XCOM: The Bureau Review Thread

ricochetguro said:
If nothing else I'm blown away by how good the PC version looks. Physx destruction, great lighting, FOV slider, and use of tessellation. Was not expecting this to be a looker.
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Holy...shit. You are right. It does look good. I wasn't bothered by the console but damn not shabby at all.
Though I am seeing posts of people having some issues.
 
Heavy said:
Sigh... stopppppp you're gonna make me get this
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Also has by far the best use of a grain filter I've seen in a game. Really just kind of surprised, there are some performance issues, I have everything cranked up including AA, Physx, etc but it really looks nice.
 
Heavy said:
Hmm that doesn't sound too bad. Said you're 10 hours in, are you almost at the end you think? 10+ hours would be good
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I got a good chunk left, I think. I've done a few side missions so far, and each of those is about an hour (half an hour timed, but that doesn't count reloads, and checkpoint management in this game isn't too generous).
 
ricochetguro said:
Also has by far the best use of a grain filter I've seen in a game. Really just kind of surprised, there are some performance issues, I have everything cranked up including AA, Physx, etc but it really looks nice.
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So that's just a normal grain filter? I mentioned noticing it and it really looked good but it didn't look like a normal grain filter to me.
 
Did anyone really want this as a XCOM lite after getting Enemy Unknown? I think the backlash occurred because they were reviving a franchise by substituting it with the FPS game, but with the presence of Enemy Unknown, both could exist.
 
Karak said:
So that's just a normal grain filter? I mentioned noticing it and it really looked good but it didn't look like a normal grain filter to me.
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It's a toggle and if I turn it off it goes away so I assume so. The problem with most game grain filters is it comes off more as compression than actual grain which is not the case here.
 
They should have just stuck with their original plans, and avoided calling it an XCOM game. The abstract monster designs and art style trumped what they have now, and with more time, they could have done a much better job :/...a missed opportunity.
 
Remachinate said:
I don't think it was the guys, I think it was the property. BioShock 2 was perfectly good after all; it's just that 2K Marin had to make too many sacrifices to make The Bureau look like XCOM but without capturing any of the elements that made the series compelling. If they had been allowed to pursue their own original vision of a mysterious, X-Files-type investigatory game I think it would have at least been more interesting.
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While no one man makes a game, some of the key guys who made Bioshock 2 better than average, especially Minerva's Den, no longer work there.
 
From Destructoid:

The campaign itself is surprisingly shallow, with only a handful of optional messages and very limited customization options spread across an eight hour game that features almost as much back-and-forth walking between NPCs as it does actual combat. Though the game entices with a map of the United States, littered with hotspots and the promise of a tactical romp to take back the nation, the reality is an eight hour, fairly linear jaunt through repetitive missions with a handful of bonus stages. It would appear the groundwork was in place for something much more expansive and involved, but such things were abandoned for one reason or another.
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See this is what I was dreading. Once I got over my annoyance at rebooting XCOM as an FPS, I was still interested in the original version of the game for a few reasons. For one, I liked how mysterious and alien the new enemies were. Enemy Unknown made people happy by bringing back sectoids and shit but the enemies sure weren't 'unknown', there was no 'what the HELL is that thing oh god' factor like the first time I saw a Reaper in the original. Although I'm looking at reviews and seeing sectoids and mutons anyways, so I guess in the end I had nothing to look forward to.

Anyways more importantly, I thought it would be cool to have an action game with X-COM's geoscape, base building and procedural missions rather than just a typical linear campaign. Disappointed that it's not the case, yet interesting that it apparently seems they had something like that in mind during development.

But other than that, I wasn't really expecting it to get a decent reception. It's just looked worse and worse every time they've showed it, especially after the transition to third person. Kind of a miracle it even got finished at all, considering its history.
 
Aaron said:
While no one man makes a game, some of the key guys who made Bioshock 2 better than average, especially Minerva's Den, no longer work there.
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If you're referring to the members of the Fullbright Company, we're talking about a level designer, programmer, and two artists. Not to say that their loss was not felt at 2K Marin, or that Minerva's Den wasn't excellent, but you can't exactly say that they were the lynchpin of BioShock 2's overall success.
 
Courage said:
Polygon 7/10
http://www.polygon.com/game/the-bureau-xcom-declassified/11688

Escapist 3/5
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/art...-XCOM-Declassified-Review-Boots-on-the-Ground

Destructoid 4.5/10
http://www.destructoid.com/review-the-bureau-xcom-declassified-260320.phtml

IGN 5.5/10
http://www.ign.com/games/xcom/xbox-360-70012
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Score, score, score, score, score, score, score, score, score, score, score... Get rid of fucking score thing & just believe yourself!!



Too bad it turned out so badly, loved XCOM Enemy Unknown.
 
Oh lawdy. I was expecting something decent.

Take-Two need to work on those 'hit or miss' games, especially when most of them take longer than 2 years to make.
 
