Is this game good or not?

[KryptoKnight]

The reviews confuse me. I'm wondering if I should get it or not.

[s3bsta]

Played Mass Effect and liked it's combat? Get it. I was a non XCOM player previously until The Bureau and I luved it. Have no interest in the tactical version.

[KryptoKnight]

Originally posted by {PHSN} s3bsta:

Played Mass Effect and liked it's combat? Get it. I was a non XCOM player previously until The Bureau and I luved it. Have no interest in the tactical version.

So this is XCOM but without the strategy?

[s3bsta]

Originally posted by KryptoKnight:

Originally posted by {PHSN} s3bsta:

Played Mass Effect and liked it's combat? Get it. I was a non XCOM player previously until The Bureau and I luved it. Have no interest in the tactical version.

So this is XCOM but without the strategy?

Yeah it's a XCOM prequel storywise but 3rd person tactical instead of turn based tactical. Quite frankly I reckon alot of those who don't like it are the turn based fans. If you prefer 3rd person tactical shooters - you will like this version instead

[Amt]

I personally loved it, especially the story. They (America) thought communism was the biggest threat. They couldn't be more wrong lol. It has its shortcomings, and the ending could have been better in my opinion, but I still think it's an amazing game.

I would not recommend buying it at full price though. If you are going to buy it, you should probably do so when it's on a -50% sale or more (-80% now).

[red255]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9n1nqAf6Z_Y

[Konachibi]

Put basically, this is an X-Com game seen and controlled through the eyes of one of the soldiers, rather than being the commander overlooking the battlefield.
People hate it because 'derp derp it's not X-Com 'cos it's not turn-based strategy', but for those of us who like X-Com and are open to the idea of a franchise branching out to other genres, it's actually a pretty good game.

[red255]

I played it on a higher difficulty until I got to a point where it was just too frustrating and set the difficulty down.

Two of the classes (engineer and recon) suck. because the engineer uses a shotgun and the recon won't use any of the laser weapons.

theres no decent cover anywhere. enemies will spam grenades and the cooldown on the shield spell is quite rapid to make your frustrating lack of damage that much more frustrating.

But its passably fine on the lowest difficulty. might want to turn it back up after the game finally gives you plasma.

Also I'm confused about punching aliens, thought they suggested it allowed you to capture alien weapons but doesn't seem like it does. if you could explain how i could use it to get non-ballistic weapons earlier might change my opinion.

Might try the game again with a team of a commando and medic earlier. as I was using a commando and Engineer for the first part of the game before deciding his shotgun made him really really suck.

but on the higher difficulty you'll just swear alot due to the frustration of the game mechanics and the AI getting itself killed.

[Gorb 2: The Gorbening]

Just buy one of the mass effect games instead.

I love XCOM, but this..... this was a huge letdown.

[red255]

I might have decided to play this twice, except for the random overheating it caused.

[Novan56]

The Bureau is actually a pretty decent game and lets you play as one of the squad leader in Xcom. You get to see the Xcom base from the inside and command a team in 3rd person.

This is a shooter of course and requires you to actually shoot your enemies but you can direct where your squad to shoot and flank enemies. It is a faster pace game compare to Xcom 2, since it is a 3rd person squad base shooter that has a little strategy element in it. There is also a time slowing mechanism whenever you go into battle focus to move your squadmates.

There are some interesting choices when it comes to squad member selection and equipment loadouts, but compare to Xcom 2 they are pretty basic/minimal. The game is mostly story driven and combat only serves to move the story forward. I wish the next Xcom game , which is Xcom 3, will allow us to see our base in 3rd person, and fight in 3rd person like in The Bureau, but keep the game focus on strategy instead of protagonist driven like in this game.

It is much more immersive to be able to play Xcom in 3rd person, and the fighting more compelling to be able to give command in real-time or in slow motion. These are the strong points of The Bureau's version of Xcom. But unfortunately, the strategy and roleplaying elements are definately lighter here.

[Coot]

Its very good. I love the game. I was concerned when the direction shifted during development but it turned into a pretty decent game. It took a little getting used to and its not perfect(some performance issues and buggies) but I think its a gem of a game. Many times it goes on sale for something like four dollars.

[lowl1fe]

I started to play this game yesterday and I must admit: This game is AMAZING! All the bad reviews are definitely coming from X-COM fanboys who compare this brilliant game to the x-com games, and expect it to be like them.

The 66 metacritic rating is a joke, it must have a 80+ rating in my opinion.

[Kermode Bear]

I came to this game as a loyal fan of XCom from its very first incarnation. I didn't really know what to expect, actually - it was just on sale, very cheap, and I snatched it up on a whim.

It isn't what I expected; it doesn't have much strategy, there isn't any research, you have a very small squad (3 people, max). Is it really an XCom game? Well, it has the alien invasion theme, that's about it.

That said... Is it enjoyable?

Well, I like it - mostly. The combat is fun. It's not deeply strategic, but it's fun. Shoting aliens is a nice break from the zombie fad that just won't die. The abilities are varied and they're all useful. Between your main character and the 2 agents you take with you, there's a regular drip of progress be it new weaponry, abilities, or backpacks which do magic things.

If you're looking for a small squad, not-too-serious tactical shooter, this does alright.

A few dings:

I wish I could bring more than 2 people with me - it would be awesome to have larger battles with at least 1 person of each class. But you get 2. So... I've been using the same 2 guys the whole game (engineer and commando) so that I have the highest level people with me.

The voice acting could use work. The "I'm a hard boiled agent with family issues and an attitude problem" trope is old and tired. Being forced to walk around the too-large base to activate a bit of dialogue is boring. It tried to be immersive but falls short. I don't know that there's any real player agency when it comes to plot. There's no reason to ever use non-energy weapons once you have the option.

I did run into the occasional game-breaking bug that prevented progress, but loading from the last checkpoint fixed it in both instances. Replayability? Well, I don't think there is any. Once you've played through once, you've seen all you're going to see.

So, it's not AMAZING, but it's not TERRIBLE. It's a solid C. It's a good on-sale purchase. Can't recommend it at full price.

[effinate]

I got it for $1, and wouldn't have played it otherwise. But having played it, I'd say it is worth $10 at least. Doesn't deserve all the flack it gets.

[millb]

Originally posted by KryptoKnight:

The reviews confuse me. I'm wondering if I should get it or not.

Basically it's like Mass Effect but in the XCOM universe if youve played them.