They removed many of the real fun parts from the previous game.
No medals for your soldiers, no fun base building with adjancencies to plan for, no gene mods etc.
On the other hand this game has more annoying/unfair enemies, making it extremely painful to play in Ironman (which is the only way to play these games IMO, for the tension).
I stopped playing after a few days, just wasn't fun enough. And I played the previous game for an extremely long time and finally beat it on Ironman!
This just doesn't feel as polished or thought through.
Just my opinions though, many seem to love it so, whatever...
What can I say other than this is a superb sequel, harder than the first, I had to play Rookie a while to get used to it before starting over on 'Normal' and finishing the game quite a bit overpowered. Having done so I decided to try Long War 2, but had some trouble installing the mod, so this is how I did it successfully:
1. Create folder: "XCOM 2/XComGame/Mods" where "XCOM 2" is the path to your installed folder...
2. Extract the "LW_Overhaul" folder from NexusMods Long War 2 zip to the above dir.
3. Add the following line to the file "XCOM 2/XComGame/Config/DefaultModOptions.ini":
ActiveMods="LW_Overhaul"
4. For any other mods repeat steps 2 and 3, appending a new line to 3.
5. Delete or rename your "Documents/My Games/XCOM 2" folder before starting the game.
I've played the original X-Com games on my very first computer, a 386 33 MHz. I enjoyed kicking alien butt but also get it kicked in return oh so many times before I figured out what I was doing wrong.
Then came Terror from the Deep and that was a whole other ball game.
The remastered versions of XCOM are nothing short of brilliant. Having clocked in over 1000hrs in the original and some 600 hrs combined in the remastered versions, I have never before enjoyed a game of tactical strategy such as these.
XCOM2 is difficult but fair. There's always going to be that one shot that makes or breaks a certain situation. That's just how XCOM is.
With the add-on of War of the Chosen it adds another random element in the mix. Powerful alien commanders that will do everything in their power to stop you. Killing them is worth it for the weapons alone.
Shen's Last Gift and Alien Rulers add both utility, an extra character and a multitude of weapons you can get. A few extra areas with their own set of challenges too.
Gameplay is simple and easy to get into. Upgrades levels the playing field and are pretty decent.
Graphics are pretty good and music is immersive.
Best part? Game is moddable. Don't like the way a certain weapon behaves? Change it. Want more enemies per mission? Change that too.
Think weapon mods are a joke? Improve them.
There's absolutely no right or wrong. Play the game the way YOU want. That's XCOM's greatest strength and I cannot recommend it enough. It's a great game for absolutely no money at all that will bring you hours upon hours of entertainment.
10/10.
I played this for fourteen hours, I haven't lost a single mission, but I never really get a foothold in the overall game and each mission it just feels like a slog. I played the previous game, Enemy Unknown, when it first came out and remember it as being fairly ok and satisfying. I saw this on sale and opted for it.
Timed Missions - Every other mission there's some McGuffin to explain why you need to hurry for that mission. It negates tactics, forcing you to rush to the objective. The timed missions seem like procedurally generated and the number of turns you have is just enough time to haphazardly run to the objective. However, there are no turns to deal with the aliens you encounter while you're running there, who are also getting shots off on you the whole time. You are then in an unsafe area, low health, bad position, and still need to do whatever else the mission requires. This is a horrible design choice which compounds when you consider enemies get to move as soon as they discover you. You are rushing and cannot afford to examine the area to setup, you need to blindly rush into a room, usually with the goal of going past the room. If you happen into a room where some aliens are then they absolutely can and will, during your turn, one-shot-one-kill you - this reduces gameplay to pure luck or save-scum.
Most actions have some unskippable, time-wasting animations, a cutscene, or character chatter. It's annoying! And the game is constantly ripping the camera away to show you something, always feels like an interruption. Disabling the one 'follow cam' setting does not make it better. Not just in a mission but also in your base, usually when you're doing something - a room, the mission objective, a 'new' alien threat, and every mundane decision.
The game seems competently crafted, though it did get stuck in endless loop twice, usually after I'd made a move that finished my turn.
