So, having put over 100 hours into XCOM 2 (and obliterating the last level with relative ease) I feel like I can offer my informed opinion on the game as it stands. And, since this part of Fimfiction has some dedicated XCOM fans, why not share them here?

Short answer : The game is really great, but like its predecessor it has some issues. Nothing that'd be considered a deal breaker, but they don't go unnoticed.

Long answer below with breakdowns of the game's hits and misses for these categories; gameplay, characters & setting and story.

Hold onto your Pectoid butts.

GAMEPLAY
The Good
- Procedurally Generated Maps : This was one factor I was uncertain of at launch that everyone else seemed to love. Despite having played on every XCOM : EW map at least 5 times over several games, I never minded the repetition because of the design. There was usually some neat little artistic choice you never noticed before that made the environment richer (ex. The beer posters in the bars, a lone camping tent next to a landed supply barge UFO.) I was worried some of this charm would be lost if the game was just assembling maps from pre-arranged templates.

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. Not only are the maps often easier to navigate; they still have those tidbits you and your soldiers notice that give the world that extra flavor. And blowing up alien statues and enemy-occupied rooftops is always a fun bonus.

- The Avenger and New Geoscape : Following Firaxis' previous attempts at streamlining some of the older games' clutter, managing and upgrading our new command ship feels more intuitive than EU / EW. Although I initially missed the stacked bonuses of workshop and lab blocks, having the engineers and scientists serve as the bonuses not only provided similar perks; it also made them feel like invaluable team members and not numbers on a spreadsheet.

The geoscape took a little more adjustment. I chalk this up to EW's hologlobe making me comfortable waiting for missions to pop up. XCOM 2 frees you of that waiting game, and while the initial freedom to conduct resistance activities is somewhat limited and unnerving, I quickly found the right patterns for time allocation.

- The New Classess and Enemies : Let's be honest; no matter how hard the developers try to balance the late-campaign, XCOM games always leave you feeling like an unstoppable team when you hit a certain point. It’s not a bad thing necessarily, and here it’s no different. Personal new favorites include the Specialist and Psi Operative for turning enemy forces into unstoppable meat-shields for XCOM. The Grenadier's explosives are fun too, but they have some issues (more to come on that.)

As for the aliens, they still make you feel completely outclassed early on, especially when Andromedons show up. The mixed pod composition takes a page from Long War's playbook, making target prioritization necessary for survival. Sometimes you will have to leave enemies alive after activation. You just need to make sure they aren't the ones who can demolish your entire team next turn.

Overall, the new classes and aliens still rewards smart planning and punishes sloppy mistakes.

The Not-So-Good

- Rushing, Risking but Not Quite Rewarding : Firaxis' intentions for XCOM 2 may have been a desperate guerrilla resistance racing against time, but it hurts the game's pacing in places. Having the majority of missions start on timers (when such timers could have thematically worked better once the squad breaks concealment) often makes players in the early game abandon the careful tactics of EU / EW in favor of almost reckless dashes to the objective. While this isn't a bad thing overall, having it be the centerpiece of most missions can become frustrating at points.

The rush mentality also has an unintended opposite effect with the Loot system that replaces EW's Meld canisters. Although both provide vital upgrades for soldiers and weapons, I found myself rarely missing enemy loot drops because my soldiers were close enough to safely retrieve them after a kill. This is especially true when a Ranger's slash immediately puts them in range after the killing blow. Compare this to hunting Meld canisters in EW, knowing they're already on a timer and hunting them will risk more encounters than what would be safe. That, and Meld let us create power-armor and mutant soldiers. Loot just lets us make gear that is somewhat better than the standard equipment.

