By Lola at Monday, January 11, 2016 8:23:00 AM

XCOM 2 hands-on preview by The Gareth Woods. Please note that you can skip the wall of text and jump right to his YouTube video of the preview.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was one of those games that came out of nowhere for me having never played the original – so when friends started raving about it, I merely dismissed it at series fanboys who were just happy that there was a remake. It was only after I started seeing waves of positive reviews and remarks that it became a blip on my radar and I’ll confess that I probably still wouldn’t have bought it till I saw it on sale about a year after release – my only mistake was not having played it sooner.

I was instantly converted, so imagine my level of excitement when I got the chance to get some hands-on preview time with XCOM 2 this week.

XCOM 2 does it right

Let me begin by saying XCOM 2 is a very particular type of game, being a turn based, strategy game. But before you start thinking I’m describing a game like chess or checkers let me say that ordinarily I loath turn based games, particularly when the game’s setting is supposed to include adrenaline-fueled action.

But XCOM 2 does it right; you honestly feel like your tactics and decisions matter. One wrong step could be the death of a squad member or in fact, the entire unit. Sometimes literally one play can mean the difference between winning and losing and the stakes are high. Surviving squad members return to base often with new abilities and perks while those that fall in battle remain dead, and that means having to take “green” rookies into the field on subsequent missions, which can ramp up the difficulty of a mission enormously.

That’s all part of what made XCOM 2 so great. The feeling that every decision, either in the preparation for battle or the firefights themselves mattered. Too often games give you choices, but the choices are completely artificial because the game will play out the same way no matter your decision.

But all I’ve described was what made XCOM: Enemy Unknown a great game, how does XCOM 2 stack up?

An organised dystopia

The game is set in 2035, 20 years after the events of COM: Enemy Unknown. And it turns out that despite my vivid memory of successfully neutralising the invading threat in the first game, XCOM 2 plays out the scenario that the aliens defeated humanity and only by their grace and mercy have granted us peace after the nations of Earth surrendered unequivocally. Now XCOM (the military organisation you lead) is merely a resistance force, striking from the shadows with guerrilla-style tactics.

The world on display is a very Big Brother, Blade Runner inspired “Organised Dystopia” where the streets are clean and well lit, and people seem safe and happy, but always under the watchful eye of the aliens through an organisation known as ADVENT. With the propaganda machine making sure that the “sheep” are reminded that the aliens came in peace and are benevolent guardians and that XCOM is terrorists and threaten their safety.

Well, it’s up to you to lead the resistance to take down these Alien Colonists and expose the truth to the people of Earth. XCOM 2 does very well to remind you of the huge handicap you face in both personnel numbers and military technology compared with the enemy and thus a straight up gunfight is never, ever an option.

Proceed with extreme caution

You have to use position to flank enemies and protect yourself while using a variety of specialist weapons and equipment to achieve victory.

Some of the unique changes in XCOM 2 include allowing your soldiers to loot fallen ADVENT soldiers or aliens for technology that might prove useful in the continuing war efforts. Most maps also begin in a “stealth phase.” You start in a state of concealment which means that enemies aren’t aware of your presence and thus won’t become immediately hostile when you first see them. It allows you to try to get your troops into the optimum position before engaging so that you get the most damage done before the remaining forces are alerted to your presence.

Your troops

Hacking now becomes a part of gameplay. All your soldiers can hack certain consoles/equipment with varying degrees of skill and chances of success, and this allows various tactical options. For example, you can hack an enemy turret to either:

shut down the turret

temporarily take control of it

take control and improve its accuracy

All with increasing chance of failure depending on your soldier’s skill level.

As mentioned already, there are several types of infantry available to you as commander of XCOM each with their tactical uses, strengths and weaknesses. As your soldiers survive battles and get promoted you unlock new skills that make them, even more, effective in combat. It also increases the fear of losing them in battle; in fact, I remember shedding a single tear when I lost one of my favourites – You were my boy blue!