I'm actually way more interested in playing The Bureau: XCOM Declassified due to these mixed reviews. I'm excited to see the aftermath.
 
Man I feel for the guys who worked on this game. To go through hell and revision after revision, only to be met with sub-par scores and a reception that pretty much amounts to "for an x-com game this is insulting" must be demoralizing for a developer.
 
ricochetguro said:
Mostly 7s isn't decent?
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This.

The problem with game reviews now is that people see a 7 and assume it's terrible. Just because a game isn't a 9 or 10 doesn't make it bad. Hell, I really liked the Game of Thrones RPG and that got a 52 on Metacritic! I associate a a 6-7 with a solid, but not anything earth shattering. I was honestly expecting the game to get around a 4-5

Back on topic. I wasn't planning on getting it since I'm short on cash now, but I will definitely pick it up in a month or so once it hits the $30-$40 range.

Also, IGN can go suck a big, fat, floppy donkey dick as far as I'm concerned about their recent reviews.

EDIT: Also, even though I HATE Kotaku's Yes/No/Maybe So scoring system, they did give it a Yes with a generally positive review.

http://kotaku.com/the-bureau-xcom-declassified-the-kotaku-review-1170127306
 
Well looks like I'll be waiting on a steam sale. While the scores are kind of all over the place, the consensus seems to be that when your not in the missions, the game is pretty boring which is kinda disappointing. Definitely not worth full price to me.
 
CaptainSlow said:
This.

The problem with game reviews now is that people see a 7 and assume it's terrible. Just because a game isn't a 9 or 10 doesn't make it bad. Hell, I really liked the Game of Thrones RPG and that got a 52 on Metacritic! I associate a a 6-7 with a solid, but not anything earth shattering. I was honestly expecting the game to get around a 4-5

Back on topic. I wasn't planning on getting it since I'm short on cash now, but I will definitely pick it up in a month or so once it hits the $30-$40 range.

Also, IGN can go suck a big, fat, floppy donkey dick as far as I'm concerned about their recent reviews.

EDIT: Also, even though I HATE Kotaku's Yes/No/Maybe So scoring system, they did give it a Yes with a generally positive review.

http://kotaku.com/the-bureau-xcom-declassified-the-kotaku-review-1170127306
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I agree. I actually own more games with 7ish scores as I feel they have riskier design decisions. Games like Resonance of Fate and Neir are some of my favorite this gen by actually trying to do new things. I will definitely give this game a try after a price cut or during some sale.

Maybe you should tone down your disdain for IGN.
 
CraftySkills said:
Man I feel for the guys who worked on this game. To go through hell and revision after revision, only to be met with sub-par scores and a reception that pretty much amounts to "for an x-com game this is insulting" must be demoralizing for a developer.
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"Professional" game journalists are a bunch of no talent hacks that point fingers but don't really offer anything worthwhile to the hobby. They're clowns. This game is fun as hell so far. The combat has a great feel to it, and they did a great job with the overall 60's 'spooks' vibe.
 
Just played the game for a bit. It's actually pretty fun. I don't see how this game could get a 4 or a 5, but then my opinions have never aligned with reviews.
 
Basileus777 said:
No. Enemy Unknown was already in development.
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There is an article on Polygon that says the development starts at late 2010, so after the initial backlash.
2K'S OTHER XCOM

At this point, fellow 2K Games developer Firaxis had begun work on its more traditional XCOM strategy game, but the publisher kept mum
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There is a lot of information about development of The Bureau at this link: the many faces of the bureau: xcom declassified: from 2006 to 2013
 
So is this what that XCOM FPS that looked like Bioshock and had black goo everywhere turned into? And after all that it's not that great? How depressing.
 
Gvaz said:
It's almost as if you can tell who was paid for their review and who wasnt.
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I can only hope you're joking. In any case the game honestly seems great so far. Very punchy combat, incredible atmosphere, surprisingly great graphics on the PC version(tessellation, physx, good textures, great lighting) and so on. I'm only an hour in though so I'll refrain from calling any review wrong. At this stage though I'm surprised by the more directly negative ones.
 
Well, seems like some more positive reviews are popping up. Maybe edit the OP so it doesn't seem as...grim?

I'm not seeing a demo anywhere so, I dunno. Steam sale at best for now. I am a pretty big fan of ME2-like squad based third person shooter combat but everything about it looks and sounds so disappointing.

Metalic said:
Let's hope we put this game behind us and focus on making more strategic X-Com games in the future like Enemy Unknown.
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You'd think this lesson would have been learned a long time ago.
 
SirButterstick said:
"Professional" game journalists are a bunch of no talent hacks that point fingers but don't really offer anything worthwhile to the hobby. They're clowns. This game is fun as hell so far. The combat has a great feel to it, and they did a great job with the overall 60's 'spooks' vibe.
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I agree with this
 
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