XCOM 2 Review: The Stress Of Strategy Now On Consoles

Regardless of how victorious players were in XCOM: Enemy Unknown , Firaxis Games continued down a canon storyline with XCOM 2 that assumed players had ultimately lost the fight against the technologically superior alien invaders. This more or less sets the tone for the new War of the Chosen expansion: there are some fights you just click the next website can't win, and the impressively deep expansion pack for XCOM 2 piles on the signature pain that strategy fans have come to embrace in almost masochistic fash


The core thrill of seeing a squad erupt from 'Overwatch' to let barrages loose on an unsuspecting enemy is augmented by the new tweaks to Squaddie classes. The standards remain (Sniper, Grenadier, Specialist), but the 'Assault' class has been replaced with the fearless and furious Rangers. And before player assume the name means these fighters are ranged characters, realize that sprinting across a battlefield to unleash a sword attack point-blank has a distinct melee feel. The turn-based gameplay remains the same (although clearly increased in difficulty), leaving the fiction to inform the meaning of the mechanics - scrounging alien technology, attacking research centers and extracting assets - and in turn, letting the desperation of the campaign amplify the story ramificati

We’ve shown in the demo the Specialist, which has the Gremlin, and again, the Gremlin will grow as the character grows. The Ranger, which is the melee character. And in the trailer we have the Sharpshooter and the Grenadier, and we’ll probably go into those characters sometime soon. But those are four of the new classes we have.


For those who have been waiting until XCOM 2 hit consoles to see how it follows on the story of the first game, the twist from Firaxis is the kind of bold and ambitious that would seem alien to other studios (pardon the pun). After spending an entire campaign - or two - battling an alien infestation with the backing of world governments and cutting-edge technology, Firaxis took the fate of the world out of the players' hands: Humanity had lost. The Aliens won. Twenty years have passed. And XCOM has been scattered to the w

With the GTS building, players can buy the Squad upgrade, allowing for an extra soldier to be sent on missions. Like any turn-based RPG , the action economy always favors the side with the most characters, making this upgrade extremely valuable, especially in the early game. Having an extra spot open also means that one more soldier will be gaining experience with each XCOM 2 miss


Ultimately, XCOM 2: War of the Chosen buries even the most tactically-sound gamer under a mountain of entertaining challenges and adds not only several hours of content to play through, but well-neigh infinite replayability as well - we can't wait to restart the fight and see how a new batch of soldiers fares against the ADVENT government. Firaxis Games has introduced a veritable mountain of new enemies and experiences to take in, greatly refreshing what was already a deep strategy title with a steep learning curve. With so many layers of new content and carefully balanced gameplay, War of the Chosen (and its accompanying price tag) isn't for the faint of heart, but it certainly packs more than enough value to back up the pr


However, the cover art for The Last of Us has had the opposite effect in some ways. Because of how accustomed gamers are to The Last of Us ' post-apocalyptic world and the characters Joel and Ellie, it's easy to forget how striking the game's cover art is, with a young girl carrying a large rifle and a man with a gas mask seemingly unfazed by the car next to them with a dead body ins


However, the next ten years may see the direction change once again, as cover art is regaining importance thanks to the prominent rise of Game Pass and other subscription services. With EA Play included, Game Pass now has over 200 games available to players, giving cover art newfound importance as games need to find ways to stand out from the cr


PC 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


In the end, the version of XCOM 2 available on either the Xbox One or PS4 is still, unavoidably, the second best crafted by the development team. The good news is that players who prefer their couch to their desktop won't be missing out on the quality of the experience, even if the level of polish takes a hit. And with every aspect of XCOM 2 contributing to the kinds of investment, tension, and stakes usually relying on players hunched over keyboards, glued to their monitors... well, being a couch potato may have never been a more stressful experie