Then, there's the Avatar progress bar. While it may effectively tackle the headache of early satellite rushes in the first game, the Avatar bar can be just as annoying at times with its vague reminder that a loosely defined "game over" scenario is drawing closer unless you move faster. Sure, managing nation panic in EU / EW was imbalanced at times, but the consequences of success and failure felt more tangible with the situation room's news updates and doom vortexes over alien-controlled nations. Without those small extra nuggets of information, progress in XCOM 2 feels more shallow than what we accomplished in the first game. Maybe this paragraph belongs in the "story" category, but I feel it belongs here since Firaxis has emphasized they build their plots around the gameplay.

- New Game, Old Glitches and New Issues : When XCOM 2 was initially announced as a PC exclusive, I balked (mostly because I was hesitant to invest in a high-end PC at the time). Now, having a machine that can run most games pre-2013 at high to max settings, I thought I had everything needed to enjoy this game's modest performance requirements. Too bad I'm among the thousands who had issues even at Medium settings. The post-release patches have smoothed over many of these issues, but the initial problems of the FPS slowing to a crawl isn't quite forgotten.

Then, there's the gameplay glitches. I know XCOM 2 has a lot of patches left in its life, but when line-of-sight bugs, animation errors and interface options still happen, it makes you wonder about the quality control.Again, I know some of the recent patches have addressed these problems, but for a PC exclusive, I expected optimization to not be this big of an issue.

- Easy Mode Strategies : So, that previous bit about your favorite team becoming unstoppable badasses? While it's fun decimating top-tier foes on higher difficulties, the magic fades once you find those handful of team setups that can handle any situation with very little risk. Some of the worst offenders are Grenadiers and hacking-focused Specialists that can decimate the most heavily armed and armored foes without any assistance from other squad mates. Add items like Mimic Beacons and EMP Bombs into the equation, and engagements can become laughably easy. What I liked best about EU / EW's classes (especially in Long War) was how they made it possible to decimated the toughest foes, but only by working as a organized unit. With XCOM 2 you have 2 - 3 classes that can solo some of the toughest engagements while other classes feel like backup plans for unsuccessful attacks.

The biggest offender of the above point is the Psi Operative. EU / EW treated them as enhancements for a soldiers existing skills. Even Long War (for all the additional powers they added) didn't deviate far from this philosophy. With XCOM 2 our psionic-based troopers feel like a game-breaker in our favor. AoE attacks, self-healing attacks, locking down enemies, permanent mind control. And the training needed to get operatives to these nigh-unstoppable levels is only hindered by combat wounds. Tedious as it was to train them in the field, Long War made battlefield psionics training a more investing experience than sticking troops in psychic school for a month and having them all graduate with Professor X-tier mental powers. They're definitely fun, but feel like they break the game too heavily in the player's favor.

All in all, Firaxis failed to meet their stated goal of having your troops feel vulnerable no matter what rank and advanced tech they have. Even Vanilla EU / EW could keep the pressure up no matter what your colonels were packing. In XCOM 2, my supposedly outmatched rebel insurgents felt more powerful than anything the Ethereals had fairly early in the campaign. Those who complain this game is too easy have legitimate gripes. Should be interesting to see how fans mod this game to up the ante.

Continued in part 2...

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Its a damn good thing mods are easy to make and download now.
Because most of these problems are already fixed by them.

XCOM 2 Review : Part 2 - Electric Scootaloo!

Characters & Setting

Yeah, I combined setting and characters when they could have been lumped in with gameplay and story respectively. However, I feel these separate aspects mutually influence one another to the point where they can make or break the artistic goal the creator is aiming for. That's my reason for this category and I'm sticking with it!

The Good

- Alien Cities and the Ruins of Old Earth : As much fun as I had playing on XCOM 2's maps, I had even better experiences with the background sets. From the wanted news reals mixed in with luxury car advertisements to the torture cells behind the peaceful temple walls, it feels like we're fighting inside the world's most extravagant zoo run by mad scientists.

