The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

Third person combat that feels like it was copied from mass effect. However, the exception was that Mass Effect was actually fun. The Bureau seriously disappointed me in how it played. Not to mention, the story was extremely lacking. I didn't like the setting most of all. I wish it was in the regular xcom setting with the soldiers you see from the Xcom 1 games. Visually, it looks nice. Gameplay wise, it was dull. The ai was never intelligent enough to kill me on the highest difficulty level and the same goes for your "ally" ai. You had to simply do everything yourself.

This game is an quite good experience. It's a Third person shooter with decent gameplay mechanics that involves around ordering a squad of 2 around. Furthermore it involves shooting mechanics similar to that of mass effect which functions quite well. The gameplay is smooth and enjoyable. The grapichs are actually quite beautifull and very impressive when something big is happening. The texture are from average to good. The story is somewhat of the weak part of the game. It's a bit confusing and dosen't really go anywhere and leaves on a bit of a cliffhanger. Yet you can get more involved in both the story and the background story by running around, finding certain items or talk to certain people. The game is a bit short and left me wanting a bit more out of the gameplay but what i got i was happy for. I recommend this

First off, I have absolutely no experience with the XCOM franchise, so I can't say how the plot stands with the other games, or how faithful the universe is. Besides, I haven't played a tactical TPS in a long time, which means that I may overlook some aspects that avid players of the genre look forward to. But here are my general thoughts. I'll try not to be too detailed, since AAAs have such a bigger scale compared to what I'm used to playing. So. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a tactical third person shooter, set in the 60's, in the first alien invasion of Earth. The best of the best are united in the XCOM to fight this invasion, and cover it up to protect the population. You'll go through several missions (some minor, some major), and you'll get to know the people you're working with between each, in the base. You have a squad of 3 people (you, and 2 AI partners), that you have some control over, during the fights. There are different classes in the game, and with each come different skills to aid you in battle. Some are support focused (providing shields, damage buffs, etc.), engineers (focus on tech, turrets, etc.), artillery (with long range deadly shots), you get the drill. Each of them can be leveled up to rank 5, and you go as far as rank 10. With each rank you choose 1 of 2 perks (sometimes, 1 of 1... tough choice, there). Let's start with the presentation. It's a AAA game, and that's very clear. Everything looks really nice, and it felt the theme surprisingly well, with the lighting effects giving the game an old sci-fi feel! Other parts of the game looked more generic, unfortunately. But overall, it certainly looked great, with good particle effects, lighting, and physics. The music also fit the theme very well, both the 60's feel, and the sci-fi. Unfortunately, it was very far apart. I don't feel like they've used the music very effectively, specially in the tense and emotional moments, the music in those was simply underwhelming. Overall, it didn't really feel as unique as it could have. As a AAA, it did very little to standout, despite being pretty good aside from that. One thing it did well in the beginning, was portraying the time setting well, using posters, and even the conversations with the different people. Moving on. The gameplay started out pretty good, but the probems soon started to reveal themselves. I chose to play in Commander Difficulty at first. The problem with that, was the friendly AI. They died within 4 seconds of the start of the fight. And I'm not exaggerating! If I sent someone to revive them, they'd just stand in the middle of the shots and would die as well. And that was pretty much the experience. That kind of challenge wasn't welcome at all. I spent way more time trying to keep my squad alive than fighting! So... after about 5 missions I decided I had enough with it, and turned it to Veteran. I died twice in the whole game after that. Once in the last mission, with throws wave after wave of enemies after you. There's just such a big discrepancy between Hard and Very Hard... that's not a very good balance, in my opinion. Commander mode could have been really strategic and tense, if the AI was worth something. Unfortunately, it was really bad. And you could see in the end, comparing their kills to yours. You alone did about 95% of the job, so yeah... Other than that, it wasn't bad. You had several different weapons at your disposal, different enemies had to be taken out in different ways (not too different, but a bit different nonetheless), the skills lead to some nice teamwork... I wasn't bad! It was not spectacular, but I was fairly enjoyable. As I said before, between missions, you'll be in the Hub Area. Here, you can talk to the scientists, engineers, pretty much everyone, and get their view on the invasion. You'll also know why they're there, and what they're working on. That was cool. It didn't blow my mind, but it's good that it's there, if you feel like exploring a bit more. There are also Notes, Photos, and Audio"Logs" spread out, during the breaks between battles. These also give you a bit more insight into the world, which is always good! Something that really bothered me though, was the Audio Logs. You had to stand near to listen to it. ... Why? The whole point of audio logs is to keep the player exploring, while being presented with the backstory. And they managed to screw it up, and have you stop your playing to listen to it... It makes no sense! Might as well give you a note instead of an audio log... I don't understand. There's not much else to say about it, really. The cover system works fine, for the most part. One complaint I have, is that you can't roll into cover! That's really important, in my view! You can roll out of the way fine. But if you roll into cover, it doesn't connect, so you'll stand up, fully vulnerable, after rolling. And you'll take unnecessary shots. I don't see why it's not in there either, but oh well... I may seem overly negative about the game, for a positive review. The fact of the matter is, that it mostly functions very well. The gunplay is solid, movement in fluid, combat involves some level of tactic, while ordering your squad members, ... It's not a bad game at all. It's simply not a very good one either, and for full price, I definitely do not recommend it. But if you're curious about the setting, or you're a fan of XCOM, I don't see a problem in getting in a sale, or something along those lines. The character interactions, though, were really bad in my opinion. And so was the way they handled the ending. Overall, I expected more. But for the price at which I got it, it was a fine game. Won't change the world in any way, but it was enjoyable.

If you're looking at this game, chances are you are aware of Xcom Enemy Unknown, or even the older Xcom games. Xcom Declassified is set as before any of that even happened (It's 1962, where Grease is the word). Xcom declassified is a Third-person Shooter with some squad mechanics. You (as Agent William Carter) is out to find out what exactly are the Aliens doing on this baby blue-green planet called Earth. As a team of 3 (you and 2 others), you'll set off to fight Aliens throughout USA, figuring out their motives while saving others from them. Starting off with basic Ballistic weapons (M1911 pistol and M14 rifle for you historic-weapons lovers), you'll gain new gear as you complete missions, from Laser weapons to a flippin' awesome lightning cannon. Gameplay-wise, it's squad-based fighting where you command your teammates to perform skills and flank your enemies.There are 4 classes to select from, but you only get to bring 2 along, so you have to learn what each class is great for, from taunting enemies to bringing friendly turrets to assist you. Combat-wise, outmaneuvering your enemies is important. You'll have to study the terrain to figure out where to send your squad to so as to get all the advantages you can. While the gameplay is linear (with some basic sidequests for mostly experience purposes), playing Declassified is really to enjoy the story of how Xcom started off. So if you wanted to know more about Xcom, this game's for you.

Yep, that's one good, professionally crafted third person shooter here. Fans of XCOM series will probably enjoy it more than an average player. But that might not be the case, as "they" prefer turn based combat. Here you get very fast paced action, many weapons to use, lots of upgrades. You can give orders(takes a moment to understand the system and begin using it efficiently - here XCOM players will probably excel), use cover, flank, and blast aliens. Story is there, non-intrusive, doesn't bother you much. Graphics are enjoyable, music plays on the edge of hearing, and voices don't make your eyes bleed. All things considered - good game, worth playing no matter if you're a die hard XCOM fan, or a typical player longing for a third person shooter.