I love XCOM games and this game checks many of the boxes while improving on some. Unfortunately it never gets good enough to be actually good, it's like on an edge and I wondered where it would tip. There are many contradicting design decisions or some that are outright bad (also minor bugs, which are kinda whatever). Some of the gameplay issues I had and thoughts during my playthrough: - Economic and tech pacing is bad. Mostly because air superiority is king. - Base building is uninspired. You have 1 base for research, 1 for producing items and the rest are just launchpads for interceptors. Base defenses are pointless, because if you intercept everything they can't get to you. - Ground Vehicles are useless. - RNG on damage values is so insanely high that early / midgame armour is kinda useless. - Enemy variety is great, but they are designed in such a way that they all have this "bullshit"-factor. Lizards snipe you through smoke grenades, Caesan Psionics have a global chance each round to eff you up, Androns can't be supressed and snipe you with Plasma Casters. -Reaction fire seems so useless. The counter to the melee aliens is just blowing everything up and relying on it to breach a ship door gets you killed since the reaction fire happens after the enemy opened the door and killed you through various means. - Graphics are lovely, but navigating the world and inventory feels like a Diablo 1 alpha. The amount of micro is just insane. - Breaching and securing UFOs is just annoying. Rooms are usually very small and the enemy doesn't care if he suvives. He runs in, kills some, and dies. This usually leads to another round of "just nuke everything". 3 levels of Teleporters is just infuriating. Even with a 100 TU scout. - minor bugs and crashes. Maybe this game is a good XCOM tribute, it's just not contemporary I guess. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who didn't liketeleporting in and throwing a bunch of Vortex grandes in XCOM. 500 IQ move.
- Features are missing - Bugs from the Beta still there. - Cover System still feels weird, was supposedly fixed according to magazine reviews, don't see it. - Graphics all over the Place - Interface Buggy and unresponsive - Very, very few Multiplayer maps - Didn't even bother to remove the Open Beta Tag (lul) - not-Coop campaign is not to my taste. very simple, very limited, story meh. But to be fair my friends liked the story, so maybe I'm not seeing something here. Bottom line: Wait another 1-2 years. Don't do Kickstarters, buy somewhere that allows you a refund. Reviews apparently don't actually review this game but supposedly what is to come the next years. How is that even a thing.
To be fair, I find most Bioware games overrated. This game has a good story that feels kinda rushed near the end. It's path is linear and character interaction boils down to standard good vs. evil choices. That's really disappointing, especially in an eastern setting. Character building is non existent (except that you can spend points on level up to either one of 3 stats. Unfortunately they are pretty much all needed throughout the game). It wouldn't be much of a problem if they gameplay was solid. Unfortunately it's just standard block, dodge, and hit mechanic. You can use some kind "finishing moves" (harmonic combos) that either outright killed the enemy or applied a debuff, but those only worked against weaker enemies and were pretty much useless. The fighting styles itself are pretty much uninteresting. They are supposed to differ in speed and damage, but the one I started with was always the weakest and consequently whatever I found later was stronger than what I found before. It's the same with the weapons. The fights itself can be won by 1 or 2 different tactics, except if you are outnumbered. But you just have to cut them back to a workable size. Sometimes I wished I could end a sequence with a quick time event, it was that bad. It's unfortunate. I really try to love it, but it friendzoned me.
