The Bureau: XCOM® Declassified™

I first was exposed to this game when I got it for PS3 on sale. I played XCom games since the mid 90s and loved the 60s era idea. I loved it on PS3 and later purchased it from Steam. This is now my third copy of this game. This is a 3rd person, squad-based, tactical shooter. It is an alternate timeline to XCom Enemy Unknown and Within. You play an agent of The Bureau, which was created with XCom to deal with an alien invasion. You are an FBI agent recruited by XCom as the alien invasion begins. You get to upgrade your character and your squad as you go, just the way you do in Enemy Unknown. The underground base is slowly developed throughout the game and you can visit each of the different areas of the base. You collect different weapons and equipment to use yourself or distribute to your squad mates. In the base is a map, which shows various missions available outside the main quest. You can either choose to take the missions, or send some of your squad to deal with it. If you choose to send your squad, they could be injured or killed, they will be unavailable for a set time until the mission is completed, and you will gain a reward for them completing it. You can then go on missions with other squad members while the other squad is taking care of the other mission. It really adds a layer of strategy and makes it more interesting than your typical shooter. The missions themselves are pretty linear, having you follow a certain path to your objectives. You control your character in 3rd person like a typical shooter with the ability to switch weapons, aim, and take cover the way you would expect from a shooter. You typically have two or three (I haven't played it in a while) other squad members with you, which you have to strategically choose based on their skills. You may have room for, or need a medic if you know you're facing a lot of resistence. Engineers can hack aliend technology or may be needed to difuse a bomb. You then have a soldier and sniper class. You face the various aliens that you find in Enemy Unknown and Within, but there are additional aliens and vehicles you face in this game. There is typically some sort of boss at the end of each stage, which they have different ways to kill. The story is the typical XCom alien invasion story, but they go into more detail about each different type of alien and their plan for humanity. The story itself is interesting and fun, and will keep you playing on to find out what happens next. I don't know why this game had some average to low reviews, but I loved each version of it I played and it is a game I go back to and play over pretty often. I highly recommend this game, especially at the price it is being offered on GoG. If you are a fan of sci fi, shooters, tactical shooters, or strategy, this game will not disappoint you!

Firstly, I don't remember how I got this game. Probably on some deep discount or even as a freebie. Secondly, I didn't have opportunity to play this Mass Effect others are referring to. For me the gameplay reminds me of SpecOps: The Line that I played not long ago (which is not surprising as it's the same engine and the same publisher I believe. But this game is much worse. Not only it has the annoying "consolesque" mechanics which means that it's suited for pad control and not very good to play using mouse and keyboard, but it has much worse AI (especially friendly AI) and way worse level design. The story is not that bad even if for some it doesn't fit into whole X-COM series in terms of continuity but it's very linear. And the missions consist of way too much running through empty spaces. The games quickly turns into a mindless grind with not much new to the game itself so you just push to get to the end of the story but it's more of a chore than fun from the game itself. Definitely wouldn't buy it for a full price. Oh, and having to google that I have to disable PhysX to make game not crash is unforgivable.

I have never played any XCOM games and I do not plan to, they are not my style. I don't understand the 'controversy' and I don't want to. So this review is not biased from a playing history of other XCOM games. What I really, really enjoy in gaming is FPS Shooters and if they have great graphics, a decent story and the controls are not whack I tend to enjoy them and finish them..., lust like this game 'The Bureau', defiantly worth your time and money (on sale) if you crave quality shooters with a twist. I do have a couple warnings for this game that may or may not bother you. 1.) No manual saves, game used random like auto-saves that lock you out of map areas, I never like this and wish all devs would get a clue... most gamer's I know hate this. 2.) Squad play with semi-dumb AI teammates that you have to place on battle field and pick their targets and different weapons also you must occasionally stop playing and heal them (they heal you too). Now I usually avoid this gaming style but I must admit I did 'mostly' enjoy it on this game, it just seemed to work. It was more challenging and rewarding than I expected but it did not convert me and I'm still not a fan of this gaming style. I really hope they ignore the criticism and do another in this style, their plan worked if it was to attract gamer's that would never play the other XCOM games.

Great fun, XCOM in a B movie. The combat system works well. It's nice to see something that is not generic

I ran into a snag when my main playable character ran out of ammo. I mean, there are ammo boxes, but none of these will replinish your ammunition enough, especially since the enemies can heal themselves. Quite early on, I had to start relying on my teammates, since they apparently had infinite ammo. Nopt being able to fight back in a tactical shooter is no fun.