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The Bureau: X-COM Declassified |OT| It's all about Taction

I broke. Pre-ordered it so I can play while I wait for Saints Row IV to be mailed to me. The last time I made an impulse pre-order, it was Remember Me and I liked it, so hopefully lightning strikes twice.
 
I'm in full agreement with the other poster that said Bioshock 2 was one of the best FPS from this gen. It's easily my favorite Bioshock game from a gameplay perspective. So I have quite a bit of faith in 2k Marin.

What sets this one apart from every other squad based tactical shooter is just how much control you seemingly have over your squad mates. From everything I've seen this looks like a real time version of the turn based strategy. The importance of the idea of permadeath being in place in an AAA third person shooter at this point in time cannot be overstated. This will be what separates it from any other squad based shooter from this gen.

I can't wait.

I'm still pretty skeptical about the impact of permadeath in a game that doesn't offer ironman mode. If there's no fear of losing enough leveled agents that you have to start over, what value is there in permadeath aside from a forced mission restart? It worked in the TBS XCOM games because everything, including soldiers, was a resource in a resource-starved scenario, and because there was enough random content that you could be forced to restart and still feel like the second playthrough was fresh. I'm not sure what The Bureau offers in the way of strategic permanence to offset the lack of those factors.

We've discussed some of this before in your hype thread, but I really can't see any feature that revolutionize squad-based TPSes. I'm not saying it won't be a good tactical shooter with polished, fun combat mechanics (the real strengths of BioShock 2 in my opinion), just that I don't think that'll be enough to name it the best in genre.
 

Dylan

Member
I don't understand why hype isn't at a fever pitch for this game. It's looks like the most create shooter in forever. The art style is also pretty good.

I'm personally pretty excited to Bureau it up.
 

Karak

Member
I don't understand why hype isn't at a fever pitch for this game. It's looks like the most create shooter in forever. The art style is also pretty good.

I'm personally pretty excited to Bureau it up.

It is but its number four on steam sales and I just heard its doing very well on Gmg. So there is still hope especially cosidering what else is coming out.
 
It is but its number four on steam sales and I just heard its doing very well on Gmg. So there is still hope especially cosidering what else is coming out.

Looks like it's doing much better than Splinter Cell Blacklist. It's number three right now, and it'll probably be number 2 behind SR4 by Tuesday.
 

Shaanyboi

Banned
I wish they hadn't changed it again, but fuck it, I pre-ordered. Even if it isn't the really creepy looking FPS, a much more tactical TPS sounds cool too.
 

Sober

Member
Looks like it's doing much better than Splinter Cell Blacklist. It's number three right now, and it'll probably be number 2 behind SR4 by Tuesday.
Splinter Cell has been sitting under the 50s ever since it even showed up on Steam. Kinda surprised it jumped into the 11-20's just a few nights prior to release. The Bureau was sitting in the top 10 for the most part even with the lack of press and reviews, so maybe the PC crowd knows what it's getting/getting into.
 
Splinter Cell has been sitting under the 50s ever since it even showed up on Steam. Kinda surprised it jumped into the 11-20's just a few nights prior to release. The Bureau was sitting in the top 10 for the most part even with the lack of press and reviews, so maybe the PC crowd knows what it's getting/getting into.

And here I was thinking Xcom would be the dark horse of August 20. I wonder how sales are consoles.
 

Karak

Member
Looks like it's doing much better than Splinter Cell Blacklist. It's number three right now, and it'll probably be number 2 behind SR4 by Tuesday.

Awesome news! It deserves to do well. I am trying to spread knowledge of the game to as many people as I can.

I had dinner with our local Gamestop manager 2 days ago and he said that it was actually being looked forward to by his staff moreso than Splinter Cell so thats cool. Nothing wrong with Splinter Cell though I hear its great.
 

FloatOn

Member
I've put off buying this for long enough. I went ahead and pulled the trigger this morning.

For some reason I was thinking it was coming out on Thursday.

I really need to finish off Ys 2 before I dive into this because if I don't I may never go back to it.
 

Oppo

Member
I thought it was unlocking last night. DAMMIT.

