Zero Punctuation: The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

[Yahtzee Croshaw]

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified

This week, Zero Punctuation reviews The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.

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[Roofstone]

Nothing like a spot of xcom.. And eleven pizza's stacked onto each other..

Also, could I not, in theory, just level two particular characters on the offscreen missions and let them boost me through it?

 

[TheProfessor234]

I do have to agree, not having any actual characters in your squad is probably my biggest issue on the game.

I had fun with it at least but it really wasn't what I was hoping for, which was something like the Conflict: Desert Storm games.

 

[Jman1236]

On the topic of alien invasion, here's hoping next week is the Saints Row 4 review.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

'Cos it's me job!'

Ah, I love our lexicon sometimes

I don't think anyone was expecting this game to not suck.

 

[DrRockor]

What I took away from that review is that Yahtzee whats a stack of 11 pizzas

 

[Barciad]

I wish my laptop didn't have such serious heat issues. The new, proper XCOM game was great, and this review wanted me to start playing it again. From the start. So I could laugh at the sarcastic German scientist again.
Seriously though, I'm hoping that 'The Bureau' was made as part of a controlled experiment by the development team to show their managers that things like slow, precise, and brilliantly designed games based around management can actually sell better than shooter if you know who you are trying to sell them to.

 

[Thunderous Cacophony]

I wonder what it says about us when you can complain about getting lost in a furniture store on the way to it's restaurant.

I do have to agree, not having any actual characters in your squad is probably my biggest issue on the game.

I haven't played Enemy Unknown *dodges thrown boot* but did they characterize the NPCs there? I thought a big part of the game was that faceless government agents were being fed into the alien meat grinder as governments try desperately to stop the invasion.

 

[Makabriel]

I don't think anyone was expecting this game to not suck.

I was. *cry*
I actually was more interested in the version -before- they overhauled it. It looked a lot more fun..

 

[Stabby Joe]

Many seem to think that Enemy Unknown was a reaction to the initial backlash towards the Bureau, then known as just XCOM yet I've heard the developers saying the former was in development prior to the negativeness while admitting that it could look like the opposite at first. Plus if you think about it, it doesn't make sense for a reactionary churned out product to be one of the best games of that year when saying it out loud.

I give Firaxis more credit than that... and more than the Bureau...

 

[themilo504]

I still wonder or a x com shooter could work, a lot of the mechanics of x com could work quite well in a squad based shooter.

 

[Cecilo]

I wonder what it says about us when you can complain about getting lost in a furniture store on the way to it's restaurant.

I do have to agree, not having any actual characters in your squad is probably my biggest issue on the game.

I haven't played Enemy Unknown *dodges thrown boot* but did they characterize the NPCs there? I thought a big part of the game was that faceless government agents were being fed into the alien meat grinder as governments try desperately to stop the invasion.

Right, But thats the point, You can have a squad of 4 to 6 people, and you as the Director have no personal relationship with them, You order them around on the battlefield, you may grow attached to certain characters over time because Colonel Johnson managed to kill four aliens at in one mission, saved Private Tom's life with a medpack and was hospitalized for a month. They make their own stories, and you will usually remember and feel bad when you lose someone you have had since so and so mission.

But the point in The Bureau is that you are on the field, with these two agents, fighting with them, alongside them. And you probably wouldn't even know their names, you don't interact with them outside of the combat missions, And once they die, everyone, even you goes "well. Who wants his spot on the squad?". Sure they level up, and you'll be sad if you have to level a new guy from level 1, but for a squad you are a part of, shouldn't there be a little bit more?

 

[Eternal_Lament]

You know, I have to wonder about something:

When the XCOM shooter was first announced, it looked like it would be focusing mostly on the shooting elements with little else in regards to team management or tactical power wheels and such. It almost seems that when Enemy Unknown became a bigger success than anyone could predict that the team management stuff was being implemented here into Declassified, and I have to be honest with you, I think I would prefer if it was just the shooter. I know people are going to ***** and moan about how then it would just be another bland shooter, and you know what, maybe it would've been, but we'll never know now, now will we? Fuck, even if it was just a bland shooter, it would've at least looked consistent. From the gameplay videos I've seen, the tactical stuff and team management seems to have only dragged the game down in my opinion. Had they just stuck with a shooter idea, there may have been a chance it wouldn't be shit, as opposed to here where it almost seems like they revamped the entire game just to cash in on the sudden boom they got from last year; hell, considering how buggy the game appears, it wouldn't surprise me if the original game was scraped after Enemy Unknown came out and they instead had to build entirely from scratch to match Enemy Unknown's style.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

You can send them off on non-playable missions Assassin's Creed-style

Correction: Final Fantasy Tactics-style.

 

[Farther than stars]

Well... 'Bureau' does imply a government office in the way that 'office' does not.

 

[Dr. Crawver]

That's a bit of a shame. I was hoping this one would come out alright. Oh well, still got the old Xcom to play when I want alien shooting time, or Mass effect for alien based storytime.

 

[ZZoMBiE13]

I was going to get this game. But middling reviews coupled with an extremely boring Quick Look on Giant Bomb scared me away from wasting $60.

Good to hear Yahtzee hated it too. Validates the idea that I didn't really miss much.

 

[DataSnake]

I was going to get this game. But middling reviews coupled with an extremely boring Quick Look on Giant Bomb scared me away from wasting $60.

Good to hear Yahtzee hated it too. Validates the idea that I didn't really miss much.

Personally, I usually treat Yahtzee's opinion as a test prone to Type II errors but essentially immune to Type I: if he says a game is good, it's going to be great, but if he says it's terrible that doesn't prove anything.

 

[The Great JT]

The 11-Story Pizzawich? A fantasy, I'd bet!

And yeah, I've heard pretty much that The Bureau sucks a brick from most everyone.