That said, 1st place for environments is a tie between the small town maps and resistance camps. The city centers emphasize the life the Ethereals intend for humanity, but these rundown homes ooze with details that reflect how this occupation his impacted man on a personal level. From cars with jury-rigged solar panels to children's’ drawings of the aliens that patrol the streets, you get a sense the people here are equal parts resilient and desperate. While I give my troops free-reign to wreck sh- in the city centers, I try to limit collateral damage in these locales. Life is already hard enough for the people in these run-down towns. No need to make things harder with explosives taking out the rooftops of their homes.

- Officer Bradford and Your Soldiers : If Firaxis wanted me to care even more about my troops, then mission accomplished. Character bios, armor patterns and attitudes make developing backstories easier than ever. And while it is nice we have the British and Australian accents right out of the box, I wish we still had access to more language options (seriously, no Russian?) but that's probably for future patches and mods.

Bradford steals the show here. Gone is the commander's energetic assistant, replaced by a jaded man haunted by past failures. Kudos to Brian Bloom for nailing the depression and pain that's come from 20 years of living in hiding from brutal occupation. He also gets bonus points for proving his combat competence by leading the commander's rescue op (a mission that should have been the first mission regardless of whether or not it’s a tutorial. The story feels off without that defining moment that would shape the resistance.)

The Not-So-Good

- Lack of Fear in the World : While XCOM 2's environments and enemies run the gamut from bleak to unsettling, they never gave me that sense of tension that its predecessor did so well. Perhaps this was intentional (the aliens have had 20 years to establish themselves, so they aren't unknown threats by this point) but it detracts from the dire uncertainty EU / EW perfected in its early game.

This diminished atmosphere of dread is, in my opinion, due to the players' experiences in the first game. We not only played it; most of us beat it, albeit usually not on the Ironman Impossible setting. We already experienced the terrors of the Ethereals' plans for mankind. Seeing how these plans unfold in XCOM 2 lacks the same tension because we already know the purpose behind them. The journey may be more important than the destination, but knowing beforehand what awaits you can significantly alter the experience. For XCOM 2, this has unfortunately become a negative.

- Tygan and Young Shen Fall Short of their Predecessors : Although not innovative, Vahlen and Shen Senior's characters played well off one-another and reinforced XCOM 1's themes of adaptation and the fears that come with it. There was equal parts excitement and dread from these two over the frightening pace of discovery they were contributing to mankind.

Tygan and Shen Junior lack that dynamic. Sure, their banter may reveal hints about their backstories and the world at-large, but that's about it. There's no underlying fear over adapting alien technology in an even less secure environment than the original base. This may be another example of the alien occupation diminishing the fear of the unknown, but would it kill Tygan to show some enthusiasm over his progress? I know you’re playing the part of “stoic professional scientist” but you’re working with technology and advancements most real-world scientists would be absolutely giddy to study. Hell, Moira was equal parts intrigued and terrified of the progress her team made with psionics alone, while this guy comes off as a bored Laurence Fishburne while unravelling the Avatar project’s intentions.

Speaking of emotional investment, Gary Williams' and Carlye Pollack's performances are lacking in comparison to Brian Bloom. Whether speaking candidly or rushing to prevent an experiment from destroying the Avenger, their emotional ranges barely venture beyond blasé monotone. I’m not sure if this was a fault on the writers or voiceover team, but it makes the two of the main faces of this rag-tag resistance seem more 2-dimensional than the previous game. One could chalk their disinterested attitude up to having lived under a repressive alien regime for 20 years, but that excuse can only go so far.

Concluded in part 3...

XCOM 2 Review : Part 3 - The Conclusioning!

Story

This was the hardest category for me to examine. Not because of any great or terrible plot points. Just that, as a whole, XCOM 2's narrative hits the same narrative beats as EU / EW did while maintaining that this should be considered new territory for players. Having this scenario play out up until the ending has lead to a lot more speculation on the part of fans than I'm comfortable with. Let's see if I can explain.

SPOILERS, ANALYSIS AND THEORIES AHEAD!

