Andy Naylor reviews The Bureau: XCOM Declassified…
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a 3rd person shooter video game based in the XCOM universe. It’s developed by 2K Marin and you play as Agent William Carter as he battles an alien invasion in 1960s America.
For those of you that have read my reviews since I joined the Flickering Myth writing team, you know that one of my favourites games in the last 12-18 months was the marvellous XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which I mentioned should be picked up a few months ago. This strategy based sci-fi story was excellent. Take2 have now made a 3rd person shooter prequel called The Bureau: XCOM Declassified.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified has not had an easy development life. One minute it is cancelled, the next it is getting turned into a brand IP of its own. Finally, it was confirmed to be how it originally started life, but its trials have taken their toll on the finished product. XCOM’s long term fans should not buy this expecting something similar to Enemy Unknown. The style of this game is very much in the same ball park as Bioware’s Mass Effect trilogy. However, it doesn’t function as smoothly and fluidly as Mass Effect. Part of the problem is that it has tried to use some of the strategic elements from Enemy Unknown and incorporate them into the battle system, again much like Mass Effect and its power wheel. The result is a cumbersome design that overwhelms the user in the midst of the battle. It is an awful lot to take in, keeping an eye on your own character’s safety and targets as well as those in your team. Part of the issue is that when accessing the strategy options gameplay does not pause, it slows down. While that may be more life-like it is not a very game friendly function, it makes things awfully difficult.
As a whole, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is a tough game. If you are looking for a challenging game to complete then this is for you. Some missions will leave you a raving mess of frustration, but once you complete them the level of satisfaction is high. Whether this difficulty is deliberate or down to the clunky battle system, I am not 100% sure. But it is very difficult and will challenge gamers of varying levels of abilities.
The setting and the story for The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is very enjoyable. The United States is in the midst of 1960’s Cold War paranoia and spying, secret dossiers are rife. The invasion that the American public are scared of, that of communist Russia, is not that one they should be afraid of. Aliens, laser weapons, abductions and enemies straight from their nightmares are the real threat, but at no point does it feel like that is tangible. It needs to have a bit more substance and depth to create that feeling and it never quite gets there. But once the story gets going into full flow you dragged along for a very enjoyable ride with some nice twists along the way.
The character modelling and alien environments remind me very much of L.A. Noire. You can’t help but feeling quite suave and sophisticated wandering around in a fedora and a suit. The graphics as whole are nothing to write home about though. XCOM: Enemy Unknown was very weak graphically, but it didn’t need to look beautiful. It’s brilliant gameplay took away any need for it to look amazing. The Bureau: XCOM Declassified does not have the same outstanding gameplay quality and therefore has to offer a little more in all areas, and graphically it fails to. It looks blocky in places as suffers from stuttering and screen tearing in some of the busier FMV’s and action scene.
Overall, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified is not a bad game. It has clearly suffered from its uncertain development cycle. It neither succeeds as a strategy game or as a 3rd person shooter and consequently lacks any true identity. It is quite a forgettable experience for the main. I’d like to see XCOM stick to what it is brilliant at and that is excellent turn based strategy games.
The Bureau: XCOM Declassified was released yesterday on PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows.
Andy Naylor – Follow me on Twitter
Originally published August 24, 2013. Updated December 13, 2019.
