Ambivalence and XCOM 2

Well, I just finished XCOM 2.  I wish I felt more excited about it, but I don't.  The whole experience was marred by bugs and I just don't feel like there was enough in it that was that new/exciting.  Since I'm now officially done, this is my review.

I'm not much for strategy games.  I like to dip my toes into the pool once in awhile and I've found that I enjoy turn-based strategy games.  There's something satisfying about watching your squad follow your commands to success.  It's about 50/50 satisfaction/horror.  After thoroughly enjoying XCOM, I was overjoyed to hear that there would be a sequel.  I vaguely filed it away in the back of my head with other games that were coming out in the future and didn't think about it.  Then it was delayed.  Then I really didn't think about it.  It wasn't till a few days prior to release that I gave in to the hype (against my better judgment and resolutions to stop pre-ordering).  The sweet, sweet hype.
The Good:
1.) Plethora of customization options.  The character creator tool allows you to handcraft your own group of soldiers.  I have seen some very clever groups--one made up of video game heroes like Gordon Freeman and Duke Nukem--and some ridiculous ones too.  Your soldiers can sport unique props like hats, cigars, and eyepatches and even those items can be customized with a wide array of patterns and colors.

An Advent city.  The alien menace is always lurking in the background.

2.) Setting/Small Stuff.  I thought that there were a lot of clever small details the made the experience feel more immersive.  On some maps you would see flashing wanted posters with the faces of your soldiers on them.  The opening screen features one of your top soldiers peering at a random Advent position.

While it's true that the setting didn't change between the first and second game, Earth feels a lot different in XCOM 2.  The alien menace, "Advent," has clearly taken over and signs of their dominance are present on every map.  Guard towers and checkpoints dot maps.  Gene Therapy clinics are prevalent centerpieces on many urban missions.  This ain't the Earth you knew 20 years ago...

3.) Wider selection of utility items.  Research is much more robust in XCOM 2 and you can pour your fictitious funds into a wide array of items.  Different types of ammo, unique explosives like flashbang or gas grenades, proximity mines (which are really, really great--research them!), various additional armor types....the list goes on.  With these new items it was much easier to specialize your soldiers.  I decked out my hacking specialist like a robot killing machine--Bluescreen Rounds that do extra damage to mechanical units and EMP grenades--combine these items with talents like capacitor discharge and Sectopods don't stand a chance.

4.) Steam workshop and mod support.  There are already many, many mods that can improve gameplay or turn your gun into a Corgi.  It's nice that the game was developed with modding in mind and I have no doubt that there will be a great number of mods that will expand upon the base game and make it much better.

The Bad:  (I only have one, but it has been a big one)
1.) Bugs, optimization issues, and crashes.  I was hit hard by the dreaded chrysalid cocoon savegame corrupt bug (which has now been fixed).  It was frustrating to be so thoroughly enjoying the game and then having it become unplayable (but I am thanking my lucky stars that I wasn't one of the people who decided to play Ironman and then had their one savegame corrupted and had to start completely over).  Even though I'm not someone who sits and tracks framerate and other statistics, it is glaringly clear that some parts of the game run very slowly.  There has been a lot of disappointment in the fact that a game that shouldn't require a monster PC seems to be bogging down relatively good machines.  2K has promised to keep looking into the optimization issues and come up with fixes.  If you want those smooth framerates, you're going to have to wait.

Even with all these things that I liked, I didn't feel like XCOM 2 was really all that different from Enemy Unknown.  The gameplay is not drastically different--keep your squad in cover, don't get flanked, and try to plan ahead.  The basic premise of the game was essentially the same.  You have a base, this time it's the Avenger, and you develop that base.  You recruit and train soldiers.  You find scientists and engineers to beef up your research.  The story also didn't seem drastically different from the EU.  There are still some teeth-grittingly annoying times when aliens will land a seemingly impossible shot on a soldier in full cover.

Is XCOM 2 worth the $59.99 price tag?  Hmmm.  I'm really on the fence about that one.  I think the replayability value will have me starting up a new, more difficult campaign.  Overall I would say that I enjoyed my time playing but the game-halting bugs I experienced were not so fun.  Many have complained about the poor optimization and the fact that even beefy PC's seem to have a hard time running a game that they really shouldn't have.  My advice to potential XCOM 2 purchasers is to wait.  Steam generally has a summer sale around June/July/August.  Hopefully by that time the game will have been optimized and patched to eliminate any bugs.  Get it on sale.