Time is always fading in XCOM 2, and it's never on our side. As we train our next soldier, drop them into battle, and fight for humanity's survival, we can only make the best of the minutes we have left. We'll probably fail. But we'll move on anyway.
Following in the footsteps of 2012's XCOM:
Enemy Unknown, its sequel is a brutal, unforgiving turn-based strategy
title played on a strategic world map and isometric battlefields. XCOM 2
places us in command of the human Resistance as they rise up against
the Advent, an alien regime that has governed Earth for 20 years. As
opposed to the soldiers of Enemy Unknown, XCOM 2's rebellion is on the
offensive. We're no longer staunch defenders--we're a desperate guerilla
force.
This new script supports numerous tweaks to the
XCOM formula, all for the better. We're still building an army,
researching new technologies, and putting them to use in squad-based
strategy missions. But these missions are less about repelling the
aliens, and more about sabotaging their global operations whenever we
can. We loot supply trains and intercept communications signals to halt
the Advent's plan for human eradication. XCOM 2 ties its narrative and
gameplay together in such a way that every mission feels critical, and
every shot carries weight.
The mission objectives have
changed, but so have the ways we approach them. XCOM 2 implements a new
concealment mechanic, in which your soldiers drop into most missions
unnoticed, allowing you to sneak past enemies or coordinate attacks on
unsuspecting patrols.
This
further elevates the idea of guerilla warfare, but also allows for
exhilarating ambushes, as you lob grenades into groups, fire machine gun
rounds as enemies scatter, and pick off stragglers before they have a
chance to react. Initiating firefights takes just as much consideration
as finishing them.
XCOM 2 also uses procedural map and
objective generation to ensure a different mission each time your squad
leaves the dropship. You'll defend new rooftops and sneak through
different alleyways in each campaign. This dynamism, coupled with the
aforementioned stealth mechanics, extend XCOM 2's longevity far past
that of Enemy Unknown, in which missions grew boring several campaigns
in.
In fact, the entirety of XCOM 2 unfolds in original
ways each time you play. It's a multilayered experience wherein each
level displays nuance, but also contributes to an amorphous,
ever-changing whole.
XCOM 2's strategy layer imparts the same urgency as the tactical battles on the ground.
The
squad firefights lay the foundation: there are tactical considerations,
from the elevation of the battlefield to the sightlines of the map's
structures. Then there are the character classes, each with a world of
possibilities to consider: the specialist can hack Advent security
towers and buff your squad in the field. The grenadier's carrying
capacity makes him the pack mule of the group. The ranger's blade makes
her a lethal close-quarters force. The psi operative, on the other hand,
uses the alien mind control powers against the Advent, turning
firefights into psychological battlegrounds.
The
sheer amount of factors affecting any firefight is staggering, raising
numerous questions as I move across the map: how many aliens are there?
Does my specialist have any medkits left? Who has the highest armor
rating in my squad? Should I leave my sniper in overwatch, or move her
forward with the rest of her crew? And how can I flank that Sectoid
before it uses its mind control abilities to turn my ranger against me?
More
often than not, there's a timer pushing you forward, counting the turns
until your target escapes, or the aliens extract their secret data.
There's always something to worry about, something to consider, some way
things could go wrong as you fight to keep your squad alive. In many
cases, I opted for retreat: by throwing down flares I could extract my
remaining soldiers back to base. If objectives became impossible to
reach, saving my valuable fighters became paramount in the grand scheme
of things.
XCOM 2's overarching strategy layer imparts
the same sense of urgency, and a similar bevy of obstacles. As we move
the humans' mobile Avenger base across the globe, establishing links
with other rebel cells, we also fight the aliens' plan to erase
humanity, indicated by a crimson progress bar at the top of the world
map. A real sense of tension forces us to maintain a constant state of
motion, whether by freeing a waylaid country, researching new alien
weaponry, or rushing production on a crucial new structure.
Underlying
all of this is a more personal current. We grow attached to individual
soldiers as they perform spectacular feats and rise in the ranks. We get
to know their loadouts and what equipment they carry. We rely on our
best leaders to stay composed, and root for rookies to prove themselves.
XCOM 2 may be a war game, but it doesn't ignore the boots on the
ground--strategy plans are only as good as the soldiers putting them
into action.
Take Lieutenant Micky Taylor, for instance.
He died in the snow at 6:53 p.m. outside of my disabled helibase, just
outside of Kansas City. The mission was to destroy an EMP device that
was preventing us from taking off, while also keeping the Advent away
from our landing pad. With enemy Vipers poisoning my rangers, hulking
Mutons wounding my grenadiers, and mechanical Sectopod mechs bombarding
my medics, I balanced offense and defense, accounting for every
eventuality as the mission unfolded. Things went well. But then I sent
Taylor into cover as the rest of his squad rushed to the evac zone. He
was the only one who didn't make it. It was his 23rd mission.
I
remember that scenario because of its clever design, but also because
it's where I lost my best soldier. In the end, XCOM 2 is fantastic not
just because of its refined individual layers, but how seamlessly they
interact. We think on different levels during playthroughs, bouncing
between the commander's chair, the scientist's lab, and the sergeant's
eyes. If Enemy Unknown was a chess game, the sequel adds more
pieces--and more spaces--to the board.
We think on multiple levels in XCOM 2, bouncing between the commander's chair, the scientist's lab, and the sergeant's eyes.
Every
once in a while, however, XCOM 2's difficulty surpasses challenging,
and becomes unfair. For the most part, enemies abide by the same
restrictions we do. But sometimes, they shoot through walls and dodge
point-blank shotgun bursts. The cards are already stacked against us in
most campaigns, and part of the fun is overcoming those odds--but when
the enemy AI ignores the rules, the game loses its appeal. Furthermore,
XCOM suffers from certain technical glitches: the action halted during
action-camera sequences, and in certain cases, I felt as if the game was
overwhelmed. My soldiers' reaction shots didn't trigger when they
should have, and enemies' attacks happened all at once, or weren't shown
at all.
But the vast majority of the time XCOM 2
performs well and the difficulty is fair. We will make mistakes--but
that's the point. Failure is not just a possibility in XCOM 2, it's a
necessary presence. This is the rare game that's less about choices, and
more about the consequences thereafter: we play, we learn, we strive to
get better. The entire process is a stunning display of meaningful
failure.
So time keeps ticking in XCOM 2, and the best
we can do is make the right choices when we have the chance. XCOM 2
imparts the weight of those decisions, and that's what makes it
extraordinary. It's mathematical, emotional, and thoughtful all at once.
It's exhilarating, even in the face of failure. It's compelling, even
though we often lose. Victory is the goal, but that's just an
afterthought here--it's the complex journey that counts.