enough to be gifted, then the training could begin. The abilities were strong, but was a real choice between using your action on a psychic power or one of your specialized class talents. Here, it just feels like a no-brainer.
As the fifth XCOM game (ninth if you count the odd offshoot like The Bureau and Enforcer), XCOM 2 is an odd name. It really should be called XCOM: The Darkest Timeline. Twenty years after the events of XCOM: Enemy Unkown, XCOM 2 sets off assuming you fucked all that up and let Earth get conquered two months in. Despite your terrible failings, the failed XCOM project and the commander are supposedly the best shot at stopping the aliens again. The commander is now a character, interacting namelessly and facelessly in the plot as the one true savior of the world.
They also bring back everyone’s favorite character, “faceless XCOM gruff voice guy”
Since the world is under alien control, the team is starting at the bottom this time. Instead of holding on to the support of various countries, you now build a resistance network piece by piece. It’s a more sensical method of progress, making you feel like you’re actually building something. It’s a positive incentive process, rewarding you for success instead of just punishing you for fucking up. Meanwhile, the aliens are working on the game ending Avatar Project, which nebulously spells the doom for all mankind. Dark doings are revealed, but it’s all rather predictable and anticlimactic.
The issue with this is the whole process of gathering intel, contacting a resistance network, countering alien activities, scanning for bonuses, and building your base becomes a chore. The amount of steps between setting out to do something and actually getting it done is long and tedious. Every time you sit down to contact a new region, a few days of scanning will be interrupted by a new pivotally important mission. Skipped or failed “dark event” missions lead to long term negative consequences and another tick off on the game ending Avatar Project, so skipping them is practically suicide. The kicker is that almost everything requires a couple days of scanning. Resource drops require scanning, contacting requires scanning, upgrading requires scanning, bonus objectives require scanning, etc. You even scan just to pass the time. With all I have to scan, I felt annoyed by the flood of constant critical missions.
They try to make the game more exciting by putting your base in the belly of a giant flying doom ship called the Avenger. It’s pretty incredibly how boring they managed to make giant flying doom shops.
They also took out a number of features that confused me. For some reason, the scientists of XCOM 2 think just asking the aliens what they are up to is for sissies, since you can no longer stun enemies and bring them back for interrogation. This risky tactic was one of the few ways in Enemy Unknown to obtain early game energy weapons, making it a key component to boosting your power in the early game. Since upgrades are now applied to all your troops after being built, I can understand them taking the pilfering out, but the “skulljacking” mechanic that takes its place is three tiers below vestigial. Speaking of downgrades, UFOs hunting is also out, replaced by a single UFO defense mission that plays like any other mission. I don’t know if this plays a bigger part on higher difficulties, but on normal it was hardly worth remembering.
Remember how awesome it felt to take a chance and try to knock out a Muton for his sick plasma cannon? That has been placed by random loot roles. Thanks mobile gaming.
They also took out SHIVs, but who cares.
As a package XCOM 2 feels more focused. Research projects are completed, weapons bought, and the upgrade is implemented across the board. Powerful munitions are developed one at a time and randomly, giving a little variety to developing your arsenal. Still, there are still only three tiers of weapons and armor, with each rendering the previous obsolete. Aside from grenade and ammo types, there’s no variety in weaponry. It’s still just bullets→ lasers→ plasma. For all the new class variety they introduced, some weapon variety would have been expected.
It’s shiny as fuck though.
I really liked the pieces of XCOM 2. The individual elements worked. Even the flawed concealment still worked as its own thing. When put altogether, it came out wrong. The instant engagement sighting of regular combat is incompatible with the reconnaissance playstyle of the concealed bits. The missions are engaging and challenging, but making them semi-mandatory and repetitive kills the fun. They added a god awful timer to most of the missions, triggering an auto defeat when it hits zero. For an extra challenge, it would have been amazing. For a game about setting up tactical positions and gaining the upperhand through maximizing your odds, it’s fucking horrible.
There’s a silver lining, as several of my friends have told me that the modding tools are excellent. This was a game built from the bottom up to be tinkered, toyed, and remade in the modders image. I look forward to years of old west mods, alternate timelines, new classes, and even just rebalancing. What can be done with the resources here excites the imagination and tickles my heart. For a great set of tools, I wish Firaxis had used them better.
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