The squad system looks a lot like what I had hoped Mass Effect would be like.. but wasn't.
 

Panda Rin

Member
I can't pull the trigger until reviews come out. Looking at the original concept, I really wish they stuck with what they had with the abstract monster designs. It looked a lot more interesting than what they have now.
 

Calvinpewpewpew

Neo Member
Once again Gamefly screws me and doesn't send a single new game, so I have a dilemma: This or SR4? There are a dozen reviews for SR4 already and all of them are positive, yet we only have the one review in this thread to go on for The Bureau.

Hate, hate, hate release day review embargoes. Only hurts the game and gamers.
 

Vargavinter

Member
GMG keys are being sent out just got mine.

Got mine aswell, but I cant activate it because you need to activate your Spec:Ops key before you can add The Bureau. Nice, I already got Spec:Ops and what if I already gave my key away? Bah!

Edit: No I'm a idiot. I got the right keys with no need to activate Spec: Ops first, missed that the DLC was a seperate code. D:
 

soultron

Banned
The embargo being so close to release worries me. I want this to be good, dangit!

I'm grabbing it regardless. I've not played XCOM yet (I've been really busy! Don't kill me!) so I wonder if playing this first would make the most sense.
 

anddo0

Member
After the Karak review.. I'm safely in the price drop corner. The game seems to be just "ok". The fall (September is right around the corner with bigger releases) is almost upon us. I'd rather focus my funds on that.

The sound design seems lacking. I hate quiet games.
 

Dire

Member
I don't understand why hype isn't at a fever pitch for this game. It's looks like the most create shooter in forever. The art style is also pretty good.

I'm personally pretty excited to Bureau it up.

It's not complex.

XCom is a franchise that is pretty much the complete opposite of shooters.

They turned it into a shooter.

-XCom fans aren't particularly excited about it because it's a shooter.
-Shooter fans aren't particularly excited about it because it's XCom.

Even if it's not terrible I'd be fairly surprised if this did anything but flop. In trying to market to everybody they've ended up with a game marketed towards nobody!
 
Might pick this up to tide me over until next gen. I thought Dota2 and Dark Souls would hold me over but i've now 100% Dark Souls and Dota2 community is just irritating me at this point. We will see though. I really didn't want to buy anymore current gen games but this.....
 

Karak

Member
After the Karak review.. I'm safely in the price drop corner. The game seems to be just "ok". The fall (September is right around the corner with bigger releases) is almost upon us. I'd rather focus my funds on that.

The sound design seems lacking. I hate quiet games.
There are some huge games coming out for sure.
I do think this would have been better at a cheaper price simply due to its current sales environment and competition. But it is selling well(steam at least) so thats nice and I really enjoyed it myself.
 

DY_nasty

NeoGAF's official "was this shooting justified" consultant
Do any features from Enemy Unknown affect this? I'm curious about just getting it for a different console.
 

Dylan

Member
-Shooter fans aren't particularly excited about it because it's XCom.

I would assume a lot of shooter fans (young'uns) wouldn't even know wha XCOM is; so I don't see why the brand would hurt this game more than any other new IP shooter.

I thought the tactical UI would be enough to get people excited but obviously judging by the lack of hype I'm very wrong.
 
So hyped to play this when I get home. I was admittedly "meh" on it when it was first announced, but the Steam trailer and a few other videos sold me on a preorder.

Plus I love X-Com, so...
 
Well fuck me...

"Too afraid to establish itself as a full XCOM game, yet terrified of losing a recognizable brand name, The Bureau seems unwilling to commit itself to anything. "

Jim Sterling 4.5/10

http://www.destructoid.com/review-the-bureau-xcom-declassified-259364.phtml

I'm slapping myself right now.]

Oh boy. At least it looks cool I suppose. Vaguely tempted to contact Steam about cancelling my pre-order as they've been cool about it in the pass, but not sure if it's worth the trouble. Getting the X-COM pack and Spec Ops was an ok deal.
 

Starviper

Member
Wow, that review is not sounding good.. I just bought it too. At least I get all the old XCOM games that I didn't have on my steam account? >_<..
 
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