So, one of the earliest story-related research projects was Alien Biotech, an analysis of the chip removed from the commander's brain. Finishing this project leads to Tygan showing us combat footage extracted from the chip showing EU / EW style enemies and combat. After that, Tygan explains this was one of several million war simulations fed to the commander to study XCOM's tactics and improve their own. To top it off, the good doctor adds that, not only was the commander a lynch pin in the Ethereals (oh, my mistake; the "Elders") efforts to conquer Earth, but removing him from the psionic network severely hindered the combat effectiveness of all ADVENT and alien forces, forcing them to dedicate more psionic power to keeping their troops organized.

Two issues about this reveal really irked me.

The first was confirming my worst fear about the first game being a dream / simulation. Nothing throws up narrative red flags faster than the "all just a dream" trope. This is what viewers and artists often view as taking the cheap, easy way out when writing new material for a series. Bonus marks against it if the trope is also used as a meta-narrative tool for telling viewers they are at the whims of the creator and they can't stop them. Variations on this trope can work to great effect (see any MLP episode with Luna's dream-walking) but here it felt like Firaxis was openly mocking players by reducing the past game's achievements to rigged matches against opponents that are impossible to defeat.

My second issue relates to why the Ethereals would place such importance on the commander. Their forms may be decrepit, but they're still capable of controlling legions of ground troops, warships and psionic powers on their own. What use would a lowly human military leader whose organization was decimated within a few weeks hope to contribute to their war efforts? At best it diminished the intrigue of these ancient conquerors. At worst, it made them seem laughably incompetent foes if they hinged their success on keeping one defeated leader in dreamland.

The rest of the major plot points involving the Avatar project barely elicited a raised eyebrow because we'd seen it all before in EU / EW. XCOM's major characters act as though humans being abducted for experiments in creating the Ethereals' new bodies is some shocking revelation, but it falls flat when we the players already know this from the first game. The narrative demands we shouldn't know this, but for those who do care about the narrative (yes, I enjoy XCOM for its story as much as I do for the puerile joy of blasting aliens) it's hard to tune out the knowledge we've already gained from the first game.

That's one of the difficulties with employing meta-narrative techniques. The creator can use them to alter or subvert viewer's expectations, but it works both ways. If viewers have access to similar knowledge regarding the story or take the time to analyze and compare it with similar entries, it can create a disconnect between the viewers and artists. This usually leads to the slippery slope of fans complaining (rightfully so sometimes) that the artists have undermined their own works and artists responding by incorporating the fans' misgivings into future endeavors. At its worst, you can end up with an End of Evangelion scenario where both fans and creators have worked themselves into frenzies over their stories and caused damage for all parties involved.

I was worried XCOM 2 was charting a course for a minor sh-storm of this variety. Until the last level brought some plot points into alignment.

So, throughout Operation : Leviathan (A Terror from the Deep reference? I thought you didn't like that game, Jake Solomon?) we get messages from the Angelis Ethereal (I see what you did there, Firaxis!) At first, its motherly tone and confidence seems like a boast of how the Ethereals still have control of the situation, but then this bit came up:

The first invasion was a test. But your people did not fail as you believe. You succeeded beyond measure. You need only accept your place among us...

Now, how could humanity have succeeded during the first invasion if, according to everything we know so far, XCOM and all of Earth lost within a month?

But then the real kicker arrived when a different, seemingly unaffiliated Ethereal gives us this comment:

You will defeat them here as you did once before Commander.

And like that, some of my greatest worries for XCOM's larger narrative are greatly diminished. I've speculated in past posts that, barring the complete retcon of the first game, the only logical reason the Ethereals would go all-out with their first invasion in XCOM 2 is that they had foreknowledge about the dangers XCOM and its commander pose to their plans. They knew humans had what they needed, so they somehow sent a message to themselves to not bother with the gradual experiment and conquer the planet with nothing held back.

