I’m no fly-by-night XCOM reviewer. I’ve logged 200+ hours on 2012’s XCOM: Enemy Unknown and subsequent DLC Enemy Within (and a nice chunk of Long War, too.) But I’m not as confident that I’ll put up similar numbers on XCOM 2 , even with it now being available on consoles.
Don’t misunderstand my intent here. XCOM 2 is a great game. It improves on the XCOM experience in just about every measurable way, except one: it’s soulless. Try as I might, I couldn’t find myself caring one iota about Tygan (the scientist dude), Shen (the engineer lady) or Bradford (the mission control guy), who are for better or worse the main characters in the narrative.
Yes, the soldier customization is improved and writing up elaborate backstories or cloning friends and celebrities is entertaining. However, if I contrast the XCOM 2 experience with another genre staple, the Fire Emblem series , it’s clear that Firaxis excels at the clinical methodology a tactical game requires but can’t compete when it comes to engaging my imagination or inducing empathy for the characters onscreen.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown suffered in this regard too, but had such a simple and addictive grind I couldn’t stop. Unlike a lot of XCOM fans I started out playing on console, then went to PC. This time I sunk my teeth into the PC version of XCOM 2 upon release and only now began to explore the console release on Xbox One. I got a lot of what I wanted in terms of tense, tactical action, but the narrative and the cutscenes just fell short. The story does benefit greatly from the DLC; however, the Xbox One/PS4 release does not include the DLC in the $60 version, so fans need to drop an extra $15 for the full experience.
This irks me. I’m lucky enough to get review copies of things so I don’t pay for games as often as I used to, so I make it a point to talk about value with other gamers. And the XCOM 2 release for Xbox One really pushes the limits of what that value should be. For starters, the XCOM 2 release came with a fair amount of press that the devs didn’t build it with consoles in mind . And now that it's on consoles, eight months later, Xbox One and PS4 fans are expected to pay a full $75 for the game plus the DLC. Full price. For a game that’s been out for some time and has gone through multiple Steam sales.
If you’re an XCOM fan and don’t game on PC then this likely won’t matter to you, and I’d say get the game. I told a friend this weekend (who was livid about the price) to do the same. But if you have a PC and didn’t buy XCOM 2 yet there’s no reason to get it on console. It will be on sale again, probably this holiday season. So as a value proposition the console version of XCOM 2 is a bit of a gouge, in my opinion. A $60 release that included the DLC would’ve been better.
Putting aside the price tag, though, and you can find a lot to like about XCOM 2 . Yes, the story isn’t great and is a bit too intrusive compared to the choose-your-own-exposition feel of XCOM: Enemy Unknown . But as far as a turn-based gameplay experience you cannot go wrong with XCOM 2 . Especially on Xbox One where there is a limited selection of games like this (shout out to Massive Chalice for scratching the itch though).
The optimization is pretty solid, too. There are definitely noticeable frame rate differences between what's on my console and what's on my PC, but if you don’t have XCOM 2 on PC yet then you won’t notice as much. It can be a little choppy and chuggy when rotating the camera, but hardly unplayable. Even the load times (which were woeful on PC at launch) are relatively painless.
As a game, XCOM 2 is nearly flawless when measuring the fundamentals like AI, tactics, difficulty curve, balance, etc. As a port, the Xbox One version is a bit diminished compared to its PC counterpart, but not so much you can’t enjoy both. But it comes up short in both story and overall value. It’s never been a series known for amazing narrative so I can give it a pass there. But a $75 price tag for an eight-month old game is a tough, tough sell. Even for an XCOM addict like me.
