If you're an English speaker, just play the KGB campaign. The characters come off half-drugged- How on EARTH could you have such a 10/10 soundtrack and only one English-speaking VA with any intensity!? (and of course it's the bad guy) I think they were aware of this on some level- the CIA character's named 'deadpan' after all, but there's no stakes in a game where everyone's just clocking into work. The KGB dude sounds good though. Honestly too good. (too bad all the rest of your KGB agents speak English) There's ~two Slavic-looking choices in the Character Creator (from upwards of 40 ai renders) so your character might as well be premade. But yeah, even at 90% off it's dissatisfying. Heard the soundtrack on Youtube, bought the game on reflex. Shoulda just stopped at the soundtrack. That's the optimal experience with this game. (There are gripes about the gameplay, but the agent voices are literally that. bad.) ....X-com 2 has Dr. Eggman and the MONTY PYTHON CREW as MODDED SOLDIER VOICES. And they WORK!!! Someone actually pulled the Ministry of Silly Walks guy and made him work better then 90% of the voice acting in this game. HOW!?
This game is full, it's bursting with content. It's imaginative (to a point) and it's well-developed (to a point). But once you hit that point, it's probably the biggest cliff in gaming. There's a beat where controls become confangled, the plot becomes nonsensical; basically the lead takes an INT drop at the same moment where things would otherwise be stupidly bleak, and then the game introduces... (I can only describe him as a old-school Slayers joke character inexplicably played completely straight) It's like you're handed this bleak and amazing world, that suddenly becomes a meme of itself. All in about two minutes of gameplay. It gets two stars for trying (because it is an honest effort, and Virgo is alien-charming until it's revealed that she's just stupid) but at some point you just have to put the frustration down and go play lighter, less irritating games.
This is a very good game, innovative, and priced at 1/5th of the equivalent models. I report a high amount of enjoyment, and can confirm that the game's core loop is (satisfying+fun) and accelerates well. It's got heart, is what I'm trying to say. Twenty years ago, this would have defined a generation.