Hell, this reveal may be incorporating The Bureau : XCOM Declassified's narrative into XCOM 2. How so? Well, the other Ethereal states that our form (possibly referring to humanity, but maybe the commander in particular) is a shadow of their true self. When the Ethereals try forcefully reclaiming the commander's avatar, they call him a "betrayer," followed by the commander's psi aura shifting to a light blue and overpowering them.

Now, what being of immense power and similar nature to the Ethereals have we seen before?

My theoretical conclusion : Not only did the Ethereals save scum using the outcome of XCOM : EU / EW to guide them to victory in XCOM 2, they discovered mankind's success was due to Asaru bonding with the commander to provide superior tactics. And what better tool for furthering their own goals of ascension than a member of their own species who has already achieved such a state?

Of course, this is all wild speculation (of which I am not alone in producing) but the overall consensus I've reached is that XCOM 2 isn't meant to be a "what if" scenario like we thought. It's meant to flesh out the more vague aspects of the first game and provide a better clue as to what's next for the series. I thoroughly hope Firaxis continues to expand upon these ideas and give us more clues to the potential multi-dimensional mechanics this series has been establishing. Or, at the very least, give us info on Vahlen and the Volunteer, because those are two dangling plot threads that are crying for resolution.

And there it is. My long-winded take on XCOM 2. Definitely a must-play for modern strategy fans and, with DLC, optimization issues and mods applied, I imagine Firaxis will has fulfilled their goal of creating a game we won't stop playing until the next game comes around.

Feel free to comment and share your ideas. I'm all ears.

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The biggest offender of the above point is the Psi Operative.

Speaking of Mods, I'm working with some great folks to fix the PSI game. I -really- don't like the mechanic of 'throw a rookie into the PSI lab to bake for two months and you get a badass'. Technically speaking, he should be more 'woobie destroyer of worlds' than a badass, since he's still a rookie who's sat on his ass for two months while learning how to destroy reality with his mind.

My mod, if it ever gets finished, will make the PSI game a bit more active... if it ever gets finished.

Beautiful. I had some thoughts that the aliens had indeed used some forewarning for the events of XCOM2, and that there would be some material from the Bureau, but I haven't noticed those lines.

I have to admit, this maybe be wishful thinking as well, as it is a much more interesting scenario than simply retconing EU/EW, but I can think of no flaws in your logic at the moment.

Psi powers didn't feel that bad to me. In easy, specialists were late bloomers, quite useless at the beginning. Psi operatives on the other hand took quite an investment in time and resources, especially in higher difficulties. My first playthrough had no magus and only two psi operatives excluding the commander

RISE!

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Necromancy aside, I would like to point out that in UFO Defense a Psi Amp and a 100 Psi Strength Rookie together were EASILY one of the most powerful weapons in the game. Indeed I just finished an OpenXCOM game where my rookie with crap Reactions & Accuracy, but 100 Psi Strength, enabled me to clear an entire battleship without a single scratch. Which IMO is EXACTLY how powerful psionic power should be. As Shen points out "In the right hands, this suit (Psi Armor) could be the most dangerous thing we've ever developed."

However, on the flipside, alien psi powers should be THE SCARIEST THING second to chrysalids. In UFO Defense they strike without warning, without mercy, and mosts of the time without any way to tell where the fuck they're coming from. Many of your own are susceptible to the terrors they bring, and you have no idea why or what you can do to defend against them. Sectoid Leader/Commanders can be nightmares, but the Ethereals themselves? All but Cosmic Horrors that even your strongest seem to be nothing but puppets or frightened children against them.

But if you survive those terrors? Then you learn the secrets of psionic power. And THAT is when the game really turns around. Sure having power armor, or even plasma weapons, makes things somewhat more manageable, but once you get Psi? All bets are off. For now humans have seized the aliens' deadliest weapon, and it is THEY that shall now fear.