The first is the Ranger who is a close-quarters specialist – equipped with either a shotgun or assault rifle and a freaking sword yo! The Specialist is mostly a support class but has a lot of versatility. They come partnered with a Gremlin drone that also has unique skills including the ability to hack and control turrets and certain robotic enemies. The Sharpshooter does what the name says …um shoots … sharply? It is essentially the sniper class and if you can get them the right vision using good positioning or a spotter they can single-handedly finish off entire enemy teams from relative safety. Finishing off the squad are Grenadiers who are the heavy lifters of the team. Armed with a grenade launcher and minigun they feel like they wouldn’t be out of place in a Michael Bay film.

Your adversaries

One of the best parts about XCOM: Enemy Unknown was the bad guys who, just like your squad had distinctive strengths and weaknesses and required you to switch up tactics often at a turn’s notice to defeat them. Especially in the later levels enemy diversity increases and often this results in particularly challenging situations where a certain enemy’s weakness would be supplemented by one of their allies making for some very difficult encounters. In XCOM 2 many of the old “favourites” are back, and they’ve brought some new badass buddies to join them.

As mentioned already, you have the ADVENT forces consisting of various flavours of humanoid soldier types. Then you have the more diverse alien species such as the telepathic Sectoids who is capable of mind controlling your forces and reanimating fallen soldiers. There are the Cobra looking “vipers” who can poison an area causing damage over time as well as pulling troops out of cover using their tongue. The Faceless is a hulking monstrosity that takes the form of a regular human until it is provoked, at which point it reverts to its true form which shall we say “ain’t pretty” – this certainly makes for some unpleasant surprises during the civilian rescue missions.

These are just a few of the aliens you’ll encounter, but there are dozens more each with unique traits that influence how the battles play out.

Decisions, decisions

If you survive the battle, many fallen enemies provide loot that can be researched to provide new upgrades and technology that help to bolster your troops in future campaigns. When particular principal enemies are killed they create a timed looting zone that if you move one of your troops into before the timer expires will reward you with powerful perks and gear to upgrade your soldiers.

Your decisions aren’t only important on the battlefield, but between engagements as well, since as commander of XCOM there is a global war going on and you need to manage every aspect of this campaign. Between missions, you need to manage your resources and decide where to spend most efficiently.

Should you research a way to improve your troops armour? Perhaps you should conduct autopsies on some of the aliens you’ve recovered in the hopes of unlocking the secrets of their technology? These decisions matter because you don’t have enough resource or time to do everything, so deciding which path to follow can make a huge difference In the success of future missions.

Mission talk

Another key mechanic that needs mentioning is the ticking clock during most missions where you are only given a few turns to complete the objective; this means that you can’t spend too much time positioning your squad perfectly. There’s a certain degree of urgency to missions. For example, it might be that you have a given amount of turns to hack an enemy network before you are locked out. Or you have to destroy a convoy before it departs, or rescue a VIP before overwhelming reinforcements arrive.

This mechanic of racing against the clock is done very well on a macro scale in between missions. While you are managing resource collection, contacting rebellion outposts and expanding XCOM’s global influence, you are made aware of a mysterious and seemingly apocalyptic AVATAR project that the aliens are working on and if completed means the end of the world (and probably the game I presume). So while you are completing side missions to bolster your forces and disposable resources you are always aware that you need to get a move on or it will all be for nought.

A definite must play

XCOM 2 strikes an excellent balance between punishing bad decisions such as with the death of troops who you may have invested a lot of resources into and rewarding good strategy and tactics such as recruiting the right team for the mission and equipping them with the ideal loadout of weapons and gear. It’s great to have a game that doesn’t babysit you, telling you what to choose in each situation. In the first few missions you are given some recommendations regarding research order and positioning of troops, but the training wheels fall off very quickly, and it is very likely that you’ll fail your first mission dismally.

Decisions aren’t dressed up cosmetics with no tangible effect, in XCOM 2 decisions are real, and they matter, whether in the immediate battle or the long run of a campaign.

If you’re looking for a challenging game that gives you a real sense of achievement, then look no further than XCOM 2 launching exclusively on PC in February.

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