XCOM 2 Reviews
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While XCOM 2 isn't out yet (the release date is planned for this Friday), the title has already received a first batch of reviews, almost all of them very positive. The changes made to its core mechanics, maps, mission types, strategic gameplay and overall flow have been received very positively, and some publications have already gone as far as to call Firaxis' title a modern classic.
Rock, Paper, Shotgun, scoreless as usual, but very positive.
Enduring extended loadtimes and the occasional wonky camera angle is a small price to pay for a game so accomplished. 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.
Eurogamer, "Essential".
Well, XCOM 2 knows about all our old tricks. Typical. As a result, if you spend too long avoiding your responsibilities and allow the aliens to complete whatever it is that they're plotting, it's game over. You don't just lose, they win. You're going to need to reload an earlier save, or if you're playing on Ironman mode (and you totally should be!), it's time to start from scratch. Even typing that forces a grimace.
Of course, XCOM 2 looks better than Enemy Unknown and it has more enemies. There are new abilities to unlock, weapons to research, and the thin men are now snake ladies with breasts. Great.
But that stuff is relatively simple. Back of the box stuff. Looks good, but does it really make much of a difference? Moment to moment, the thing that makes this astonishing game truly sing is the way in which it's managed to respond to the bad habits we picked up last time around. Move faster, it urges. Take more risks. Become a more interesting player.
XCOM 2 isn't a reworking of the original game, then - it's a genuine response to it. A response to us. Turns out Firaxis was on overwatch all along.
Polygon, 9/10.
In spite of a few glaring technical issues, XCOM 2 represents a high-water mark for the entire franchise. Firaxis successfully tells an evocative story. It treats players with respect and includes so many small quality of life improvements over the original they are simply too numerous to mention. It is challenging enough at its basic difficulty level to feel like a complete experience. Despite the bugs, it's still the best-looking, most exciting turn-based tactical game I've ever played.
GameSpot, 9/10.
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.
PC Gamer, 94/100.
Exceptionally tough, rewarding strategy and a masterful reworking of the XCOM formula. We'll play this forever.
IGN, 9.3/10.
With a focus on variety and replayability, this sequel has an answer to most of my complaints about 2012's excellent XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and aside from some mostly cosmetic bugs, it comes together brilliantly. Thanks to a new spin on the same great tactical combat, plus unpredictable maps and randomized objectives and loot, XCOM 2 is an amazing game I'll easily put hundreds of hours into.
The Verge, scoreless.
Only through trial-and-error does it become clear what you should be prioritizing, and it's galling to get 10 hours into a campaign that you hamstrung at the beginning by wasting all of your supplies on single-use items like grenades and medkits, rather than building up the infrastructure on board the Avenger, or training solid replacement soldiers.
But this array of options is also the beauty of XCOM 2. Where Enemy Unknown gave you the world's best, its sequel gives you whatever's left, and when you do succeed you and your scientists, or pop stars, or family pets against 9-foot-tall aliens and all the odds, success is all the sweeter.
EGMnow, 7.5/10.
When operating efficiently, the ground gameplay of XCOM 2 gives me an interesting, almost juvenile impression of being fun when winning, but infuriating when things don't go my way. Commanding holds a similarly bipolar satisfaction, depending on if all is going according to plan. At its best, XCOM 2 is an engaging experience unlike most other games, and despite all that's been said, don't take away it isn't worth a look. There are true moments of enjoyment to be had, but the constant stress as resources dwindled or a squadmate gets taken out due to complete nonsense too often turns the game from exhilarating to exhausting.
PCGamesN, 9/10.
That this story of desperation and ingenuity should come from Firaxis, who had no cause to be ingenious, who weren't desperate but instead buoyed by the hard-won success of Enemy Unknown, is all the more remarkable. The studio is known for handing new iterations of Civ off to younger, less-proven designers, but this is braver still. XCOM 2 is no iteration at all, but an inspired rework. A new underdog story that requires new, underhand tactics.
GameTrailers has a video review, 9.3/10.
