The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is the black sheep of the series , being a third-person shooter instead of a strategy game. Even though the game's overall setting and systems reflect a typical third-person shooter, The Bureau was originally a horror-themed FPS title under the name XC

Firaxis Games and Feral Interactive present the second and wildly popular entry to the XCOM franchise. XCOM 2 is the classic alien-fighting turn-based strategy game where players control a squad of talented soldiers with different skills on dangerous missions against an exoplanetary enemy threatening to rule mank

It's the kind of tense, story-driven stakes that have kept couch-based players on the edge of their seats, and thankfully, the controls have been adapted to a gamepad with as streamlined and intutitive a control scheme as could be hoped for. The controls will be second nature by the second mission or so, maintaining the tactical-over-twitch sensations. The only real cost of conversion to consoles is nagging framerate drops and flickering during cutscenes, specifically. They're noticable, and a shame; but if the game adapts the feel of playing the game, it's a worthy trade-off (especially with the troubled history of trying to make complex strategy games "work" away from a mouse and keyboa

Few companies have mastered the art of making turn-based strategy games quite like Firaxis . The studio's work with Sid Meier's Civilization and XCOM have resulted in some incredible experiences in both franchises. What's interesting is how Firaxis were able to reboot MicroProse's XCOM franchise without sacrificing much of the depth the older titles

slg pc Games players have been enjoying the game since February, but the developers have finally released a console version to Xbox One and PS4. It's a longer delay than many gamers are used, so does the ported version seem worth the wait? And after Enemy Unknown 's own release on consoles, have the interfaces and controls been improved (along with the performance) on the Xbox One and PS4's hardware? The answer is 'yes' across the board - minus a few technical iss

There is some town exploration in the demo. However, it is truncated. Most of the time it seems players will click on a map icon in order to in initiate a battle, or a cutscene. In-between some battles or story beats intel can be gathered but these exploration moments are very brief. This lack of full exploration is common for tactical RPGs so it understandable why the full game would not add this feat

While that penalty sounds extreme, it can be countered in a variety of ways. The best way is to flank the target, which will allow you to ignore their cover bonus and gain additional critical hit chance. Since Rangers have some of the strongest guns in the game, critically hitting with a high-powered shotgun not once but twice will kill almost any foe in the g

However, just like in Enemy Unknown, Sharpshooters in XCOM 2 are built with a singular purpose: kill everything on your screen. Snipers get this done with high-damage sniper rifles that are deadly accurate, and their inherent Squadsight ability means you can often do this without putting them in danger. Not only are they deadly, but you can put them in places where they're almost always unable to be kil

Unlike most other classes, Skirmishers thrive off of mobility thanks to their close weapons and grappling hook. The problem, though, is that very few levels let you utilize this skill early in the game, and with the constant restarts that come with an XCOM 2 run, this means it'll be mostly useless for a lot of your ga

Hideo Kojima's most recent title is expectedly narrative-heavy. All the same, there are a ton of things to do outside the main story. Once you set up a nice infrastructure in the open world, it is joyful and relaxing to do deliveries between outposts utilizing all the structures. It feels like reaping the reward for hours of hard work. It is also great to do while listening to a podcast or mu

The final nail in the coffin for story upgrades that this game needs is a better balancing act. One would think Square Enix would be more interested in showing off its gameplay rather than its text for a demo. It seems someone was thinking the opposite because the few battles in here are about an hour apart each. Hopefully the final game won’t burden players so much with too much story all at o

Since the aliens and Advent soldiers in XCOM 2 can pack quite a punch, it's only fair that your soldiers can return the favor. Unique weapons, armor, and abilities can be earned to take back Earth. Skills, in particular, massively impact the game. The skills your soldiers can learn are based on their class, meaning having varied classes in a squad is essential. Here are the best skills you need in your team in XCOM

Julian Gollop wanted to make a sequel with an isometric view. Since MicroProse was publishing the hit Civilization at the time, they asked if Mythos Games could implement more strategy elements to the game. This is how the foundation of XCOM's strategy layer was born. Firaxis paid tribute to Laser Squad as well by imitating the game's cover art for XCOM: Enemy Unknown's box