XCOM 2 Reviews
XCOM 2's brand of tactical strategy might have its roots in the golden age of PC gaming, but its sights are set square on building a future. By limiting your reliance on safe, defensive play styles and pushing you to work quickly and attack, Firaxis has built one of the most tense, demanding and addictive strategy games ever, where every choice has repercussions and every soldier, every victory counts. If you buy it, clear your schedule: this one will keep you gripped for months.
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.
Small technical issues hold XCOM 2 back, but it's still as compelling as ever.
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.
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 solid followup to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2 delivers on story, action, and tension. It's nonetheless in serious need of optimization to correct glitching and framerate issues.
XCOM 2 improves on its predecessor in almost every way, and proudly stands as one of the most deeply satisfying action-strategy games currently available.
XCOM 2 is a great strategy game for the same reasons that Enemy Unknown/Enemy Within were, for the unique minute-to-minute gameplay, but as a sequel, this needed more innovation and less iteration.
There are games that could be better and there's XCOM 2 which is amazing but hampered by its optimization. It's still game of the year material but needs patching stat.
It isn't an overstatement to say that the attention paid to diversifying the look and tactical possibilities of the levels is key to what makes XCOM 2 work.
XCOM 2 is not more XCOM, but better XCOM. It will make you feel like the original may not have been the great game you thought it was, and for me that is all I can ask of a sequel. XCOM fans will not be disappointed, nor will any gamer with an affinity for strategy and tactical games who somehow missed Enemy Unknown. A brilliant game.
XCOM 2's console version is a buggy mess cobbled together from a far better game, and the worst possible way to experience the game.
It sort of did, but the stress never dissipated.
If you want an insanely hard tactical combat sci-fi game, you got it. Good luck. If you’re able to stick with it, I think the systems and story are more than enough that you’ll enjoy XCOM 2 a great deal.
XCOM 2 is hard proof true strategy games are still in high demand, blending satisfying old-school strategic turn-based gameplay with cinematic flourish.
XCOM 2 is a generally solid experience, but it is definitely one of those titles that may not be for everyone due to its punishing game style and occasional unpredictably of success.
If you can look past the game's performance issues, you will be rewarded with the best Strategy game available on consoles.
XCOM 2 is a tour de force of the tactical turn-based shooter genre. The game can be relentless and its AI unyielding, but this just makes you want to go back in for more!
An almost perfect sequel, only spoiled by some frustrating bugs.
Relentless strategy defined by tactical brilliance