![]() Their units start every mission moderately weak but gain strength, evasion, and mobility with every melee kill. This is a shame, because like the other two juntas, the Templars are great. show up with an exquisitely arrogant welcome from John de Lancie (oh, did I most of the new resistance characters are voiced by former Star Trek: The Next Generation actors?). When you discover the melee-focused psychic commandos on the overworld map, there's no zombie-infested, Chosen-embattled story scene signaling their appearance. If they succeed, they trigger a make-or-break defense mission that means "game over" if you lose.įor all the personality in most of the new cut scenes devoted to these moments, it's odd that the third resistance faction, the Templars, gets almost none of it. Every month, the Chosen build toward assaults on XCOM HQ. But this wouldn't be XCOM if the odds were even. Each resistance faction allows you to issue Orders-month-long buffs that are basically the inverse of the original game's negative Dark Events. Unlike standard XCOM 2, however, the overarching strategy layer is full enough to match the grid-based battles. Spectres are among the most annoying new enemies. On site, the human-alien hybrids rewrite battlefield positioning with grappling hooks that pull themselves and enemies around at will. The Skirmishers used to be alien ground troops but have since shirked off the mind control that made them so disagreeable. Human-on-alien-on-alien/human hybrid violenceĪmong the resistance, the Reapers are alien-eating stealth troopers that don't get spotted when the rest of an XCOM squad does. Now it's personal, thanks to distinctly named, voiced, and dressed participants on both sides. The drama of every "97 percent" shot missed and every mind control attempt resisted is heightened beyond the usual statistical frustration. That might seem unnecessary in a game about mathematical triage and risk analysis, but it's exactly the kind of addition I never knew I needed from the series. In turn, each cabal comes with its own unique properties both on and off the battlefield.Įach group's characteristics (and characters, for that matter) make this the most distinctly story-driven XCOM product to date. In War of the Chosen, however, dissident Earth is split into three unique factions, each of which conveniently matches the territory of a given Chosen. You could scan overworld blips for resources the resistance left behind and expand your actionable territory by contacting its unseen representatives (which basically amounted to scanning different blips). In vanilla XCOM 2, the human resistance was around but largely invisible: a nameless, faceless conveyance of quick boosts between missions. To aid in that snuffing is the other biggest addition in this expansion: resistance factions. Over time, they'll also develop new strengths if the XCOM squad isn't quick enough to sniff and snuff them out. Each of the three Chosen-the Warlock, the Hunter, and the Assassin-comes with a basic set of abilities as well as auto-generated names, strengths, and weaknesses. The trio acts like a miniature Shadow of Mordor nemesis system, repeatedly ambushing you on otherwise innocuous missions and referencing past battles. The titular Chosen who now stalk discrete zones across the Earth are most emblematic of this maxim. In short, more fires that grow into raging infernos in the mid-to-late-game. More maps, more enemies, more abilities, more buildings, more to manage between missions, more story and characters, more bosses. War of the Chosen, the game's first and likely last full expansion, deals with that problem with a simple maxim: more is more. ![]() ![]() The overarching strategy layer then became an exercise in endlessly beefing up until you were as ready as can be for the final assault. One crack squad with enough experience, arms, and armor could eventually put any number of aliens to shame in the turn-based ground game. Over the course of a campaign, it became clear that XCOM 2 didn't have enough fuel to keep the fires burning. Not every mission can be tackled, of course, and you just have to live with the extra aliens, reduced monthly income, and encroaching game-ending conflicts from the fires you can't put out. Over time, the game grows increasingly overrun with tasks that force you to pick and choose just a handful of permadeath-laden, turn-based missions to send squads on. Trust me, though: it's really a game about putting out fires. XCOM 2 looks, sounds, and plays like a turn-based strategy game about beating back an alien occupation. ![]() Platform: Windows (reviewed), Max, Linux, PS4, Xbox One ![]()
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