XCOM 2 Reviews
One of last generation's best sci-fi games returns to consoles and continues apace, changing very little but adding a lot to the mix.
XCOM 2 doubles down on everything that players enjoyed about the previous game. A deeper story, more strategy options, more enemies, and just more mechanics makes for an improved experience all around. Some technical issues pop up, and newcomers will have trouble wrapping their head around the vast array of game mechanics, but once it all clicks there is a lot to love about this game.
XCOM 2 is more tense and thrilling than a turn-based strategy has any right to be. There are some great additions to the original gameplay, but the port to console is an imperfect one.
Hella hard strategy game outdoes its predecessor with deeper strategy, procedural maps, and a more progressive campaign
XCOM 2 is an improvement on its predecessor in every way and the vast majority of those improvements have been applied so intelligently that they risk making Enemy Unknown obsolete. That game was a smart remake of a classic. XCOM 2 is a classic in its own right and as good a sequel as I can remember.
It is rare when the sequel surpasses its predecessor, but XCOM 2 does it with style and verve. Unlike grenades in Enemy Unknown, everything in XCOM 2 matters. Choices have purpose, lives are no longer trivial. Maps no longer repeat, and neither do outcomes. XCOM 2 is punishing, but that just makes success taste that much sweeter.
Firaxis continues its excellent work on the XCOM franchise with XCOM 2, a game that improves upon all the elements of its predecessor and delivers a phenomenal strategic experience.
Overlooking XCOM 2's few problems is easy in the face of its overwhelmingly solid experience. Console players who had been eyeing this title since its release in February shouldn't hesitate to pull the trigger.
A brilliant concept coupled with smart design choices results in a hugely rewarding game that over-delivers in almost every area
A truly remarkable strategy game
XCOM 2 succeeds in making a more cinematic experience for the story and adds a little bit more personality to the supporting characters of Officer Bradford and Proffessor Tygen.
Overall, the ingenious method XCOM 2 deploys is keeping so much of the same, but adding just enough new features and slight changes to make it absolutely phenomenal.
If you can take punishment as well as you can dish it out, then XCOM 2 strikes the right balance. Its tactics are hardlined, its urgency is persistent, and it will wear you down even as it builds you up. A beautiful, brutal beast of a tactics game. But do what you can to clean up these graphical and gameplay hitches, Firaxis; this game deserves it.
While the occasional technical issues might hamper the experience somewhat, XCOM 2 remains a superb strategy game that expertly weaves stellar mechanics and emotional story-telling into an engrossing campaign in which every choice that you make feels genuinely important. It can be both brutally difficult and depressingly ruthless, but the scant moments of joy that you'll experience in your attempts to overthrow the alien regime should provide more than enough incentive to keep fighting the good fight.
Firaxis managed to improve upon the already great Enemy Unknown in almost every way, with the exception of multiplayer. Unfortunately, the shockingly bad performance prevents XCOM 2 from reaching the status of a true masterpiece.
XCOM 2 does everything Enemy Unknown did and improved on it with more variations as well as some very interesting game mechanics. Anyone who enjoyed the first game has no reason not to pick this one up. It has a few performance issues here and here, but it is still a challenging yet rewarding game that made me have every emotion from joyous to devastated. One of the early game of the year contenders for me, and a fine game any strategy fan should own.
XCOM 2 is otherwise a follow-up that does everything right by offering the best extraterrestrial skirmishes since Independence Day, coupled with genuine tactical depth that doesn't come at the expense of accessibility. It's the Empire Strikes Back of strategy sequels.
XCOM 2 successfully straddles the line between being familiar and being new. A few design choices will divide people, and there are bugs and issues that will need patching or modding, but for the most part it's a sterling return to the gruelling decision-making of its predecessor.