Luigi Friedmann

The truth is, XCOM still exists, though it's become a shadow of its former self after world leaders and bases either surrendered or were destroyed. Reduced to a covert guerilla military operating in cells around the globe, this new "Resistance" has more than the standard aliens of the original game to contend with. Those monsters are back and scarier than ever, along with entirely new creatures - but it's the humans who serve the aliens - known as the ADVENT - that pose the most insidious threat. The odds seem insurmountable, and fight failing until resistance intelligence locates, then extracts their secret weapon: the Command Sidequests in JRPGs can open up a lot of space for the player to gain access to additional in-game rewards such as items as well as allowing the spotlight to be put on side characters for further character development. As Triangle Strategy is being billed as a game built around a player's choices and decision making, sidequests could be used in a variety of interesting w Make no mistake: you will lose fighters in this game, and the developers make sure you're aware of it from the very start. And knowing now that each fighter is one of a dying breed, every death - every death - carries an extra sting of defeat and desperation (not to mention the always-looming threat of ADVENT launching a surprise attack on your base - potentially ending the campaign in one fell swoop). But as players learn to use surprise, squad tactics, and smart, not hesitant aggression, the reasons for Firaxis' changes make perfect se The core thrill of seeing a squad erupt from 'Overwatch' to let barrages loose on an unsuspecting enemy is augmented by the new tweaks to Squaddie classes. The standards remain (Sniper, Grenadier, Specialist), but the 'Assault' class has been replaced with the fearless and furious Rangers. And before player assume the name means these fighters are ranged characters, realize that sprinting across a battlefield to unleash a sword attack point-blank has a distinct melee feel. The turn-based gameplay remains the same (although clearly increased in difficulty), leaving the fiction to inform the meaning of the mechanics - scrounging alien technology, attacking research centers and extracting assets - and in turn, letting the desperation of the campaign amplify the story ramificati This class is overshadowed by its successor because the Ranger gets more utility-based abilities. The Assault class only gets abilities centered around fighting. While this is great for Enemy Unknown, it wouldn't work well for a game like XCO There was a time when the revival of the science fiction franchise XCOM by Firaxis Games was seen as simply sneak a peek here small-scale, back-up title to the main event. But long before the squad-based shooter disappointed many, the traditional, turn-based strategy XCOM: Enemy Unknown had been launched to near universal acclaim, not only doing the brand justice, but reinvigorating the genre as a whole. The expansion Enemy Within doubled down on the fiction and gameplay - but it was **XCOM 2 ** that had the anticipation in its fa In the end, the version of XCOM 2 available on either the Xbox One or PS4 is still, unavoidably, the second best crafted by the development team. The good news is that players who prefer their couch to their desktop won't be missing out on the quality of the experience, even if the level of polish takes a hit. And with every aspect of XCOM 2 contributing to the kinds of investment, tension, and stakes usually relying on players hunched over keyboards, glued to their monitors... well, being a couch potato may have never been a more stressful experie We've already seen from playable Triangle Strategy demo that the choices that player is forced to make aren't always going to be black and white, and that there will be pros and cons to the choices they make. Maintaining this approach over the course of the game will be key, as it can lead to a much more hollow experience with telegraphed outcomes that are much easier for the player to anticip As the rescued and restored Commander, the player takes on a challenge and campaign that is, in many ways, an inverted form of the original. Now operating as the resilient infection the aliens posed previously, the gameplay, mood, desperation, and constant threat of failure and death have been completely twisted. The main difference is the element of surprise: allowing players to operate unseen prior to attacks, scouting enemy forces, planning and executing ambushes, fundamentally changing the complexion of the standard miss Many would consider Specialists to be lackluster, considering they have few damaging abilities to match the likes of Rangers of Sharpshooters. However, they exist to provide support for your team through healing effects and stat buffs, something that you'll almost always need despite being slightly unexcit While Enemy Unknown 's basic gameplay loop saw players taking uneasy steps into hostile territory, unsure of ambushes, it's the player who now stalks their alien prey. Squad members can be led, one by one, up to the very fringe of monitored areas. From there, it's possible to identify secondary targets or assets (now a core layer of the mission objectives), and surround enemy troops and traitors before they know what's about to hit them. And when it hits them... it's glori